"Hi Harry," Dimitri said easily as his boss appeared on the grid. "Where's Ruth?"
"Still in bed," he said with what could only be described as a satisfied smirk, leaving Dimitri in no doubt as to what he meant.
"Why did I ask?" Dimitri said to himself shaking his head. The morning went by in relative peace until Tariq gasped at his computer screen.
"What is it?" Dimitri asked approaching the techie as Beth gathered around the computer screen as well. Tariq didn't reply. All he did was point and hit play on the video which had appeared on the web. Two masked men wearing black from head to foot appeared on the screen.
"This is a message for Sir Harry Pearce," the leader said, barely hiding his sarcasm on the word Sir. "We have no doubt that you will find this video. We also have no doubt that you will want our hostage back and quickly." At this point the camera angle changed and an image of Ruth unconscious came into view. It was definitely her.
"I'm sure at this point we have your full and undivided attention so please listen carefully. I am not in the habit of repeating myself. We want the contents of the government protected file Sparrowhawk. And we want them today. Every hour that you fail to comply with our one and only demand something… unpleasant will happen to your fellow co worker. If co-worker is all that she is. In forty five minutes I will make contact again and tell you how I want to receive the file. Talk to you soon." The video ended in a blur of static. What were they going to do?
They all had gone into Harry's office to tell him, feeling that there was safety in numbers. The video had been sent to Harry's computer and he watched it feeling the bottom drop out of his world. They had her. He had left her alone this morning to fall into the hands of terrorists and kidnappers. He would never forgive himself if she didn't come out of this.
"What is Sparrowhawk?" Dimitri asked to break the silence.
"It's a file they cannot possibly get there hands on," Harry said quietly. "Whatever the cost. Basically it's a government list of all of this countries weapons, including ones we're not meant to obtain, ones we've stolen and where they're all hidden throughout the country. They cannot get their hands on it."
"So what do we do now?" Tariq asked quietly.
"You pull that video apart," Harry said firmly. "Genuine or not, but I think it is. Who they are, where they're from, what accent that man had. Any hints on the location they're keeping her at all. Keep going until you get something. Dimitri and Beth, you two hack into the CCTV outside my house and see if you can get anything from there. I'm going home. I'll be back soon." Barely pausing he vanished from the grid faster than smoke. In the car he picked up his phone and dialled two numbers. First was Ruth's mobile. He knew she couldn't pick up but he wanted to hear her voice.
"Hi, its Ruth Evershed here. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now but please leave your message after the tone." He closed his eyes briefly, praying that she would be alright at the end of the day. Then he called a different number.
"Malcolm, I need your help."
Ruth screwed her eyes up tightly as she came to. She felt in a lot of pain and tried to remember what had happened to her. She remembered being hit over the head but nothing more. Looking around her she realised that she was trapped alone in a cold room that looked like some kind of basement. No furniture and she was lying on a cold stone floor. And on top of her muscles aching she was starving. What the hell did they want from her?
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