‘I told him not to!’

‘He mentioned that. He made me promise not to say anything if I didn’t like it. But, as it turned out, I loved it. So maybe don’t be too angry with him.’

Angry? There was no room for angry.

Other than the day she had met Matt, this was the best day of her life.

Sunday, 8 March 2020, 6.45 a.m.

Annabelle

Matt was looking at her with an earnest expression. It was, to tell the truth, a little desperate.

‘So what is it?’ Annabelle said.

‘We track you. And when the kids are safe, we get you back.’

She nodded slowly. ‘How? They’re going to search me. I can’t imagine they’ll let me have my phone so you can look on the “where’s my phone” app?’

‘I don’t know yet.’ He sipped his tea. ‘Maybe a tracking device, something like that.’

She shook her head. A tracking device would easily be discovered, unless it was some James Bond type thing she ate or hid inside her body, and where would they get something like that?

‘How would I hide it?’ she said.

‘I don’t know. But there must be a way to keep track of you. And it doesn’t need to be for long. As soon as I have the kids, I can call the police.’

She pictured herself in a car with a faceless kidnapper, looking out of the window as her family receded from view. She knew it probably wouldn’t be like that, but that was the image that came to mind.’

‘I just wish there was a way you could follow me,’ she said. ‘I wish you could fly, so high that you were invisible, like an eagle, then swoop down and rescue me.’

He stared at her, his mouth slowly falling open.

‘Annie,’ he said. ‘There is a way I can do exactly that.’

‘How?’

‘A drone.’

She was about to dismiss the idea, but she paused. There was a problem, though. ‘Won’t it be obvious, buzzing up there?’

‘I don’t know,’ Matt said. ‘But maybe we can find one that flies high and quietly. And is fast.’ He held up his hands. ‘I don’t have all the details yet. But it could work, Annie. Someone could operate it from a distance and follow it as it follows you.’

‘What if they do see it?’ she said. ‘And think it’s the police? They might hurt the kids.’

‘We’ll make sure it can’t be seen.’

‘If it can, we’re not using it.’

‘But if it can’t? What do you think?’