Chapter 4 – Dear hunt, part 1
The kidnapper had made it clear that he didn't want to see a car in his mirror or else he would hurt Her Majesty. The chasers – headed by the Head of Security – therefore stayed well behind him. Joe made a mental note that all cars from the Royal House's car park should have a tracer installed. He now depended on information provided by a helicopter following the car. It had a sharp shooter on board in case the kidnapper would show himself without using the Queen as a shield again.
Red alert script number three was executed smoothly. Among others it provided the emergency team with guide lines about how to respond to demands made by a kidnapper. The man didn't play his part: he had not got in touch with them yet.
It worried Joe. He reasoned that the kidnapper would drive to a hiding place and then contact the Castle. Let him demand gold or diamonds. Let him demand criminal friends to be released from prison. Let him demand Genovia to step out of the European Union or the NATO. Let him demand every pear tree to be burned. But let him demand something, anything. If he didn't, he already had what he wanted.
Ahead of Joe was a rich pine forest and the helicopter pilot reported that he'd lost the car. Joe told him to circle the area. Soon the chasers entered the forest themselves. The road took many turnings which might cause them to be suddenly confronted with the Jeep. Joe cautiously reduced speed before every winding.
Glimpsing a sandy road he stopped and checked it for tyre tracks. Nothing. The second sandy road proved not to have been used recently either. The third had. Joe yelled at Vilais, the car expert, to come and have a look. The young man couldn't make up his mind. His first thought was that the track was not a Jeep's, but what if it was? What if somewhere down this road Her Majesty was being restrained and saw him walk away?
´Vilais! Is it or is it not a Jeep?´
Vilais cleared his throat: ´I think not sir.´
Joe eyed him: ´Back to the cars!´
They checked several more sandy roads and lost time for the roads were not used by a Jeep either.
The emergency team had contacted Colonel Frerer of Her Majesty's Military House and Joe now got a message from the Colonel saying her team had entered the forest from the opposite direction. With only one road going through the woods they were slowly closing in on the kidnapper. He informed the Colonel of the kidnapper's threat.
Not long after the Colonel had called him Joe hit the brakes. The Jeep was standing a little off the main road, its front side almost parked against a huge conifer. Joe ran to it, gun drawn. The guards, wearing bullet proofs vests just like their boss, hurried after him and circled the vehicle. By the kidnapper's demand the Jeep's windows were dark and revealed nothing of its contents. Joe had his men stand ready to open the doors and prepared himself to see his Queen held in the kidnapper's vice-like grip. The doors were locked.
´Majesty!´
Not even the faintest knock answered Joe's cry.
´You are surrounded!´ Joe tried.
The only reply came from a bird. The guards, not at ease and feeling that the animal was mocking them, stared at their boss for guidance.
´Open that door!´ Joe ordered Vilais.
The guard used a crowbar to do so. The car proved to be empty. Joe checked the passenger seat. No blood. The ground was covered with old needles, branches and leaves from some foliage bushes. He couldn't find imprints of high heels.
´Spread!´ he commanded, ´Check for clues.´
And so they did. It was Capras who cried out triumphantly: at about seventy metres into the forest something yellow was hanging from a lonely bush on an open spot. It proved to be a shawl.
´The bastard lost it!´ Vilais spat.
Joe contacted the Colonel to inform her about the direction they were taking. He then informed the emergency team that they'd found a trace. Sending two guards back to the cars, Joe studied a map and instructed his hunters where to go. Once did a guard yell that he'd found a ring. Joe hurried towards him but before he was halfway the guard had to tell him that the ring was just part of a rusty can.
It was growing dusk.
´Here!´ Iglesias cried, ´Pink gum!´ Joe hurried towards the tree that was caught in the guard's flash light.
Gum. The kidnapper had made his threat to hurt Her Majesty. Standing next to the Jeep the man had first moved his gun from the Queen's right cheekbone to the left side of her neck. He had then moved his left hand from the Queen's waist to his left coat pocket from where it emerged holding chewing gum. The kidnapper had smirked, the pink substance showing between his teeth. Chewing gum. It had given Joe the shivers. But now he was glad for the kidnapper's sweet tooth.
He gathered his men and set out new routes for them. They continued the hunt. Iglesias, relieved that they couldn't be far behind Her Majesty, told his boss that the kidnapper must be stupid: leaving that gum right there! Joe's heart skipped a beat. He returned to the tree.
´Idiota!´ Joe cursed, after touching the gum. He kicked the tree: ´It's too old! We must go ba-´
He received a call. Listening, he kicked the tree once more.
´Understood. We'll catch up.´
Joe cursed again and walked back as fast as he could, barking at his men to follow him.
´Sir?´ a brave guard asked.
´Colonel Frerer has arrived. A sleuth-hound indicated that Her Majesty was taken into the opposite direction from where we are.´
Capras paled.
A soldier was waiting for them near the cars. The Colonel and the rest of her men were following the Queen's track and the soldier checked his palmtop for the coordinates of the leading team. Off the chasers went, as speedily as the forest allowed them. After some time the soldier informed Joe that the Colonel's team didn't move any more. Not long afterwards they saw lights.