by Beth Abbott
As the Alpha men walked into the Hub, Evan watched Robbie’s expression become more and more bemused.
To be fair, if he’d just been seeing the group of giants for the first time, Evan reckoned he’d probably be pretty gobsmacked too.
“Robbie, this is Hannah Simons, our computer expert.” Evan introduced them. “The guy behind her is Hannah’s husband, Danny, and the rest of the guys from left to right are JT, Luke, Ellen, Hollywood and Kellen. Our other computer expert is Abbey.”
Each of the team waved as he introduced them, but he doubted Robbie would remember their names.
“I thought Matt said that your police contact would be involved.” He looked around. “Isn’t he coming?”
“David’s at a conference in Manchester with all the Chief Constables.” JT explained. “Vicky and Drew are flying on up there and will be bringing him back, along with the Chief Constable for Birmingham. It will help to get us access to any police systems or resources we may need.”
“Ok, people?” Hannah’s voice reassured Evan she was in full operational mode. “Just dump your shit anywhere for now and gather around the table. We all need to know where we’re at.”
Evan watched the London team do exactly as Hannah instructed, and after a few seconds, the Birmingham side quickly followed their example.
“This situation has now been known about for approximately two hours, which means they’ve already got quite a head start on us.” Hannah pointed out the obvious. “However, we weren’t idle on the journey up here. Abbey and I have already been going through the local security footage, and we think that Megan might have been snatched at approximately five-minutes before eleven.”
Hannah pulled out her tablet and started connecting it to some wires in the middle of the table.
“Sorry, my battery is running low.” She grinned.
Evan watched the screen on the wall flicker to life, and within seconds they were looking at images from around the stadium.
“Ok, so we’ve been able to get some footage from the street cameras and traffic-cams in the area, but, unfortunately, what we’ve revealed are a number of gaps in the coverage.” She turned to Abbey. “Have you got the graphic, please, Abbey?”
“Here you go.” Abbey smiled, looking up at the screen. “This is the stadium from above, the location of the cameras around it, and the field of vision of each. As you can see, the cameras are mostly concentrated around the four entrances where the fans access and depart the stadium. This is probably so the police can keep an eye on things before and after matches. Unfortunately, the main gate isn’t a public access to the stadium itself, because it’s only used for staff and team access to the offices and the underground carpark. That’s why fewer cameras focus on that area.”
Evan could see exactly where the gaps were, and there was a glaring one right outside the booth and turnstiles, stretching as far down as the visitors’ carpark.
“Now, it’s not all doom and gloom.” Hannah flipped through the images until she came to a picture of the gate. “Ok, this angle is from one of the cameras furthest away from the gate, but if you look carefully, you can see a van pull up outside just before eleven o’clock. It waits at the gate for about a minute, reverses back out and drives off.”
They all leaned forward and stared at the screen, but to Evan’s disappointment, nothing else happened. From their angle, all you could see was the van pulling up, waiting, and then pulling away. Nobody exited the van through the driver’s door, and you couldn’t see who was at the wheel.
“How do you know that it’s even connected to Megan’s disappearance?” Robbie asked. “It could have been a delivery, or even a random van driver stopping to answer his phone.”
“Abbey, can you take it back to about twenty seconds before the van pulls up?” Hannah moved around the table, so she could get closer to the screen.
Abbey started the video rolling again, and just as the van came into sight, Hannah instructed her to freeze the picture.
“Look here.” She stepped up to the screen and pointed to the top of the picture. “You can’t see the top half, but I think there are two people just outside the booth.”
Evan stepped forward to get a better look.
“It just looks like the shading is different.” Luke stared at the screen closely. “Are you sure it’s not just a trick of the light?”
“Abbey, can you move it forward slowly, say at ten percent of normal speed, please.” Hannah smiled at her colleague.
Evan watched carefully as the shading seemed to move.
“I think that one is stamping their feet, probably because it’s bloody cold today.” Hannah guessed. “Now, watch as the van pulls in.”
Abbey let the images run at normal speed for almost a minute, and then as the van started to move again, she slowed it down.
“They’re gone.” Robbie breathed.
“They’re gone.” Hannah echoed.
“It could be entirely coincidental, couldn’t it?” JT suggested. “After all, it looked like there were two people standing together. Wouldn’t Megan have been alone?”
Evan nodded.
“That’s right.” He agreed. “She was driving herself over here. Why would she be with anyone else?”
“Why, indeed?” Hannah shrugged. “We won’t know the answer to that until we get the footage from the club’s cameras. They’re on an isolated system which I can’t access directly.”
“The owner was going to arrange to get them sent to me.” Matt confirmed.
“Can you check and see whether they’re on their way yet?” Hannah smiled. “And if not, can you suggest someone pulls their finger out of their ass and hurries it up?”
Matt stepped away from the screen as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Have you tried zooming in to see if you can get the number plate?” Evan glanced at Hannah.
“Shit!” She exclaimed, a look of horror on her face. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Hannah!” Danny growled. “No need to be sarcastic, sweetness. The boy is just worried about his girl.”
Hannah’s expression immediately grew sympathetic.
