Natalia waited a minute and then loosened her hands. She flexed her wrists and tried to stand, but fell over due to the pain in her midriff. She could feel warm blood trickling down her right thigh. With a supreme effort she got to her feet, gripping the nearby boxes until she was upright. She trembled as she dragged herself to the roller door.

She contemplated the motorbike, which had a key in the ignition, but she did not think she could ride it in her condition.

Natalia pushed a button on the wall. The roller door moved up a foot. She rolled through and struggled to her feet again. Clinging on to the wall of the building, she dragged herself past the Mercedes used to kidnap her, which was sitting in the driveway. She had the presence of mind to memorise the number plate.

It was 6 a.m. but there were cars in the dark street. Natalia stumbled through the rain into the path of a vehicle, forcing it to stop.

The female occupant wound down her window.

‘Please help!’ Natalia said. ‘I’ve been kidnapped!’

‘Do you want to go to the police?’

‘No, no! Jermyn Street!’

52 ON THE RUN AGAIN

52

ON THE RUN AGAIN

The moment Natalia told Haut what had happened he decided they should depart London without delay.

‘My radar is picking up danger at airports,’ Haut told Cavalier in a quick phone call. ‘I may take a train out.’

‘What about Natalia? Shouldn’t you take her to hospital?’

‘She wants to run for it. They were set to kill her. We’ll be tracked. We’re packing now.’

‘Take the Chunnel Eurostar at St Pancras. There are always doctors on board. The trains run regularly. I’ll book her into a good Paris hospital.’

‘You know one?’

‘I won’t say it over the phone, but yes. Had first-hand experience there some time ago.’

Haut piled two suitcases into a taxi and helped Natalia into the back seat. Haut had already sedated her to relieve the pain from the vicious assault. The bleeding from her abdomen had stopped but Haut was very concerned about her condition.

Cavalier arrived at Jermyn Street and joined them in the taxi to St Pancras, arriving just minutes before a train was due to leave. The three of them were stepping aboard when Cavalier noticed a disturbance at the barrier.

British Rail staff were in dispute with four men. Two policemen stepped into the fracas, guns drawn. The four men trying to board the Paris-bound train backed off.

Cavalier and Haut were on full alert as they settled into a first-class carriage, wary that they might be joined by Natalia’s attackers at any moment. Even when the train entered the tunnel under the Channel, they were still watchful.