Gray took the lead up the marble staircase, looking up while Sonny covered their rear. At the top he had two choices: left or right. He went left, hugging the wall and focusing on the doors to either side.
It was the wrong decision.
Sonny let off a burst in the opposite direction just as a bullet slammed into the wall next to Gray’s head. He turned and saw someone he’d been hoping to meet disappearing through a doorway.
Linda Myers.
Sonny was already on his way, and Gray tucked in on Sonny’s left as they crept along the landing. When they came to the door, it was slightly ajar. He told Sonny to get on the other side of the doorway, then pushed it open with the barrel of his rifle.
Shots rang out, and Sonny stuck the nose of his HK into the doorway and emptied half a magazine. Gray joined in, and when Sonny stopped firing he took a couple of steps into the room looking for Myers.
He saw a woman’s arm sticking out behind a sofa. Gray approached, rifle at the ready, and he gradually saw the rest of her. Myers was lying on her back, her right hand on her throat as she tried to stem the flow of blood.
Gray stood over her as her fading eyes stared at him with defiance. It wasn’t how he’d wanted her to be when he faced her, helpless on the floor with her life ebbing away. He’d imagined getting his hands around her throat and taking her life while she was able to defend herself, not watching her bleed out on a very expensive carpet.
Regardless, she’d taken his daughter and would pay for it.
“This is from Andrew,” he said, and put a round in her left knee. Her face contorted, but she didn’t have the strength to move.
Sonny came and stood next to him. “Is this Myers?”
Gray nodded, and Sonny put a bullet in her other kneecap. “That’s for Len.”
He turned and walked back to the door, leaving Gray alone with her.
“Normally I’d put one in your head,” said Gray, “but you don’t deserve it. I want you to die slowly, in as much pain as possible.”
He fired one more round straight through her belly button, guaranteeing that her last moments would be intolerable.
He walked back out of the room, to where Sonny was waiting, then pointed down the corridor.
There was work still to be done.
Gray was just about to try the knob of the next door when he heard shouting coming from the ground floor.
“Drop your weapons or the girls die!”
Gray and Sonny ran to the balcony and stood at the railing, looking down at the grand hallway below. Colback and Eva had their rifles aimed at two of Langton’s men.
One was holding Alana and had a knife to her throat, and the other had a pistol pointed at Melissa’s head. Ten yards to their right, the man he guessed must be Langton stood with his hands on his hips.
“Let them go,” Eva said, her aim never wavering. “It’s me you want.”
Langton laughed. “Really? Hand over my only insurance? I don’t think so. What I will do is let you tell me how you found me.”
From his vantage point, Gray looked down at the classic standoff. If Driscoll were to shoot, Alana would be okay but Melissa’s fate was far from certain. Unless it was a perfect shot that closed down the man’s brain instantly, the dying man’s reflexes would kill his little girl.
He had to end this without gunfire.
An idea came to him. It was crazy, but worth a try. If it failed, they could always resort to plan A: shoot the fuckers. He whispered instructions to Sonny and watched his friend disappear to carry them out.
“The photo you sent of the girls had GPS coordinates in the metadata,” Gray said to Langton as he walked down the stairs, gun locked on the man holding Melissa.
“Ah, you must be Tom Gray. I must reproach Myers for her mistake. Not quite the camera expert she claimed to be.”
“Then you’d better hurry. She’s only got a few seconds left.”
Gray reached the bottom of the stairs and slung his rifle over his shoulder, knowing Eva and Colback had the guards covered.
“Daddy!”
The cry broke Gray’s heart, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before she was in his arms once more.
“Stay still, darling. It’ll all be over soon.”
They heard a whistle, and when Gray looked up, Sonny threw Myers’s phone down to him. Gray opened it and turned on the camera, setting it to record.
He stood facing the men holding the children. “Is this the man who pays you?” he asked, pointing at Langton.
One of them nodded.
“Good. Because in about one minute, Eva’s going to kill him. Then you have to decide what you’re going to do. You can either kill the girls, in which case you not only won’t get paid, but you’ll be dead, too. I’ll be recording it, and I’ll make sure the video goes viral. I don’t know if you’ve got wives, or mothers, or children, but they’ll remember you as baby killers. Or you can let the girls go. We’ll let you leave the island with whatever you can carry to make up for lost wages. You should be able to get a few million for some of these pictures on the wall.”
The two men looked at each other.
“Don’t even think about it,” growled Langton. “You work for me!”
The men were clearly undecided.
“I’ll give you a ten-million-dollar bonus,” Langton said, clearly realizing how precarious his position was.
“Not much good to ’em if they’re dead.” Gray turned back to the soldiers. “Fifteen seconds left. Live well or die horribly, the choice is yours.”
The one holding Alana tightened the grip on his knife for a few seconds, then let it drop to the floor. Melissa’s captor released his grip, and she ran to Gray.
“Cowards!” Langton yelled, and pulled a pistol from inside his immaculately tailored suit jacket. He raised it and aimed at Eva, but Sonny was quicker. He let off a round that caught the old man in the shoulder, sending him spinning. Langton hit the wall and the gun flew out of his hand. He slid down, clutching his arm.
