31 Days of Autumn (28 page)

‘What data isn’t online? What does it have to
do with Ellie and Oliver?’ he asked. I dropped my head back against the cool
leather headrest as I blew out a calming breath.

‘I’m not supposed to discuss it, I signed a
highly confidential clause in the contract.’

‘Don’t give me that bullshit, Dan,’ he bit. ‘I
want them back too.’

‘Neither of you breathes a word of this,’ I
warned, sitting upright and twisting to face them. ‘What you hear now stays in
the limo. Not even Summer, Lucas.’

‘You can trust me,’ he nodded.

‘Me too, Sir,’ added Andy. ‘But if it has to do
with helping get everyone back, I need to know.’

‘I was contacted by the Ministry of Defence a
few years ago to work on a classified project. So classified, even the British
Government are unaware of its existence,’ I began as they both leaned forward,
putting their elbows on their knees as they listened attentively. ‘In simple
terms, I was asked to develop a programme that could fit into a non-toxic
shell, smaller than a grain of rice. Similar to a Fitbit, it would read the
data of its host and relay the results back to a central location to be
monitored.’

‘The military want to check on their soldiers’
pulses and heart rates and body fat ratios without a physical exam?’ asked Lucas,
looking confused.

‘That’s one of the bonuses of the system, but
not its primary purpose.’

‘What is, Sir?’ enquired Andy.

‘It’s a GPS tracker, accurate to within a 10
yard radius. It was designed to secretly tag anyone that was of interest to
them, so that they could monitor their movements across the globe, or know when
they were deceased. Imagine how valuable that would have been in capturing some
of the world’s leading terrorists sooner. Undercover forces are searching for
some leaders now, spending untold amounts of money, with no idea if their
target is even alive.’

‘Extremely valuable, but highly unethical,’
nodded Andy.

‘Exactly, which is why this was classified at
the highest level. There would be outrage if it got out that this technology
was in existence, even though it’s still in beta mode.’

‘Beta mode?’ questioned Lucas.

‘Test mode,’ volunteered Andy. ‘I’m assuming a
couple of military personnel offered to be guinea pigs, for the data to be
analysed for effectiveness before the project was given a green light.’

‘Your assumptions are pretty much correct,’ I
confirmed. He was a smart cookie.

‘I get the reasoning and the benefits to having
it, but how the hell do you convince people you want to track to stay still
long enough to operate on them to implant it?’ Lucas asked, shaking his head.

‘You don’t, Lucas. My team came up with a
delivery system even less painful than micro-chipping a pet. The latest chip
we’ve condensed the system into is so tiny, it can be injected with something
smaller than an Epi-pen. You’d simply have to walk past your subject and jab
them. They’d only feel the slightest of stings and would probably put it down
to a bee or wasp. The hardest part is getting operatives far enough undercover
to come into contact with the subjects you want to tag.’

‘Ok, forgive me for being stupid here, again,
but what does this have to do with the abduction of Ellie?’ he frowned, then
shook his head as he took in a shocked gasp of air, making me screw up my face.
‘Tell me you didn’t, Dan. Tell me you didn’t test this out on Ellie?’

‘No, on Ollie,’ I replied quietly, dropping my
eyes to the floor. ‘He was one of the first two to have the prototype injected,
it was slightly larger then.’

‘Jesus Christ,’ Lucas uttered. ‘Ellie seriously
agreed for you to test out a piece of military hardware on her son? I know what
Summer’s answer would be if I ran that past her, the words over, dead, and body
being three of them, possibly with the odd swear word thrown in for good
measure.’

‘She doesn’t know,’ I grimaced, waiting for a
barrage of abuse from him. Instead I was met with silence. I looked up at them
both. Andy’s face was stoic, I couldn’t read his thoughts, but Lucas looked
horrified.

‘Why?’ he eventually asked.

‘For his safety,’ I replied. ‘I was warned that
coming out of hiding when I got married would make me a target. I volunteered
myself as one of the two test subjects.’

‘Jesus, Dan. I get you doing it, you’re an
adult and you made an informed choice, but Oliver?’

