She thought it might work. She doubted it, but it might. If it did, great. And if there was no risk of being spotted then they had nothing to lose. Either way, whoever was behind this was going to find out she was not a passive piece of meat to be traded. She was not going to let them take her family from her without doing everything in her power to stop them.

But that was for later.

‘Where would you get a drone?’ she said.

‘I was thinking of asking that guy, Rob. He might know where we could start. You OK with that?’

‘Let’s do it,’ she said.

Matt

1

Matt held the phone up so they could all hear.

‘This is Rob.’

Matt cleared his throat. ‘We spoke earlier. About the kidnapping.’

‘I remember,’ Rob said. ‘Something come up?’

‘Well,’ Matt said. He glanced at Annabelle. ‘There was something we didn’t mention.’

‘Oh yeah?’ The welcoming note in his voice was gone, replaced by a guarded tone. ‘What was that?’

‘It’s the ransom. It’s not money they want.’

‘You said it was. Lots of money.’

‘I know. We didn’t want to tell you the truth.’

‘Why not?’

Annabelle leaned towards the phone. ‘You’ll understand when we tell you.’

‘Go on,’ Rob said. ‘What do they want?’

‘It’s me,’ Annabelle said. ‘They want me.’

‘Come again, love. I don’t think I caught that.’

‘It’s my wife, Annabelle,’ Matt said. ‘She’s the ransom. They want her in exchange for the kids.’

‘What the fuck?’ Rob said. ‘So what do you need from me?’

‘You said – when we spoke earlier – that we have to give them what they want,’ Annabelle said. ‘And you’re right. I can’t leave my children in danger.’

‘Yeah,’ Rob said. ‘But this is different.’

‘Not really,’ Annabelle said. ‘It’s just that the price isn’t money. Nothing else changes. We still can’t involve the police, we still can’t refuse the demands.’

‘It’s your call,’ Rob said. ‘But this is a very fucked-up situation.’

‘I know,’ Matt said. ‘So we need to have a plan. And we do.’

‘What is it?’ Rob said.

‘It might sound crazy,’ Matt said. ‘But we’re thinking of a drone.’

‘That doesn’t sound crazy at all,’ Rob said. ‘Not easy, but not crazy.’

‘You think it’ll work?’ Matt said.

‘I don’t know. I’ll have to think more about it.’

‘How soon can you get here?’ Annabelle said. ‘We have to reply to the kidnapper in the next twenty minutes.’

‘Where do you live?’

Annabelle gave their address.

‘I’ll be there in ten,’ Rob said. ‘Hang tight.’

2

Ten minutes later the doorbell rang. Matt went to open it. There was a tall, heavily built man in his mid-forties standing outside. He had close-cropped hair and hard grey eyes. He held out his hand.

‘Rob Carter,’ he said. ‘I assume you’re Matt?’