“I’m sorry, honey.” She was immediately contrite. “I just do this shit a lot. Checking surveillance footage is kinda second nature to Abbey and me. We can usually spot a needle in a haystack at forty paces.”
“I didn’t mean to suggest you didn’t know your job.” Evan shrugged. “I guess I’m just clutching at straws.”
“It’s Ok, Evan.” Hannah smiled. “Just trust me that we’ll be checking every inch of footage available, and following every lead we get, no matter how inconsequential it might seem.”
“We’ve already tried to track the van after it left the stadium, but it’s a busy area, and without clear footage giving us the registration number, it’s not so easy. The make and model aren’t clear, and it’s a common shape.” Abbey explained. “We had a few possibilities, but they’ve either disappeared into the mist, or driven into traffic-cam blackspots.”
“How can they disappear into the mist?” Robbie frowned. “That’s impossible.”
“It was just a figure of speech, honey.” Hannah sat down next to Robbie. “They could’ve just pulled in and parked on the side of a road with no cameras. We don’t have anyone on the ground doing a street search, so they could be out there in plain sight and we’d never know it.”
“With my sister in the back of the van?” Robbie made a good point.
“They could have already switched vehicles.” Hannah shrugged. “Anyway, it’s all second guessing until we get the rest of the camera footage. Once we have that, I’m sure we’ll have a lot more to go on.”
“The footage is about twenty minutes away.” Matt came back into the room. “It’s being brought over as we speak. All the footage from the whole stadium for the last six hours.”
“Excellent.” Hannah smiled. “Now, if someone could kindly point me in the direction of the various facili
ties, I’d like to freshen up.”
Matt looked around the room.
“Lacey? Could you show Hannah where the ladies’ bathroom is?” He nodded to his former PA.
“Sure, Matt.” Lacey smiled at Hannah. “If you’d like to come with me?”
“Where are Suzy and Claire?” Hannah looked around.
“Claire is downstairs, organising some caterers to provide refreshments for the rest of the day. She’ll be up as soon as she’s done.” Matt nodded. “Suzy was out running errands. She’ll be along as soon as she gets my message.”
Evan noticed the way Hannah’s eyebrows rose, but the tech genius said nothing.
“Ok, well if the footage shows up while I’m getting cleaned up, make sure Abbey gets it as soon as it arrives.” Hannah instructed. “She can get it uploaded for when I get back.”
As Hannah followed Lacey out of the room, Robbie turned to Evan with a frown.
“Is that the person you told me was going to fix everything, and bring Megan home to us?” He murmured. “She doesn’t look like she’d know how to deal with something like this.”
Danny leaned across the table until he was in Robbie’s direct line of sight.
“My wife has been involved in multiple kidnapping situations, not least her own and her mother’s.” He said quietly. “She not only has the intelligence and technical ability to track down our kidnappers, she has the emotional connection with both the victim and their family to want to make it her absolute priority.”
JT stepped up behind Danny and looked straight at Robbie.
“Everything that can be done to find your sister will be done, I promise you.” He said with conviction. “Be patient, stay calm, and co-operate by giving us every scrap of information you can think of, and let us do the rest.”
Evan watched Robbie nod his agreement and felt his heart break for the kid. This wasn’t the sort of thing a nineteen-year-old should have to go through.
Hell, he didn’t want to go through it, and he was thirty-two!
Chapter 42 – Suzy
The van had continued driving for another hour before it finally stopped, and as they were dragged from the back, Suzy had tripped on the rough ground, causing her hood to slip sideways.
The man behind her had pushed her head down before she’d been able to see much, but she’d noticed the building they were being taken into looked derelict, like it hadn’t been occupied in decades.
As they were pushed towards the building, she could smell the country air, and got the distinct feeling they were miles from the city.
Apart from the sound of their own footsteps, she hadn’t heard any noise whatsoever, and there was nothing about the cracked and crumbling concrete they were walking on that gave her any clue where they were.
“Take them downstairs.” The voice instructed, and she was pushed towards a staircase that had seen a lot of footfall in its time.
As she cautiously stepped forward, she could see out of the bottom of the hood, and the grey stone steps looked shiny and worn.
A yelp behind her sounded like it came from Megan, and without warning, Suzy was pushed from behind, falling forward with only her bound hands to protect her.
“Grab her!” A man yelled, but it was much too late for the idiot guiding her to realise what was going on, and Suzy toppled forward, head first, rolling down maybe eight or nine steps.
She landed at the bottom, her head banging on the floor, and her leg twisted awkwardly beneath her.
Just as she cried out from the pain in her ankle, she heard a noise behind her, and a second later Megan landed on top of her, knocking Suzy’s head sideways onto the solid concrete floor.
“Fuck me!” Suzy hissed as her cheek and eye-socket exploded with pain.
“Are you Ok? I’m so sorry…”
Hands seemed to grab them both at once, and they were dragged to their feet.
“For fuck’s sake, can’t you do a simple thing like walk two bitches down some steps?” This sounded like the same man who’d taken their names earlier.
“Sorry boss.” One of the men holding them grunted. “The steps were slippery.”
