Anthony Horowitz - Eagle Strike

But he was too fast for her. Even as the scream rose in her throat, his hand clamped tight over her mouth. He had seen what she was about to do and had twisted round behind her, one hand on her mouth, the other arm pinning her to him. Sabina knew now that she had assumed too much. The man had been wearing a white coat. He had been in the hospital. But of course he could have been anyone and she had been crazy to go with him. Never go anywhere with a stranger. How many times had her parents told her that?

An ambulance appeared, backing at speed into the service area. Sabina felt a surge of hope that gave her new strength. Whatever her attacker was planning to do, he had chosen the wrong place. The ambulance had arrived just in time. But then she realized that the man hadn"t reacted.

She had thought he would let her go and run away. On the contrary, he had been expecting the ambulance and began dragging her towards it. Sabina stared as the back of the ambulance burst open and two more men jumped out. This whole thing had been planned! The three of them were in it together. They had known she would be there, visiting her father, and had come to the hospital meaning to intercept her.

Somehow she managed to bite the hand that was clamped over her mouth. The fake doctor swore and let go. Sabina lashed out with her elbow and felt it crash into the man"s nose; he reeled backwards and suddenly she was free. She tried again to scream, to raise the alarm, but the two men from the ambulance were on her. One of them was holding something silver and pointed but Sabina only knew that it was a hypodermic syringe when she felt it jab into her arm. She squirmed and kicked, but she felt the strength rush out of her like water falling through a trapdoor. Her legs buckled and she would have fallen if the two men hadn"t caught hold of her.

She wasn"t unconscious. Her thoughts were clear. She knew that she was in terrible danger—

more danger than she had ever known—but she had no idea why this was happening.

Helplessly, Sabina was dragged towards the ambulance and thrown in. There was a mattress on the floor and at least that broke her fall. Then the doors slammed shut and she heard a lock being turned from the outside. She was trapped, on her own in an empty metal box, unable to move as the drug took effect. Sabina felt total despair.

The two men walked off into the hospital grounds as if nothing had taken place. The fake doctor removed his white coat and stuffed it into one of the bins. He was wearing an ordinary suit underneath and he saw that there was blood on the front of his shirt. His nose was bleeding, but that was good. When he went back into the hospital, he would simply look like one of the patients.

The ambulance drove slowly away. If anyone had bothered to look, they would have seen that the driver was dressed in exactly the same clothes as the other crews. Liz Pleasure actually noticed it leave, sitting in her VW in the car park. She was still there half an hour later, wondering what had happened to Sabina. But it would be a while yet before she realized that her daughter had disappeared.

UNFAIR EXCHANGE

Alex intended to take the flash drive straight to Alan Blunt. He would have telephoned ahead but he couldn"t be sure that Blunt would even take the call. One thing was certain. He wouldn"t feel safe until he had handed over the device. Once MI6 had it in their hands, he would be able to relax.

That was his plan—but everything changed as he stepped into the arrivals hall. There was a woman sitting at a coffee bar reading the evening newspaper. The front page was open. It was almost as if it had been put there for Alex to see. A photograph of Sabina. And a headline: Schoolgirl Disappears from Hospital

“This way,” Jack was saying. “We can get a cab.”

“Jack!”

Jack saw the look on his face and followed his eyes to the newspaper. Without saying another word, she hurried into the airport"s only shop and bought a copy for herself.

There wasn"t very much to the story—but at this stage there wasn"t a lot to tell. A fifteen-year-old schoolgirl from south London had been visiting her father at Whitchurch Hospital that morning. He had recently been injured in a terrorist incident in the South of France. Inexplicably she had never reached the ward, but instead had vanished into thin air. The police were urging any witnesses to come forward. Her mother had already made a television appeal for Sabina to come home.

“It"s Cray,” Alex said. His voice was empty. “He"s got her.”

“Oh God, Alex.” Jack sounded as wretched as he felt. “He"s done this to get the flash drive. We should have thought…”

“There was no way we could have expected this. How did he even know she was my friend?” Alex thought for a moment. “Yassen.” He answered his own question. “He must have told Cray.”

“You have to go to MI6 straight away. It"s the only thing you can do.”

“No. I want to go home first.”

“Alex—why?”

Alex looked down at the picture one last time, then crumpled the page in his hands. “Cray may have left a message for me,” he said.

There was a message. But it came in a form that Alex hadn"t quite expected.

Jack had gone into the house first, checking to make sure there was no one waiting for them.

Then she called Alex. She looked grim as she stood at the front door.

“It"s in the sitting room,” she said.

“It” was a brand-new widescreen television. Someone had been into the house. They had brought the television and left it in the middle of the room. There was a webcam perched on top; a brand-new red cable snaked into a junction box in the wall.

“A present from Cray,” Jack murmured.

“I don"t think it"s a present,” Alex said.

There was a remote control next to the webcam. Reluctantly Alex picked it up. He knew he wasn"t going to like what he was about to see, but there was no way he could ignore it. He turned the television on.

The screen flickered and cleared and suddenly he found himself face to face with Damian Cray.

Somehow he wasn"t surprised. He wondered if Cray had returned to England or if he was transmitting from Amsterdam. He knew that this was a live image and that his own picture would be sent back via the webcam. Slowly he sat down in front of the screen. He showed no emotion at all.

“Alex!” Cray looked relaxed and cheerful. His voice was so clear he could have been in the room with them. “I"m so glad you got back safely. I"ve been waiting to speak to you.”

“Where"s Sabina?” Alex asked.

“Where"s Sabina? Where"s Sabina? How very sweet! Young love!” The image changed. Alex heard Jack gasp. Sabina was lying on a bunk in a bare room. Her hair was dishevelled but otherwise she seemed unhurt. She looked up at the camera and Alex could see the fear and confusion in her eyes.

Then the picture switched back to Cray. “We haven"t damaged her… yet,” he said. “But that could change at any time.”

“I"m not giving you the flash drive,” Alex said.

“Hear me out, Alex.” Cray leant forward so that he seemed to come closer to the screen. “Young people these days are so hot-headed! I"ve gone to a great deal of trouble and expense on account of you. And the thing is, you are going to give me the flash drive because if you don"t your girlfriend is going to die, and you are going to see it on video.”

“Don"t listen to him, Alex!” Jack exclaimed.

“He is listening to me and I"d ask you not to interrupt!” Cray smiled. He seemed totally confident, as if this were nothing more than another celebrity interview. “I can imagine what"s going through your mind,” he went on, speaking again to Alex. “You"re thinking of going to your friends at MI6. I would seriously advise against it.”