Private London (Private 4)

‘I’ve got some bad news, Dan,’ she said.

Chapter 28

IT WAS DARK outside now.

I leaned against the cool brick wall of the hospital and took a couple of breaths. Alison was inside, trying to find a coffee machine, and Kirsty had left to pursue her own investigations.

I was still taking in what she had told me but couldn’t make the connection. After what I had seen earlier that evening I refused to make a connection.

Someone had taken Hannah Shapiro, we knew that much. We didn’t know if she was the primary target. Whether she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I needed to know what the motive was and I needed to know soon, because one thing I did know for certain – the longer it went on without her being found the worse it would be for her. Statistics wouldn’t lie in this case.

I pulled out my phone and hit speed-dial. After a few rings I heard the smooth, unmistakably West Coast accent I had been expecting.

‘Jack Morgan.’

‘Jack,’ I said. ‘We’ve got a major problem.’

‘What is it, Dan?’

‘Hannah – she’s been abducted. Just outside the university campus. A group of hooded men. Unmarked van.’

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Then: ‘When did it happen?’

His voice was as tight, as serious, as I’d ever heard it.

‘An hour or so ago.’

‘Have you heard anything?’

‘No ransom dema

nd as yet.’

‘Maybe they’re not after money.’

I didn’t respond. I knew all too well that young women were abducted for all kinds of reasons. By no means all of them financial. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the memory of what I had seen in the lock-up at King’s Cross. Failed.

‘I want you to drop everything else, Dan! Everything. That girl is your only priority, you hear me?’

‘You don’t have to tell me, Jack. The people who took her also put my god-daughter in intensive care.’

‘I’ll be getting on a plane as soon as the FBI let me loose. Meanwhile Private worldwide is at your entire disposal. You need anything – anything at all – you let us know.’

‘I appreciate it.’

‘Just get the girl home safe, Dan. Money isn’t an issue.’

‘You think it’s a kidnapping?’

There was another pause on the end of the line and I could hear the frustration in Jack’s voice. ‘There are things you need to know about Hannah Shapiro,’ he said. ‘It all goes back to 9 April 2003.’

Some minutes later I hung up. I looked down and opened the hand clenched tight around my car key. The metal had cut into my flesh. I held the wound to my mouth and tasted the iron in it.

Like I said. Someone was going to pay.

Part Three

Chapter 29