Nicole, sudddenly with both arms free, lifted her hands to his face and dug her sharp nails deep into both cheeks, ripping them downwards.
The man recoiled in agony when deep red scratch marks swelled up on both sides of his face. Now totally incensed, he half sat up and patted his face with his hands.
At that instant, as he clenched his fists to deliver his retaliation, Nicole jerked up her right knee with all her strength and connected with his testicles.
The man shuddered in agony as Nicole crawled further away from underneath him towards the head of the bed.
She quickly bent both her knees into her chest, stuck her feet into his abdomen, straightened her legs with all her strength, propelling him backwards and landing him on his back on the floor.
The French woman wasted no time while the man lay there nursing his balls.
Jumping from the bed and making for the door, she flung it open and staggered down the corridor towards a staircase leading up to the main deck.
She ran up the steps and out through a steel door while hearing her assailant running down the corridor below her.
Out on the main deck there was no one about. She frantically started looking for a place to hide.
Passing a louvered plant room door, Nicole noticed a padlock securing the door had not been snapped closed.
She quickly removed the lock and entered the room, pulling the door closed behind her. Inside, the room was crammed with electrical panels, ‘High Voltage’ switchgear and miles of cables.
Soon Nicole heard the sailor running along the deck outside. She stood behind the door motionless, holding her breadth and listening, her heart pounding in her ears. She looked through the slats in the louvered door and could see the sailor lifting the canvas cover on a nearby lifeboat and peering in. Seeing nobody inside, he quickly continued along the deck passing the plant room.
He looked over the side of the ship to see if she had jumped overboard. ‘Not very likely.’
‘Ah the Electrical room,’ he thought. ‘No! Not very likely either’ when he read the large ‘Keep Door Locked at All Times’ sign over the door. He walked across nonetheless and noticed the door was unlocked. He quickly went inside and turned the light switch on. Nothing happened. The bulb was blown. He stood there in semi darkness save for the glimmer of light from the run-trip lamps on the front of the electrical panels and the half open entrance door. Standing still, holding his breath, he listened in the confined space for any sign of life. All he could hear was the whirring sound of the engines far below and the intermittent buzzing sound from the electrical equipment. He moved forward in the poorly lit space to look behind a large electrical panel at the back of the room when the entrance door slammed shut behind him leaving him in total darkness. He jumped with fright and edged back cautiously towards the exit.
‘She wouldn’t hide in here. It’s too scary,’ the seaman convinced himself.
Back outside he ran to another life boat. ‘Nothing inside.’
Unable to find the elusive woman anywhere outside, he started to panic. He decided to go back inside the ship to search for her. Nicole waited for a few moments before emerging from her hiding place behind the large electrical panel. She gently pushed open the louvered door and ran across to the lifeboat the sailor had previously checked, lifted the canvas cover and climbed inside.
72
Chief Inspector Meyer and Superintendent Burke arrived punctually at Grasmere cottage the following morning. Burke was a middle aged over weight man of medium height with a round ugly face. Parker thought he looked far too short to be a policeman. ‘He must have some hidden talent to have reached the rank of Superintendent.’
He studied the Swiss policeman whom he had not met before. He thought he portrayed the quintessential tough cop, rugged features and stocky build. His tightly shaven head disguised his thinning hair line.
‘What can you tell us Meyer about progress on the case?’
‘No further developments to report I’m afraid since you spoke with Superintendent Burke last night. However, I have some questions for you Dr. Parker.’
‘I hope I can be of help! ‘
‘What on earth is going on here? Two British police colleagues and I arrived at your gate yesterday morning to be greeted by two helicopters flying around in circles over your house, one of them a full military gunship no less. A shoot-out ensued between two rival gangs and at the end of all this, Madame Nicole Lehman, the chief suspect in the murder of her husband, wanted by Swiss police, is abducted from your house right under our noses by one of these gangs. Explain please.’
‘That would be difficult Dieter,’ interjected Durand. ‘Harry wasn’t here. He was abroad on business and only got back late last night.’
‘Ok. Let’s take things nice and slowly and go back to three or four weeks ago. Now Dr. Parker when did Ms. Lehman start to reside in Grasmere Cottage?’
‘She is not residing here. She was merely staying over as a house guest until she got herself sorted out.’
‘Sorted out in a prison cell I should think,’ interjected Burke in a sarcastic tone.
‘Well Superintendent Burke, Nicole has not been charged with any offence,’ confirmed Durand.
‘We can’t get our hands on her to prefer charges would be more like it,’ snapped Burke
Meyer glared at Durand. ‘A warrant has been issued for her arrest by Swiss police. I informed you of this.’
‘Listen Gentlemen,’ intervened Parker. ‘Once and for all, Nicole Lehman is totally innocent. She had nothing to do with her husband’s murder. She has been stalked by a criminal organization determined to prevent her publishing her husband’s research. Now she has been kidnapped by this same gang and her life is in grave danger. All I want to hear from you Meyer and Burke is what the police are doing to get her back, alive?’