‘Children are statistically the most vulnerable
to be kidnapped. There’s a higher chance of success with an abduction of a
child who can’t fight back. There’s also deeper empathy from parents, mothers
in particular, plus added pressure to pay out from an outcry by the general
public when a child’s involved,’ confirmed Andy, reiterating my arguments with
Marv for taking one of the prototypes back to London to use on Oliver. ‘I agree
with Mr. Davenport’s rationale, though not necessarily his decision to not
involve Oliver’s mother in the process.’

‘How did you do it without her knowledge?’

‘I took Ollie to work with me when we were here
in London, when Eva was born last year. One of my team distracted him while I
injected him. Small as the prototype was, it wasn’t small enough. While it was
a mild discomfort to me for a few hours, I didn’t factor in how much larger it
would feel to Oliver. He bawled his eyes out for ages and I had to let Ellie
think he’d been stung by a wasp. I felt awful, it upset me for days. Up until
today, I’ve regretted doing it behind her back.’

‘She finds out and you’ll be regretting it for
the rest of your bloody life, mate, if she doesn’t kill you first,’ Lucas
warned, not telling me anything that I didn’t already know. ‘But this is bloody
amazing news! You can find them anywhere with it, right?’

‘In theory,’ I sighed, reaching forward to grab
my decanter of scotch and pouring myself a couple of fingers, my hands shaking
so hard I sloshed a load over the side of the glass. Andy shook his head when I
offered him a glass, so Lucas snatched it off me and knocked it back
immediately, passing it back for more. I knew how he felt. I just wanted to sit
in a dark room and drain the whole bottle. ‘Marv’s in charge of data tracking
and although I’m online, Oliver isn’t.’

‘GPS is affected by heavy cloud coverage and
can’t penetrate certain things like thick metal or concrete. Have you ever
tried turning on your Sat Nav indoors? It can take ages to get a signal, if at
all,’ Andy stated, confirming what I already knew. ‘Could this team be aware he
has this tracker in him? They could have removed and destroyed it.’

‘No, only a handful of my key personnel and high-ranking
officials were aware, I trust all of them. There was too much at stake if the
news was leaked.’

‘It’s a signal issue, Sir,’ said Andy firmly.
‘The child would be my last hand to coerce you, have faith that he’s ok.’

‘I’m really trying, Andy. I’m seriously fucking
trying,’ I choked, knocking back my drink to give me something else to focus
on. Right now I’d take Ellie screaming “Fuck you arsehole” at me, and ignoring
me for days, as long as I knew she was alive and unhurt. I couldn’t bear the
thought of what they might do to her, to any of them.

I continued to object as Summer forced me down
into my seat and brought the first aid kit to attend to my scuffed and swollen
hand. She carefully cleaned it, applied antiseptic ointment, and dressed it,
wrapping a bandage tightly around it, then asked Richard, my air steward, for a
bag of ice to reduce the swelling. I lifted my undamaged hand to wipe away a
few stray tears, hoping no one had spotted them. I remembered damaging my hand
back home, punching through the banister of my boathouse veranda, and Ellie
showing just as much love and patience when she’d looked after me then. I think
that was the moment I knew I’d never get over her.

‘She’s a fighter, Dan. Look at everything she’s
been through, this is nothing. We’ll be seeing her again soon,’ Summer murmured
as she kissed my cheek.

I gave her a grateful smile. I knew how hectic
hers and Lucas’s schedules were, but they’d dropped everything to come back
with me. I had the most amazing support network around me and I’d never been so
grateful. I checked my phone again, nothing. I refused breakfast when Richard
came around to serve everyone. I felt so sick that I couldn’t face any food, no
matter how much my stomach was growling. I felt completely drained. It was hard
enough dealing with my emotions, but I’d had my mother on in tears, Magda,
Brooke, Molly, John, and Edward, too. I wasn’t sure I had the energy to deal
with anyone or anything else, but everyone needed me to be strong, they were
all hurting, too. Andy had spoken to James’s wife and Jenny’s parents and Dean
for me. He assured me that he knew how to downplay the whole deal and make
things seem better than they were. The thought of them suffering with worry,
like I was, was sickening to me. I jumped up and raced to my desk when a call
came in over my system. It was Marv.

‘It’s them, patching through to you now,
recording and trying to trace all data as we speak. Good luck.’ My monitor went
black, then fuzzy, then was suddenly filled with the upper torso and face of a
man dressed in black, with a black balaclava over his face. All I could see of
him was a pair of thin lips with slight stubble around them and a pair of dark
brown eyes that sent a chill through my body.

