Jilly Cooper - Bella

‘I don’t think so,’ said Bella. ‘We’re the only card they’ve got left.’

‘I can’t stand the tension,’ said Chrissie.

‘You’ve got to,’ said Bella. ‘Don’t upset them. All we can do now is wait.’

In the silence between thunder claps they heard the helicopter buzzing round again.

‘Come on,’ said Eduardo. ‘We’d better get the hell out of here.’ He put a blindfold over Bella’s eyes, tied it tightly. Then she felt herself being led down the stairs.

Oh why doesn’t Lazlo hurry, she prayed. If we leave here they’ll never find us.

They paused at the bottom of the stairs. Bella could sense the tension around her. The storm seemed to have stopped.

‘I’m going outside to see if the coast’s clear,’ said Carlos. He opened the door and shut it again.

‘What’s that?’ said Ricardo.

There was a crackling and they all jumped at the sound of a loudspeaker.

‘You are completely surrounded,’ said a voice. ‘Throw your guns out of the window. Send Bella and Chrissie out at once, alone, and then come out one by one with your hands up. Do not attempt to escape, or you will be shot down.’

‘They’re bluffing,’ said Eduardo. ‘I’m going to have a look.’ He put his head out of the door.

In answer, a semi-circle of floodlights flashed on, flaring between the trees in an arc nearly a hundred yards long.

‘Jesus!’ said Carlos. ‘We’re done for.’

‘No we’re not,’ said Eduardo. ‘They won’t shoot into the house for fear of killing Bella or Chrissie.’

A policeman moved forward from the lights. The next moment Eduardo opened up with a machine gun. Then he seized the terrified Chrissie, jammed the smouldering gun in her back and, dragging her upstairs, opened the window.

‘Go on,’ he hissed, jamming the gun further into her back, ‘or I’ll pull the trigger. Tell them to go away, that they’re not helping, and they’ve got to do anything we ask.’

‘Go away!’ screamed Chrissie. ‘They’ll kill us, they’ll kill us.’ Her voice dried up on a screeched whisper.

‘Tell them they’ve got to do what we tell them,’ whispered Eduardo. ‘We want a car to get out of here and a plane to take us to South America. Go on.’

‘You’ve got to do what they tell you,’ screamed Chrissie, repeating his message, then breaking down into hysterical coughing and sobbing.

There was total silence.

Eduardo pulled Chrissie inside and shut the window.

They all gathered in the living-room at the back, Bella and Chrissie tied up, Pablo keeping watch at the front, Ricardo with his gun trained on the two girls, Carlos and Eduardo discussing their next move.

Chrissie was still coughing and crying.

‘Don’t worry,’ whispered Bella. ‘They can’t hold out much longer. It must be over soon.’

Carlos found a further news bulletin on another channel. The kidnapping was again the lead story.

‘The hideout of the kidnappers has now been discovered,’ said the announcer. ‘A remote farmhouse just outside Haltby on the Devonshire coast. It has been completely surrounded by the army and the police. Police also know the names of the four kidnappers, and realize they are only the front for a much larger organization. Police and the army now have the whole area cordoned off and are preparing for a long siege.

‘A quarter of an hour ago, one of the gang appeared at the front door and shot at the police. Later a gunman held Miss Christine Henriques out of a first floor window at gunpoint. In considerable distress she appealed to the police not to threaten the gunmen and to agree to anything they ask for.’

Chrissie was coughing non-stop now.

‘For Christ’s sake shut her up,’ said Ricardo.

‘Why don’t you let her go?’ said Bella. ‘If she gets any worse, you’ll have a murder on your hands without trying.’

There was another crackling over the loudspeaker. Another voice was speaking now in fluent Spanish. Bella’s heart gave a lurch; she felt blood rushing to her face. It was Lazlo. Chrissie tried to struggle to her feet; Bella gave a gasp of excitement which turned to terror as Ricardo shoved a gun against her temple.

‘Leave her alone,’ snapped Eduardo, ‘and listen. It’s El Gatto’s voice,’ and she could feel the frisson of loathing around the room. These are men, she thought, with a shiver, who have been taught to hate the name Henriques at their mother’s knee.

Lazlo’s voice went on, softer, more persuasive now. It was too fast for her to follow.

‘What’s he saying?’ she whispered to Chrissie.

‘That the police know who all the men are,’ said Chrissie. ‘And have photographs of them, that there’s no way the police are going to give them an aeroplane, or a car.’ She listened for a minute, then caught her breath. ‘Now he’s saying Juan and Steve have both been pulled in, so there’s no point them resisting any more. If they surrender they won’t be harmed in any way.’

Bella wished she could see the gunmen’s faces to see how they were reacting.

The loudspeaker crackled and stopped.

‘Finally he said the police were in no hurry and intend to wait until the gunmen saw reason,’ said Chrissie.

All very well, thought Bella, but this lot are human time bombs, liable to explode at any minute.

They were arguing violently now.

‘Eduardo doesn’t believe Juan or Steve have been arrested,’ said Chrissie. ‘He thinks Lazlo’s bluffing. Ricardo agrees with him. Carlos is fed up and all for packing it in. Pablo, as usual, says nothing.’

‘They’ve run out of booze and food and cigarettes,’ said Bella. ‘They can’t hold out much longer.’

‘If they get hungry, they’ll get bloody-minded,’ said Chrissie. ‘If they starve them out, there’ll be more chance of a shoot-out.’

There was no sound or sign of life from outside. The transistor was crackling like distant gunfire as they waited for the next news bulletin. It was the same as the one before, except it added that the police knew the gunmen had run out of food and drink, and included an interview with a doctor on the effects of long-term starvation.

‘It is likely to sharpen the wits, but decrease physical efficiency,’ said the doctor in a calm, flat voice.

‘Great,’ said Bella. ‘We’ll all be cracking jokes soon.’

‘Then the pangs of hunger will give way to dull, painless lethargy, probably accompanied by headaches,’ went on the doctor.

‘How soon will the hostages be in any physical danger through lack of food?’ said the interviewer.

‘Man can live without permanent ill effects up to six weeks on water alone,’ said the doctor.

‘Jesus,’ muttered Bella. ‘It’s a hell of a way to go on a crash diet.’

The voice faded and crackled again when Eduardo shook the wireless. The batteries are running out, thought Bella. She moved slightly. Her side ached where the floorboards were biting into her flesh.

She started on The Lord’s Prayer. It was too serious a time to make bargains with God she couldn’t keep. Please let me out, she prayed, and I’ll try to be good for the rest of my life, and try not to want Lazlo too much if he doesn’t want me.

The wind came in a sudden blast, rattling the trees against the roof of the house. Next moment, the arc lights went out.

‘This is your chance,’ said Carlos.

‘They’re trying to tempt one of us out,’ said Eduardo.

Ricardo tiptoed downstairs and slowly opened the front door. The next moment the lights went on and a volley of bullets was fired over the house.

‘Your blackmail has failed,’ said the loudspeaker. ‘Send the girls out at once if you want to save your lives.’

They heard whispering and breathing on the loudspeaker. Then everything went quiet.