‘We’re doing everything possible to track down the kidnappers,’ assured the Swiss CI. ‘We have Scotland yard on the job, along with French police and Interpol. The media have gotten hold of the story and it’s being covered widely on all News channels. We are awaiting a report from the RAF about the Typhoon fighter jets that pursued the gunship helicopter. No sightings of it have been made since it left the Cornish coast.’
‘Very strange!’ Interjected Durand.
‘Local air traffic control couldn’t detect it either. We believe it was flying below the radar detection threshold.’
Changing the subject Burke asked, ‘Dr. Parker, have you received any contact from the kidnappers?’
‘No contact has been made with us whatsoever.’
‘These two rival gangs, we know from Interpol sources that one of them is a leading family in the French underworld, headed up by a notorious character, Jacques Bonnet. But who is the other gang that had the military helicopter?’
Parker gestured with his hands and shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.
‘Probably some splinter group in the French underworld involved in some power struggle with Bonnet,’ suggested Durand helpfully.
‘Pulling off a stunt like this using military aircraft is some power struggle don’t you think?’ remarked Burke.
‘Parker, you must inform us the instant the kidnappers make contact. Any delay in a correct police response could be the difference between life and death for Madame Lehman,’ warned Meyer.
‘Both Policemen departed soon afterwards.
Parker and Durand sat down, had a drink and resigned themselves to a long wait for the kidnappers to make contact.
73
A ship wide search for the missing prisoner was immediately launched after the rating eventually went to his superior’s office to report her missing. His superior put two and two together when he saw the deep scratch marks on the young sailor’s face. He withdrew his gun from a leather holster and pistol whipped the rating around the head until he fell to the ground.
‘Your balls for brains could have cost us an all-out security alert, mothafucka.’
Alas, her hopes were short lived. Five minutes later the canvas cover was lifted-up and a uniformed sailor looked in. Nicole was bundled out of the lifeboat and brought up to the bridge. The Captain was standing in the middle of the control room surrounded by a crew of busy technicians. He was a tall man with blond hair and dark beard. His cruel mouth and black uniform made him look menacing and dangerous. The crew under his command were all focused on their respective tasks of navigation, on-board security and external communications with some mysterious control center. The French woman heard them talking in a foreign language she didn’t recognize.
‘You! Come this way now,’ demanded the Captain impatiently, leading her in to a small briefing room beside the bridge.
‘I have instructions to keep you prisoner on board this ship until my superiors decide what to do with you. So please do not provoke me by causing any more trouble or I may have to carry out other measures that are at my discretion. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Why yes Captain. Just keep your ‘Gorillas’ away from me and there won’t be any more trouble.’
She thought for a moment about the Captain’s discretionary measures. ‘No doubt they are bad news for me.’ Nicole decided the tougher she sounded the longer she would survive.
‘Who the fuck are you? What do you want from me?’
‘Feisty young woman! That much you certainly are. Well, first, you will make a recorded message to be sent to your associate, Dr. Parker. We will be requesting you to co-operate with us in return for food and water.’
‘I have had nothing to eat or drink since being taken prisoner yesterday.’
‘Unfortunately, this situation will continue until after the recording Ms. Lehman,’ asserted the captain with a dispassionate cynical smile.
‘But I cannot survive very long without water.’
‘One other matter you might be able to help us with, Ms. Lehman, the whereabouts of a certain glass vial containing a substance Dr. Philips and Professor Lehman developed?’
‘I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Really Ms. Lehman! We have information to the contrary that you are well acquainted with your late husband’s work.’
‘I don’t recall anything involving vials.’
‘Perhaps in the morning we can refresh your memory for you. For now, you will be brought back to your room and an audio recording of a plea for your life will be made immediately. This recording will give your associate, Dr. Parker, sufficient proof of your current well-being and a clear understanding of your fragile situation. I stress, your well-being cannot be guaranteed for very long if Dr. Parker fails to carry out all instructions contained in the recording.’
Nicole said nothing. She looked down at the floor and for the first time started to feel sheer terror. The man standing in front of her scared her to death. He was intelligent, determined and totally evil.
‘You look quite forlorn Ms. Lehman.’
She summoned up her inner strength, one of her enduring qualities. She turned her head and looked him straight in the eye. ‘Don’t worry about me Blackbeard. You won’t get away with this. You don’t realize who you’re fucking with.’
The Captain surprised with the ferocity of her glances, displayed an acidic smile while hand gesturing to his senior assistant, standing at the door, to escort her back to her room.
‘You bastards won’t get away with this.’ asserted the French woman before she was led away.
When Nicole was returned to her room, she noted the room number over the door while she entered. The Captain’s assistant placed a recording device on the bed and handed her a microphone and a sheet of paper with a prepared message written on it.
‘Read this now and say nothing more than what’s written here,’ commanded the assistant before he pressed the record button.