The two remaining soldiers looked apprehensive. Eva and Colback still had their guns trained on them, their fingers itchy on the triggers.
“Toss your weapons,” Gray told them. “Eva, let them go.”
Eva lowered her weapon and watched the two men visibly relax. One of them held out Alana, and Colback took the baby from him.
Gray hugged his daughter, tears welling in his eyes.
“Daddy, she said you weren’t coming.” She was crying as she spoke, and it was a heartbreaking sound.
“I know, darling, but she was wrong. I’ll never leave you, ever again.”
Eva stood next to Gray. “Clever move, but just so you know, we could have taken them.”
“And you could have killed my daughter. My way worked better. Besides, they were just earning a living, same as when you hired Sonny and Len.”
At the mention of Len’s name, Gray felt a hole in the center of his chest. With his daughter finally safe, his grief for his old friend threatened to overwhelm him.
Eva had walked over to Langton and now stood in front of him. “Get out,” she told the others. “This one’s mine.”
Gray looked over and saw the look in her eyes. He knew what was coming, and he didn’t want Melissa to witness it.
“Stay here, darling,” he said to his daughter.
He strolled over to Eva and stood next to her. “Consider yourself lucky,” he said to Langton in a soft voice his daughter wouldn’t hear. “I promised Eva that I would leave you to her. I guess she’s gonna do some fucked-up things to you, but if I had my way, it would be a lot worse. Before she starts, though, I’m going to your quarters and I’m going to help myself to your stuff. All those precious trinkets you’ve traded for human life and misery are now mine. I’m a nobody, someone who’s done nothing to deserve them, but I’m taking them and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Langton said nothing, but his sheen of arrogance had been wiped away.
Gra
y managed a half laugh. “Doesn’t it feel terrible to be powerless,” he said. “You’ve had everyone on this planet dancing to your tune for all these years, and now you’re the one on the receiving end of a shafting. You think we’re scum, worthless peons, but now we’re going to walk away with everything dear to you. I hope you choke on that thought before you die.”
Gray turned to Eva. “Give us five minutes.”
He walked over to take Melissa’s hand, then spoke to what was left of Langton’s security force. “Show me his room.”
The two men led Gray and Melissa up the stairs. Gray had his gun handy in case they tried anything, but they seemed content with the situation they’d found themselves in.
On the landing, they indicated three doors. Gray chose not to go into the room where Myers would now be lying dead. Instead, he chose the third door, which opened into a bedroom.
“Have a look around for anything pretty,” he said to Melissa.
They pulled open drawers and cupboards but found very little inside. He looked for a safe, while Melissa explored an adjoining dressing room. Gray looked behind every picture on the wall, but none concealed a safe of any description.
“Daddy, this is nice.”
Gray followed her into the dressing room and saw her holding up an old-fashioned pocket watch.
“Where did you get that?”
“In here.”
Gray looked in the drawer and saw at least three dozen more watches. Underneath each was a piece of paper. He took out the one that had been underneath the pocket watch and saw that it was a certificate of authenticity. He knew nothing about timepieces, but guessed it might be worth a few thousand dollars, especially with the accompanying paperwork.
He found a small carry-on bag in the corner of the dressing room and emptied the drawer into it.
He considered looking for some clothes to replace the wetsuit he was wearing, but Langton’s would have been too small. He would have to put up with it for now.
“That should do,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
He threw the bag over his shoulder and held her hand as he led her back downstairs. Eva hadn’t moved an inch. He heard a noise behind him and turned to see the two surviving members of Langton’s security team walking down the stairs. They had their own bounty wrapped in silk sheets, and seemed almost buoyant as they headed for the door.
“Hey, do me a favor,” he said to them. “Go and find some clothes for me and the others. This thing’s beginning to chafe. Also, I need a changing kit for the baby and a couple of body bags.”
One of them dropped his loot and jogged back up the stairs, while Gray spoke to the other.
“How do we get off this island? Is there a boat or something?”
“Better. There’s a private jet on the north of the island.”
“And the pilots? Don’t tell me we killed them.”
“No, they stay in a residence by the runway.”
“Great. Meet us there.”
“Will do. And . . . I’m sorry. That wasn’t what I signed up for.”
“I know.” Gray had banked on the two men to be working for Langton to earn a dollar, not because they wanted to kill innocents for fun. His guess had been right.
“You’ll find a few vehicles around the back of the house,” the man added. “Out the door and turn right. The keys are in the Jeeps.”
“Which way to the airfield?”
“Follow the road until you come to a fork, and go left.”
Gray thanked him and joined up with Sonny and Colback, who was doing his best to comfort the screaming baby.
“We’ve got transport home,” Gray told them. “We’re taking Len and Carl with us.”
“I’ll help you,” Sonny said.
“Okay, but first let’s get these two to the plane.”
Gray told Eva the plan, and she nodded before dragging Langton to his feet and pushing him through a doorway. She closed the door quietly, and as Gray left the house, he heard the faintest of screams coming from the depths of the mansion.
Eva had been keen to get started, and he didn’t envy Henry Langton one bit.