‘Mr. Davenport,’ came a distorted voice. Andy
had warned me that they’d likely use voice modulators to avoid being
identified. ‘As you’re probably aware, we have your wife and son and two of
your employees. If you want to see any of them alive again, you’ll deposit eighty
million pounds sterling into the bank details that will be shown on your screen
at the end of the message. You have twenty-four hours to comply, or you’ll
receive the body of your wife. Do I make myself clear?’

‘I can’t pull that amount of money together in
twenty-four hours, let alone over a weekend. I need more time,’ I countered,
trying desperately to remember every tactic Andy had advised me to use to keep
them on the line as long as possible, to give us a chance at finding them. It
was true though. I’d anticipated a large ransom, but nowhere near that amount.
No way could I liquidise enough assets to comply in that timeframe. The amount
I didn’t give a shit about. I’d give them every last bloody penny to my name to
get all four of them back alive.

‘Those are my terms,’ he stated flatly. ‘Adhere
or suffer the consequences.’

‘Be realistic, I’ll pay you more, but I can’t
get that sort of sum together until at least Wednesday. Besides, how do I know
that you even have them, or that any of them are alive?’ I shot back, resisting
the urge to punch my bandaged hand through the screen into the bastard’s face.
‘I need proof of life on screen right now, or you don’t get a damn thing.’ I
held my breath as the camera moved, flashing across a wall, then took a gasp of
relief as I saw the four of them sitting on the floor. My eyes homed in on
Ellie and Oliver. It looked like she had duct tape over her mouth, but I could
see her fighting tears. Her beautiful green eyes looked dull and defeated, it
broke my heart. Oliver was sitting on her outstretched legs, his face buried in
her chest, but she wasn’t hugging him. Why wasn’t she hugging him?

‘Say hello to your daddy, kid,’ the voice
ordered. I saw a black-gloved hand reach to shake Oliver’s shoulder. Ellie
flinched, but retaliated quickly with a glare that could kill a man at twenty
paces. There was my strong woman. If it wasn’t under these circumstances, that
glare at someone other than me would have made me smile. Oliver lifted his head
and I clutched mine as I saw the porcelain tracks of tears down his cheeks,
cutting through the dirt all over his face. His bottom lip and cheeks were
wobbling as he stared straight at me.

‘Daddy,’ he sobbed, his shoulders shaking as he
lifted one of his hands to try and touch me on the screen. ‘Daddy, I
need
you, I’m so scared.’

‘I need you too, big boy. I’ll be seeing you
soon, I promise. You, Mummy, James, and Jenny. I love you, all of you, be brave
for me,’ I managed to utter before he was gone and I came face to face with his
captor again. I felt a white hot surge rush through my body. I’d never been so
angry in all of my life. ‘You touch one hair on any of their heads,’ I hissed,
my fingernails denting my palms as I tensed up. ‘I’ll find you and I’ll fucking
…’

‘What? What exactly can the mighty Mr.
Davenport do? You’re an expert programmer, but look how long it took you to
crack our virus. You’re incapable of doing anything. The only thing you’re good
for is losing people you care about. Pay up in twenty-four hours and they’ll
all be set free, or chalk up another to your tally of the loves and losses of
Oliver Davenport. It’s already a long list, don’t make me add to it.’

‘I need more time! NO!’ I yelled as his face
disappeared and was replaced by a black screenshot with white numbers printed
on it. Seconds later it was gone. ‘No,’ I howled, looking around to see Andy, Lucas,
Summer, and Richard watching me. Summer was crying and Lucas had his arm around
her, rubbing her arm, just how I’d do when Ellie was upset. He shook his head
as his mouth opened, but nothing came out. What could he possibly say that
would take away the pain I was in right now. What could any of them say? I
stumbled, wondering for a moment if we’d hit turbulence, but realised it was my
legs. I was shaking so badly I could barely stand. Andy rushed forward and
caught me, easing me down onto the sofa.

‘You did good, you hear me? You did good. Do
what you can with the ransom, while I watch the feed again and send it over to
Chris. I want as many eyes on it looking for any clues we can pick up. There’ll
be something. There’s always something. Marv will try and trace the signal back
to its source, right?’