Nicole started to read the note in a very shaky voice.
‘This is a recorded message. Please listen carefully. I am being held captive by an organization that wants you to deliver all of Professor Lehman’s research papers, records, CDs and clinical trial data including a glass vial containing a sample of iDrug to a location that will be disclosed in a later dispatch.’ She stopped and coughed.
‘I’m being held captive and have received no food or water since my capture. I’m in grave danger and my captors have threatened to kill me if you do not obey their instructions.’’ She coughed again.
‘If you want to see me alive, I beg you to co-operate with them.’ Nicole finished the recording and remained silent.
The Captain’s assistant turned off the recorder, picked it up and went to exit the room. He beckoned to someone outside. After a short wait he turned around towards Nicole holding a small plate of sandwiches and a jug of water.
‘Madame! For you,’ is all he uttered before he placed the food on the bed, turned and disappeared out of the room locking the door behind him.
Nicole drank the water in one go and wolfed down the sandwiches. Little did she know the Captain ordered the assistant not to give her anything whatsoever to eat or drink. She lay down on the bed and tried to sleep. She was getting increasingly troubled about her situation. Her meeting with the captain had deeply upset her. While she kept up a brave face in front of him, she was getting increasingly desperate. Now in the relative calm and stillness of the room, her mind wandered over what the enemy’s next move might be. She knew they had no reason to keep her alive beyond a few days. She considered now that she had made the tape, perhaps they would dispose of her as early as the next morning.
‘Oh Harry! For God’s sake, come quickly’, she whispered in a despairing voice as she lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling.
74
The following morning the media had gathered for a second day outside Grasmere’s front gates with a TV camera waiting to hold on-the-spot interviews with just about anybody that happened to pass in front of the camera.
Inside, the two men sat in the kitchen patiently waiting for the kidnappers to make contact. As things turned out, they wouldn’t have long to wait.
Parker’s mobile phone rang. He held the phone to his ear for a few seconds before signaling to Durand.
‘It’s them!’
Parker listened to pre-recorded instructions from the abductors followed by a recorded message from Nicole.
‘They want me to go in person and handover all of Karl’s research records and bring along some glass vial to a rendezvous point in Paris next Saturday or they will kill her.’
Both men looked forlorn.
‘Harry, they want Karl’s CDs fair enough. They must know we can quite easily copy them. I don’t know the significance of the glass vial. What they really want is you. Same as Nicole, you know too much. It’s a trap. There’s nothing to be gained putting yourself in danger like this?’
‘But what choice have I got. We don’t have a clue where she’s being held. We can’t launch a rescue attempt. We can do nothing. I have no choice but to go along with their demands.’
‘You’re no good to her dead. Don’t go to Paris Harry. You must bargain with them. The CDs in exchange for Nicole?’
‘They’re holding all the cards. Offering any alternative that excludes me is a non-runner from their perspective. No, I think we need to play along with them for as long as possible. They must be told I’ll go to the rendezvous point in Paris. I won’t make any handover until I have clear evidence Nicole is safe. That way I get to keep her alive at least until the weekend.’
‘How can you contact them?’
‘I can’t. Their messages were pre-recorded, and their caller I.D. was withheld. No doubt they’ll make two-way contact before long.’
‘You think the police can help?’
‘I don’t know. They don’t have the
full picture. By the time they get mobilized, the game will be up for Nicole. Maybe my contact in the Foreign office can help. I plan to meet him in two days’ time to debrief him on my visit to Moscow. I couldn’t give a damn about Moscow and bloody Russian conglomerates. I’ll call Hadley this morning and try to meet him earlier. He’ll probably tell me to leave it in the hands of the police’
‘Let me hear the message from the kidnappers, Harry.’
Parker handed him his phone.
Durand listened intently to Nicole’s pre-recorded message while Parker noticed a curious smile appearing on his face.
‘Listen to her.’
Parker held the phone to his ear.
‘Do you hear anything unusual?’
‘Not particularly’
‘Can you hear her coughing?’
‘Yes, now that you mention it, I can hear some coughing.’
Nicole and I, when we were children, used to play spy games. We would baffle other kids by being able to communicate with each other without saying a word.’
‘Indeed! Replied Parker indifferently.’
‘Well we used certain inconspicuous hand signals for vowels, and foot movements for consonants. We combined these two actions to form words, while coughing was reserved for numbers.’
Parker was only half listening. ‘I can here Nicole coughing on two or three occasions.’
‘Let me listen again.’ Durand put the phone to his ear.
‘Yes, on three separate occasions, you’re quite correct.
‘But to the trained ear, I detect differences in each cough. Listen.’
Parker listened but could not detect much difference in the coughs.
‘The middle cough sounds a touch longer.’
‘That’s because it is. The first and third cough represents the number ‘one’. The middle cough represents ‘three’. Nicole is telling us she is being held somewhere in some premises, a house or a room with number 131.’
The Karl Lehman Affair Page 23