little intervention with the bullyboys at Leicester had made me grateful that he was on my side, not theirs. I wanted to keep it that way.
We were still all in high spirits when I finally turned into the Hilton Hotel parking lot at Junction 15 on the M40, where Luca had left his car.
“Do they let you park here for free?” I asked him.
“I didn’t ask,” he said.
“But how do you get out?” There was a barrier down at the parking lot exit.
“Duggie and I will go in for a celebration drink,” he said. “I’ll get a token from the barman.”
“Don’t get breathalyzed,” I said.
“I won’t,” he said in farewell. He and Duggie gave me a wave as I turned the car out of the hotel parking lot and drove away. I thought it was fortunate you couldn’t lose your license for having euphoria-induced adrenaline in your bloodstream. I would be well over the limit.
My telephone rang as I negotiated the turn out onto the main road.
The phone was in its hands-free car cradle, and the number of the caller was shown across the green rectangular display at the top. It was Sophie’s mobile number.
I pushed the button.“Hello, my darling,” I said cheerfully into the microphone that was situated next to the sun visor.“I’ve just dropped Luca and Duggie at the Hilton and I’ll be home in about ten minutes.”
But it wasn’t Sophie’s voice that came back at me out of the speaker.
“Hello, Mr. Talbot,” said a man’s voice. A chill ran right down my spine, and I nearly drove straight into an oncoming truck. “You still have something of mine,” he said. “So now I have something of yours.”
I became cold and clammy all over.
“Let me speak to my wife,” I said.
There was a slight pause, then Sophie came on the line. “Ned, Ned,” she screamed. She sounded very frightened, and there was a quiver in her voice. “Help me.”
“It’s all right, Sophie,” I said, trying to calm her. “Everything will be all right.”
But she wasn’t there anymore, and the man came back on the line. “Do as I say, Mr. Talbot, and she won’t get hurt.” The tone of his voice was really quite normal, but there was real menace in his meaning.
Not only did I fear for Sophie’s safety, I feared more for her state of mind.
“What do you want?” I asked him.
“I want the rest of the items that were in that rucksack,” he said. “I want the chips, the chip writer and the rest of the money.”
That confirmed to me that the man was shifty-eyed Kipper. I had feared that I’d not seen the last of him, or of his twelve-centimeter knife, and my fears had clearly been well founded.
“I haven’t got the items,” I said.
“Go and get them, then,” he said, just as if he was telling off a miscreant schoolboy who had forgotten his books.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Never you mind,” he said. “And don’t hang up. Keep on the line. If you hang up, I will hurt your wife. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Good. Now, where are my things?”
What was I to say? Telling him that I had given the RFID chips and the microcoder/chip writer to Mr. John Smith was unlikely to help get Sophie released unharmed. As for the money, it was still spread amongst the juvenile delinquents. True, I had the take from the afternoon’s racing at Bangor-on-Dee in my pocket, but it certainly didn’t run to six thousand pounds after such a slow day. Perhaps, at best, there might be half of that.
“They’re at my house,” I said.
“Where in your house? I couldn’t find them.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
I thought quickly.
“In the cupboard under the stairs,” I said. “In an old paint tin.”
There was a pause.
“Go and get them,” he said.“Now. But don’t hang up the phone. Where are you now?”
“On the Warwick bypass,” I said.
“Go to your house, but keep talking to me. If you hang up, I will kill your wife.”
It was the first time he had used the word “kill,” and a fresh wave of fear swept over me. God knows how Sophie was feeling if she’d heard it.
“All right, all right, I won’t hang up,” I said quickly. “Now, let me talk to my wife again.”
There was another pause.
“Ned,” she cried down the phone. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Sophie,” I said. “It will be all right, my love. I promise. I’ll get the things he wants and he will let you go.