Simon Kernick - Deadline

More than you'll ever know, thought Bolt. More than you'll ever know.

The briefing was short and to the point. It focused purely on how the operation to follow the money, apprehend the kidnapper and rescue Emma was going to work. It seemed like a good plan with an extremely high chance of success to most people. To Bolt it was full of holes.

Afterwards, when he and Mo were in the Jaguar driving to Andrea's place in a convoy of cars containing the rest of the team, the canvas holdall with the half a million pounds locked safely in the boot, Mo asked him about the lead he'd been working on all day. Bolt knew he had to tell his friend the truth now, so he told him about his visits to Richardson's and Ridgers' addresses, leaving out the part where he beat the shit out of Richardson.

'Why didn't you tell me any of this earlier?' Mo asked.

'I didn't want you thinking that I'd lost control – you know, after what I told you yesterday.'

'But you spoke to Tina. Do you trust her more than me?'

'No, I don't. Of course not. I just wasn't sure what you'd say if I asked you to look up Ridgers' number. Also, Tina's got good contacts at the phone companies.'

'And you really think I wouldn't have helped you?' Mo looked deflated.

'Look, I'm sorry.'

Bolt wished he wasn't having this conversation. He wished too that he hadn't opened his mouth the previous day and put himself in such a vulnerable position with one of his most trusted colleagues.

'How did you get that bruise on your head? And the blood on your shirt?'

'I had an accident. Banged my head on the car doorframe.'

'I'm a detective, boss, not a ten-year-old.'

Bolt sighed. 'I broke into Richardson 's place. He attacked me. We had a fight. That's how I got it.'

'What the hell is happening to you?' demanded Mo.

'What's happening to me is that it could be my daughter who's imprisoned by the kind of scum who've already killed at least twice, and so won't hesitate a single minute to kill again. That's what's happening. OK?'

'But you can't go round breaking into people's houses and having fights with them. It's just not the way to get things done.'

'What is the way, then? Tell me!'

'To focus,' snapped Mo. 'To focus on making sure this operation's a success. Not on running round on a wild goose chase.'

'It's not a wild goose chase.'

'It is, boss. What proof have you got that either of them has any involvement whatsoever? Absolutely none.' Mo shook his head angrily. 'If it wasn't so bloody late in the day, I'd be talking to Barry about it right now.'

They continued the rest of the journey in brooding silence. They'd never argued before, not like this. They'd had the occasional niggling disagreement and cross words, but it had never got anywhere near the position they were in now. Mo was openly questioning his ability to do the job, and, though Bolt desperately didn't want to admit it, he had some justification too. Another line had been crossed, one from which it was going to be a hard journey back, and he knew exactly whose fault it was.

It was after five when he and Mo left the convoy and turned into Andrea's street, having been given the all-clear by the surveillance team watching the house. It was the third time in a little over twenty-four hours that he'd been here, and each time Bolt arrived he felt worse than the time before. He couldn't help wondering how he was going to be feeling the next time he came – if there was a next time.

Heaving the bag containing the money out of the boot, he walked to the gate in silence, Mo following behind. Marie the liaison officer buzzed them through. She was wearing a more concerned expression than usual as she opened the door to him.

'Still no word from the kidnappers,' she told him.

'How's Andrea?'

'She's bearing up, but her nerves are shot with all this waiting. I think all of ours are.'

It was the first sign from Marie that she was getting personally involved in the case. Bolt wasn't surprised. Liaison officers might be highly trained but they were still human, and, he noted wryly, someone like Andrea had always been good at tugging on other people's heartstrings.

'They'll be in contact soon enough,' he said, nodding to Matt Turner who'd poked his head round the door of the study. 'Is she upstairs?' he asked Marie.

'She's in the lounge,' she answered quietly. 'She's been there most of the afternoon. She said she wanted to be left alone.'

Andrea was on the same sofa she'd been on yesterday afternoon. Apart from the change of clothes – she was smarter today, in a white blouse and black knee-length skirt – she might as well not have moved. Her haunted, almost hypnotized expression remained the same, and she only gave him the barest of glances as he and Mo entered the room.

Bolt felt a sudden, almost overwhelming urge to take her in his arms, but he fought it back down. He put the holdall on the floor between them and took a seat opposite her. Mo remained standing near the door.

'They haven't called, Mike.'

'I know. But they will. They want the money, Andrea. That's their sole motivation for this.'

She stared into space. 'I can't lose her. I… I just don't know what I'd do.'

Bolt leaned forward in the seat, willing her to look at him. 'You've got to be strong, Andrea. Do you understand?'

'OK,' she said quietly in a voice that didn't fill Bolt with confidence. For the first time he wondered if she'd be able to do what they needed her to do.

'For Emma's sake.'

She nodded, a little more decisively this time, and looked down at the holdall.

'Is that the money?'

'Yes. There's a tracking device attached to the lining on the inside. It's so small it'll be almost impossible to find. There are also two further devices, also very tiny, attached to the notes inside.'

'But surely the kidnappers'll find them?'

'Eventually they will, yes, if they know what they're looking for.'

'Which they do, Mike. You know they do.'

'But we're not going to let them run with this money for long. We'll be following you the whole way as you deliver it. There'll be surveillance teams travelling in front of you and behind.

There'll also be helicopter back-up. There's no way you're going to be in any danger.'

'I'm not worried about me, Mike, I'm worried about Emma. We're putting her life in danger here, and I can't stop thinking about it.'

'Look, we'll keep back so we're not noticeable, and you'll be wearing a mike so we can monitor any conversation you have, and a tracking device so we don't lose you either. Mo, can you put them on for Andrea?'

Mo nodded curtly, and attached the devices to Andrea's blouse while Bolt continued.

'When you've delivered the money and withdrawn from the scene, we'll track the money to its destination. The kidnappers may put the money in a different bag but they won't have a chance to check half a million pounds in cash for trackers. We'll then follow them and the money to that destination and arrest them there.'

'But what if Emma isn't there? What if they're hiding her somewhere else?'

It was the big question, one that Bolt really didn't want to think about, because it represented the biggest flaw in their plan.

'The chances are she will be, Andrea. If all the kidnappers are involved in the drop – and given that there are only two of them, three at the most, they probably will be – then they won't want to leave her alone for long, I promise you.'

'It's all chances and likelys though, isn't it, Mike?' she said as Mo moved aside. 'That's the problem. There are no guarantees. They've already killed Jimmy. What if they kill Emma too?'

Bolt could have added that they'd also killed her cleaner, but he didn't. Back at the Glasshouse it had been decided not to tell Andrea about this latest development until after the ransom drop, because of how it might affect her mental state.