lifted by the local Islamafia or one of the bounty-hunter groups – they know he has cash. I'm trying to discover which group may have him.'
'OK, I need you to make sure this mobile works over there. I need a visa, a cover story, and a laptop with Internet access. I want to be able to read any more emails coming through while I'm there. Also, as much mapping and photography as you can lay your hands on.'
I waved down a cab. 'I can't talk. I'll be coming into City airport. I'll call to confirm.'
I threw my Bergen on to the back seat and jumped in.
40
Arrivals buzzed with City boys and girls flying in from Europe with a few more zeroes on their annual bonuses. Most were being met by men in grey suits who held up name cards. It made the Yes Man easy to spot. He'd taken off his jacket and tie, and was in a checked business shirt with gold cufflinks, suit trousers and shiny black shoes.
I aimed for the coffee shop. 'I've been up all night. You want one?'
'No, thank you.'
I asked for the large latte-and-muffin deal, and was just about to organize a mortgage to pay for it when he got his money out.
We didn't exchange another word until we were through the automatic doors and walking past the lines of cabs and buses. The airport was slap in the middle of Docklands. Blocks of new million-pound apartments stood uncomfortably alongside estates built to house dockers after the Blitz.
'You get all the gear I asked for?'
The Yes Man clenched his jaw. Maybe he wasn't used to meeting in public. He certainly wasn't happy taking orders from his underlings. 'Yes, and I have the emails. You're right, by the by. He launders money via a property company here in the City. We knew that. We had it covered.' The Yes Man pulled an A4 sheet from his pocket. 'There have been three emails from Dominik, starting last Sunday. All originate from the same location in Kabul. The ransom is eight million US.'
I gave him a frown. 'If he's the big-time drugs baron, why the need to sell the house?'
He was getting annoyed now. 'He has the cash, believe me. He probably wants it to look as if they're giving up everything, just to keep the price down. Back to the matter in hand . . .'
I read the page. Dom's emails were basically messages of love and hope. Siobhan's were about progress in raising funds.
We've got a buyer at 6.5 [she wrote]. Please beg
them to hold on, I will get the rest. It will take
time.
She'd spoken to Patrick, she said. I presumed he was their money man. Patrick was trying his best to liquidate their portfolio.
I've told him we've gone broke. I will get the
money, Dommy, I will. Please tell them I need
time. I don't know how long. Explain to them it
might have to be in instalments. The house
money very soon, they can have that, then the
rest. Please show me again that it's you. Please
tell me what colour the sofas are in the living
room.
I was right: it hadn't been the flu making her sniffy and red-eyed in the kitchen last night. Maybe she didn't normally drink or smoke. Whatever her state of mind, she was on the ball enough to ask for proof of life each time. Last time, she must have asked him about a suit, because Dom's email started:
My Paul Smith is grey and it came back from
the cleaners with double creases in the trousers.
I was upset because I was going to wear it for
dinner at the Mermaid the night before I left.
It ended:
I love you darling, but they need to know how
long.
One thing we knew for sure, then: up to the point he wrote those words, he was alive. They could only have come from Dom.
Proof-of-life statements are an important part of any hostage deal. A trained negotiator would also be looking for clues that Dom was either bullshitting or under duress. Prone-to-capture troops and business people working in hostile zones have a ready-prepared under-duress sign, and maybe even a coded means of identifying locations. All Dom's had been sent at around eighty thirty, local. That was why she had been up, online and waiting.
We'd reached a bank of pay stations for the short-stay. I handed him back the sheet. 'Any idea yet who's lifted him?'
Criminals would demand a ransom and hold out for it. Only if it didn't eventually materialize would they