“Put them in the room, and make sure the door’s locked.”
As soon as the man pulled her forward, forcing her to put weight on her ankle, Suzy cried out in pain, a red mist clouding her vision. Was it broken?
“What’s wrong with her?” The man yelled, and Suzy could hear his footsteps.
She tried to hop on one foot, but the pain didn’t seem to be receding at all.
“What’s wrong with you?” He grabbed her arm and shook her.
“Ankle.” She hissed. “I think it’s broken.”
She felt a hand pulling her trouser leg up, and heard someone behind her whistle, as though he was impressed.
“She ain’t gonna be running anywhere anytime soon.” Someone observed with a chuckle.
“Fucking asshole!”
For a second Suzy thought the man was talking to her, but she quickly realised he was talking to his own man.
She heard a rustling in front of her, and the next thing she knew something was shoved into her stomach, and she was being lifted and thrown over someone’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Argh!” She yelled as her foot smacked something hard. “Stop! Please?”
Whoever was carrying her obviously wasn’t the listening kind, because he took off at a march, heading further into the building.
A minute later, her arm brushed against something cold and smooth, and felt herself being lowered to the floor.
“Sit down!” Suzy hated obeying orders, but under the circumstances, she didn’t have any choice but to do what she was told.
She felt herself being jostled and realised Megan had been pushed to the floor next to her.
“I’m going to remove your hand restraints, but you’re to keep the hoods on until you hear the door close. Understood?” The voice didn’t sound like the man was inviting her to argue. “You’ll probably be here for a day or two.”
As she felt the ties being cut, Suzy winced as the circulation started to seep back into her fingers.
“Don’t bother trying to scream.” The voice warned. “We’re miles from anywhere, so nobody will hear you.”
Suzy rubbed her wrists as she heard the footsteps fade away.
The slamming of the door made her jump, and she sat quietly for a few seconds until she was sure they’d actually gone.
Slowly she lifted the hood from her eyes, and when she saw the room was empty, she pulled it off completely.
“Megan, it’s Ok, they’ve gone.” She whispered to the woman beside her.
Megan lifted the hood from her head and looked around.
“Are you Ok?” She whispered.
Suzy touched her fingers to her swollen face. They came away speckled with blood from a few grazes.
“Apart from a fractured cheekbone and a broken ankle, you mean?” Suzy winced. “Just peachy!”
“Oh, Suzy!” Megan cried. “I’m so sorry. Someone pushed me, and I lost my footing. I never meant to hurt you.”
“Of course, you didn’t.” Suzy reached over and grabbed Megan’s cold hand. “None of this is your fault, Megan. It’s those assholes out there that are to blame.”
“Why are they doing this?” Megan hissed. “What do they hope to gain?”
“Money, if you ask me.” Suzy guessed. “I think they’re going to hold us to ransom.”
“But why us? They didn’t even know who we were.” Megan argued. “They had to ask us what our names were.”
“True.” Suzy nodded. “But when the guy gave our names to the person he was talking to on the phone, they didn’t let us go. That means they know who we are and are confident they can get money for us.”
“Are you rich?” Megan asked, obviously unable to tell from the way Suzy was looking now.
“I guess we’re rich enough.” Suzy shrugged. “My husband is a director of a large security co
mpany, so we’ve got quite a bit of money invested and in the bank.”
“Well, I’m not married to anybody, and my parents are both dead.” Megan said quietly. “There’s really only me and…”
Suzy turned to look at Megan, wondering why she’d stopped talking.
“Me and who? What were you going to say, Megan?” Suzy urged.
“Me and my brother, Robbie.” Megan whispered. “Robbie Jones, the footballer.”
“And there we have it.” Suzy snorted. “Whoever has set this up knows exactly who we both are, and that we’re both linked to people who have access to money.”
“But nobody knew we’d be at the stadium.” Megan argued. “You walked there because you needed your bag, and I was there following an invitation about ninety minutes earlier. Nobody could have predicted it.”
“I guess we weren’t the intended target, then.” Suzy shrugged. “Not that it matters much. We’re here now, and it looks like we’re not going anywhere until a ransom is paid.”
She looked around the room, noticing the light was coming from windows high up on the walls.
“We’re in a basement of sorts.” She murmured. “We just have to figure out where we are, and how we’re gonna get out of here.”
Megan stared at her in shock.
“Have you looked at your foot, Suzy?” Megan pointed to her swollen ankle. “How far do you think we’re going to get with you in that condition?”
“Out in the open, running along a straight road? Maybe twenty metres.” Suzy smirked. “In woodland, possibly in the dark, ducking and diving, bobbing and weaving? Maybe thirty metres. But if we can dodge those assholes for long enough, we just might be able to get away.”
“Ok, I think you banged your head harder than I originally thought.” Megan frowned. “How about you let me do something with your ankle before the swelling gets too bad. We can worry about your delusions later.”
Suzy smiled serenely, knowing she had a secret.
She was Alpha Company! She just had to fucking act like it!
Chapter 43 – Matt
As soon as the call came through to say there was a delivery for him at reception, Matt was out of the door taking the stairs four at a time.