They followed the directions Gray had been given and found four Jeeps lined up at the rear of the building. Sonny drove, and five minutes later they’d navigated the dark roads and found the airport.
Gray had been expecting something along the lines of the Citation they’d used the previous day, not the full-blown passenger jet parked next to a simple, two-story structure.
Gray told Melissa to wait in the car, and knocked on the house’s door. A light came on upstairs, and a minute later the door was opened by a sleepy-eyed man in his fifties.
“Get the plane ready,” Gray said. “We’re leaving.”
“What?” the man asked, rubbing his eyes. “I didn’t receive any orders. Plus I need personal authorization from Danby.” He looked Gray up and down, as if noticing the wetsuit and bare feet for the first time.
“He’s dead,” Gray said, bringing the M4A1 into view. “Want to join him?”
The man put his hands up and backed into the room, shaking his head now that he was wide awake. Gray followed him in.
“You’ll be taking us to Heathrow, England.”
“Okay, but we’ll need to refuel her first.”
“No problem. Once that’s done, go down to the house and collect anything you want. Call it severance pay. Just don’t try to call anyone. One of my men will be with you, so no funny business.”
“Understood. I’ll have to go and wake John. He’s the pilot.”
“Then let’s go.”
Gray followed him up the steps and waited while he knocked on a door. The man who opened it was also in his late forties to early fifties.
“Have you got any idea what time it—”
The copilot cut him off and explained the situation. The captain declared it quite unorthodox, but once he found out about the free pickings back at the main house, his manner improved.
“How long before we can get in the air?” Gray asked.
“A couple of hours,” the captain said in an English public school accent. “We’ll need to pump her full of Jet A-1, which takes about twenty minutes. Then we have to perform our preflight checks. You do realize that we’ll have to stop for more fuel on the way, don’t you?”
“That’s fine, just as long as it’s a quick turnaround.”
“It usually is. We’ll contact Panama and let them know we’re coming.”
“Good. I’ll let you get changed.”
Gray started back down the steps, then stopped. “I don’t suppose you’ve got anything to eat here? We’re starving.”
“Kitchen’s downstairs, first on the right. There’s some spaghetti left over from last night, if that’s any good.”
“That’ll do nicely.”
Gray went to find the food and put a big bowl of it in the microwave, then went to fetch his daughter.
“Daddy, I’m sooooo hungry.”
“Then you come with me. I’ve got the perfect thing.”
He took her into the house and sat her at the small kitchen table. When the microwave pinged, he put the bowl in front of her and gave her a fork and spoon. “Dig in, darling. I just have to go and make a phone call.”
CHAPTER 38
Andrew Harvey felt as tense as Sarah looked. Only Veronica Ellis seemed to be in control of her emotions as they sat in her glass palace, waiting for the phone call.
The deadline had passed fifteen minutes earlier. An hour ago, he’d added a new comment to the YouTube video, asking for another twenty-four hours and claiming that he’d been chasing down some strong leads.
He’d refreshed the page every ten seconds, looking for a reply, but to no avail.
“What if they didn’t get there in time?” Sarah asked.
“It’s Tom we’re talking about. He’ll get there.”
“But what if something went wrong? What if—”
Andrew jumped as the phone in
his hand started playing a tune. He looked at the caller ID and saw a familiar number. He knew he’d seen it recently and tried to remember where.
The answer leapt out and shocked him.
“It’s Myers,” he said. The cell phone continued to sing out to him, and he reluctantly hit the Connect button and put the call on speaker.
“About bloody time,” Gray said. “I thought you were never gonna answer.”
“Oh, thank God!” Sarah said, the tears finally coming after days on edge. She threw her arms around her fiancé.
“Are the girls okay?” Andrew asked, still hugging Sarah tightly.
“They’re fine. A little hungry, but we’re working on that as we speak.”
There was a collective sigh in the room. After almost three days of waiting, it was a huge relief to finally have some good news.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Andrew said. “Do you have a way to get off the island, or do you need our help?”
“No, we’re gonna take the old man’s private jet. They’re getting it ready as we speak. I think it’ll be about ten hours to Panama, a couple of hours to refuel, then twelve to Heathrow. Expect us there at about three tomorrow afternoon.”
“We’ll be there waiting for you,” Andrew said. “Is there anything you need?”
The phone went quiet for a few moments. “Two coffins.”
Ellis’s hands went to her mouth, and Andrew bowed his head. “Who didn’t make it?”
“Carl and Len.”
Andrew choked back a cry. When he’d seen them off three days earlier, his thoughts had only been for his daughter’s safe return; it never once crossed his mind that his friends might not make it back.
“How did it happen?”
“I’ll tell you when we get home. See you tomorrow.”
Gray hung up.
They sat in silence for a while, each coming to terms with the news in their own way.
“I can’t believe Len’s gone,” Andrew said. “I always thought those guys were invincible.”
“Me too,” Sarah agreed.
“Tom must hate me for getting them involved in this.”
Gray had certainly sounded cold and distant during the call. Perhaps his relief at getting his daughter back had been tempered by Len’s death . . . or maybe it was loathing that Andrew had heard.
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