Num8ers - By Rachel Ward Page 0,87
at me.
“Yes, I was there at the London Eye, and I’m pretty sure I saw the bloke who was carrying the bomb. I even spoke to him. I can give you a description. I can tell you about the guy with the tattoos and why he was chasing us. I can even tell you about these pictures.” They were excited now, almost drooling. “I could tell you, and I will, if you bring my mate, Spider, here. I’ll make a full statement, and then we want a car, and some money, a thousand should do it, and we want you to leave us alone and let us get out of here.”
The guy in the suit leaned forward. “I don’t think you realize what trouble you and your mate are in. You’re looking at some serious charges here. You’re not in a position to negotiate.”
He didn’t faze me at all. I’d thought this all through — they needed me to talk. “Actually, I think I am. I know you want to solve the bombing, don’t you? And you’d love to know whether your prime minister’s got a future, wouldn’t you? Is he here for the next ten years or going to be taken out by a sniper’s bullet? Does that interest you?”
“We’ll need to talk about this.” He scraped his chair back and went outside with the others. Karen stayed behind.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “What are you saying?”
“I told you yesterday. You just didn’t believe me.”
“Jem, this has got to stop. These tall tales — it’s gone far enough now, Jem. Stop saying these things. Let me take you home and look after you.”
“No! It’s not gonna happen. I need them to bring Spider here, and I’m not budging until they do.”
She sighed, and I could tell she was about to launch into another weary lecture, when the door opened again. The men in suits were back.
“OK,” one of them said, “it’s a deal.”
My stomach flipped over. I couldn’t believe it — I’d won.
“You’ll bring Spider here?”
He nodded. “After you’ve given us a full statement.”
“And you’ll provide us with a car and some money like I said?”
He nodded again, but there was something in the way that the two policemen behind him looked at each other that made me suspicious.
“I want it all in writing,” I said quickly. “I want you to sign it. A legal agreement.”
And that’s what I got, there in black and white. I would tell the police what they wanted to know, and they would bring Spider to me before the fifteenth of December and provide us with safe passage out of the abbey. Not being great at reading, I took my time, but it seemed OK. I asked Karen to check it, too, but she refused.
“This is stupid, Jem. I don’t want anything to do with it.” She watched while I signed the paper and then announced, “I’m going to get back to the boys now. They need me, too. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
She gave me a big hug before she left. “Imogen and Anne will be here with you. And you’re to ring if you need anything.”
“OK,” I said. To be honest, I felt a little twinge as she left. We didn’t exactly see eye to eye — perhaps we never would — but she meant well, I could see that now. But I had to stay focused — everything was going according to plan. All I had to do was tell them what they wanted to know, and then they’d have to keep their side of the bargain.
They’d have to bring Spider here.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
I gave them exactly what they were waiting to hear. I held some of it back, of course. None of their sodding business what had happened between Spider and me. That was between us. But everything else, plus some “information” of my own about people in the photos they showed me.
They talked to me, with a tape recorder going, and then they wrote it all down and got me to sign it. I had no problem putting my name to it. This was all part of the plan, taking me one step nearer to where I wanted to be.
“So when do I see Spider?” I said when I’d signed the statement.
“It’ll take a bit of arranging — they’re still interviewing him. He was taken back to London, Paddington Green.”
“Now just wait a minute…”
“No, it’s all right, love. I’m going to take your statement back to London, see how they’re