"باید حرفم رو باور کنید!

Chapter five

‘You Must Believe Me!’

When Alan phoned the police, Detective Hall came to the hospital quickly, bringing an Inspector Lee with him. They listened to Alan’s story, then talked for a while outside the door. Then they came back in.

‘OK, Mr Cole,’ Inspector Lee said. ‘Detectives are now searching the house in Bowater Gardens and your daughter’s flat. I’ve informed the police at ports and airports too. It’s possible that the kidnappers will try to take your daughter out of the country, you know.’

‘Oh my God.’ Alan held his face in his hands. ‘She’s probably dead. I’ll never see her again.’

‘Let’s hope that’s not true,’ said the Inspector. ‘Now, let’s talk about this woman Anna again. Why do you think she’s a terrorist?’

Again, Alan explained. The visit to the Mews the evening before the bombing; the ten minutes when Anna was not with him; her phone call, telling him not to talk to the police or Jane would die. It was hard to speak clearly because he was so angry and afraid. He began to cry. ‘It’s no good,’ he said. ‘Jane’s going to die.’

‘Try to keep calm, Mr Cole,’ said the Inspector. ‘You see, we’re not sure that this Anna is a terrorist. We have already arrested the two men who put the bomb in the coach.

In fact, one of them confessed to it this morning. The other one will confess soon.’

‘But they’re the wrong people - they must be! If they are the murderers, why did Anna phone me? Why is she saying she’ll kill my daughter if I don’t keep quiet about her?’

‘Are you sure it was Anna’s voice on the phone?’

‘Of course I am! And it was Jane’s voice as well! I know my own daughter’s voice, don’t I?’ Alan shouted.

‘Mmm,’ the Inspector said slowly. ‘Now, your daughter. Was she unhappy to hear about Anna, do you think? Sometimes daughters don’t like their fathers to have girlfriends, you know. Perhaps she was angry with you.’

‘No. Not really. Well, perhaps a bit.’

‘I see some very strange things in my job, Mr Cole, and a lot of them are because of family arguments. It’s just possible, you see, that your daughter hasn’t been kidnapped at all. Perhaps she’s angry with you and wants to stop you seeing Anna. Perhaps - I’ve seen it happen before - she’s asked a friend to ring you and pretend to be Anna.’

‘No!’ Alan shouted. ‘Jane isn’t like that! She was frightened, I could hear it in her voice on the phone. ANNA HAS KIDNAPPED HER! You must believe me!’

At that moment another detective came in and spoke quietly to Inspector Lee, who immediately got up and left the room. When he came back, his face was serious.

‘The house in Bowater Gardens is empty,’ he told Alan.

‘The two people there left on the morning of the bombing. We didn’t find anything useful at your daughter’s flat - but we did find her handbag with her flat keys in it. It seems strange for her to go out without her keys, doesn’t it?’

‘Where is she?’ Alan whispered. ‘Can you find her?’

‘If your daughter has been kidnapped, she could be anywhere,’ the Inspector said. ‘Our only hope is that the kidnappers call you again, and then we can find out where the call came from. We’re fixing up a phone for you now, and there’ll be two policewomen here with you all night. If Anna does phone, keep her talking. Tell her that you have said nothing to the police, and ask to speak to Jane. Say you must hear her voice.’

They put the phone on a table next to Alan’s bed. He stared at it, saying to himself over and over again:

I must hear her voice. I must hear her voice.

They put Jane in a small bedroom, untied her feet, and took the bag off her head. But they tied her hands behind her back, and then tied them to the end of the bed.

‘You’ll stay here until those two men are sent to prison,’ Anna said. ‘Every day we’ll send your father a picture of you with today’s newspaper, to show you’re still alive.’

‘Then what?’

‘Then. we’ll see. Perhaps, if your father is a good boy, we’ll let you go,’ Anna said. ‘If you keep quiet too.’

But Jane was watching Kev’s face. He won’t let me go, she thought. Never. If I don’t escape, I’ll die here.

When they had left the room, she lay in the dark, wondering how she could escape. I don’t want to die, she thought. And how terrible it will be for Dad if they kill me. And then there are those two innocent Irishmen, who will spend thirty years in prison for something they didn’t do.

That bastard Kev’s going to kill me. I’ve got to try to escape. I just have to.

For hours she tried to get free but it was impossible. The rope only hurt her wrists more. But at least she could move her hands, up and down the end of the old bed. Once, towards morning, she pulled the rope hard against the bed, but it didn’t-break. Instead, something cut her hand, and she had an idea.

Could it cut the rope as well?

She moved the rope up and down across the end of the bed. It was very difficult because she couldn’t see what she was doing. Three times she cut herself, and there was blood on the rope. But by early morning, the rope broke. Her hands were free! What now?

She tried the door but it was locked. Downstairs, she could hear a radio, and she could smell coffee. So one of them, at least, was in the house.

Then she had another idea. She lay down on the bed and arranged the rope around her wrists, behind her back. Then she screamed, ‘Hey! You! Terrorist murderers! Come up here now! I’m thirsty! Get up here and give me a drink!

In a few minutes, she heard someone on the stairs.

‘Breakfast, Mr Cole,’ the nurse said. ‘Eat up like a good boy, then you’ll feel better.’ She smiled.

I’m not a child, Alan thought. Oh God, I’m a father who’s lost a child! He pushed the eggs and tomatoes away, and drank a cup of black coffee.

The policewoman in the armchair woke up and smiled brightly. ‘Well, no one has phoned, Mr Cole. Perhaps your daughter has been to an all-night party and she’ll be along to see you this morning.’

Alan stared at her hopelessly. He had not closed his eyes all night. So the police didn’t really believe him. Perhaps they thought he had gone crazy because he had lost a leg. He stared at the silent phone.

Ring, damn you! Ring!

Kev came in, carrying his cup of coffee in his hand. He wasn’t wearing a coat, so Jane could see the gun under his arm. ‘Stop making that noise,’ he said. ‘Or you’ll be sorry.’

Jane looked at him. ‘You stupid little man,’ she said softly, and as Kev stepped angrily forwards, she freed her hands from the rope behind her back and jumped at him. With one hand she pulled his head down, and with the other she grabbed his cup and threw the hot coffee into his face. Then she kicked him hard in the stomach.

‘Ah! Damn you.’ Kev fell onto the floor, trying to get the hot coffee out of his eyes. Immediately Jane jumped on top of him. Her knees landed hard in his stomach, and her fingers tried to get the gun under his arm. But Kev’s hand found the gun first. Jane tried to pull it out of his hand, but he was too strong for her. With his other hand he hit her hard on the side of the head.

Jane fell forwards. But as she fell, she put her head down and bit his nose until her mouth was full of blood. He screamed, tried to pull his head away.

And let go of the gun.

I’ve got it, Jane thought. I’ve really got it! Then Kev hit her head again, hard, and she didn’t know what was happening. She moved away from him, bringing the gun down towards her chest. Her head hurt terribly, and there was blood in her mouth, but all the time her fingers were trying to use the gun.

Why won’t it shoot? she thought. How do I make it work? Then as Kev hit her again, there was a BANG and another BANG and a third and a fourth. She didn’t know what the bangs were but she held on to the gun as hard as she could and there was a fifth BANG and a sixth.

And then it stopped. She opened her eyes and saw that Kev wasn’t hitting her any more. His hands had gone all soft and there was blood coming out of his face and his neck and his chest, there was blood all over the floor and half of his head was missing.

Jane stood up, shaking. Where is Anna? she thought.