The banging of car doors and starting an engine signalled to her that the air was clean. So she walked back towards the house. She knew she had to hurry. The men might come back faster than she thought. So she went back to the window where she could listen to the conversation beforehand. It was an old window that had to be pushed up to open. But since it was already slightly open, she could open it completely with a strong jerk.
She had to be quiet and careful. She didn't know if more people would be here.
When she arrived at the house, she looked around briefly but carefully. There were three rooms. A kitchen, to the left of the window she came through. Where the men stood was, as she thought, the living room. Around the corner was a small, dimly lit corridor. On the right side, another room, probably the dining room. The interior was old-fashioned and looked very worn. At the end of the living room there was another door, probably leading to the cellar. Katie listened briefly to see if she could hear any sounds. Silence.
As Katie was about to press the door handle, she suddenly heard a voice from inside the room.
"HELLO?", she heard a trembling voice ask. Wait, was that a child?
"Hello, my name is Katie. Who are you and are you alone or is there someone else with you?" she finally asked. No answer.
"Can you help me?", Katie suddenly heard from the other side.
"Yes I want to help you but the door is locked. Can you open it from inside?"
"No, I can't reach it."
"Okay, no problem. I'll be right back," she now replied in a calm voice.
She knew that she was afraid.
A key. She had to find the key. But where is it hidden?, she asked herself. She stepped quickly into the kitchen. Searched all the drawers and cupboards. No key. Further on into the living room. A desk. She opened all the drawers and scanned the underneath until she suddenly stopped.
In her hands she held a USB stick. It was not the one she had given to Sherlock. It had to be the one they were talking about on the phone earlier. Something enormously important seemed to be on it. Quick-witted and without thinking twice, she finally put it in her pocket. Maybe she could still use it?, it flashed through her mind.
"Hello? Have they found the key yet?", the voice from the room suddenly asked again.
Katie shook her head briefly to return to reality.
Then it came to her mind. If you want to hide something, you should always do it in the most obvious place. She remembered that she had often hidden her room key in the place where her father had never looked. It would have been too obvious.
Quickly, Katie went to the door where the child was locked in. She carefully scanned the frame and suddenly... There it was... the key.
As she unlocked the door and entered the room she could see that the child, it was a little girl, probably 8 years old, was sitting on a chair. Her hands tied around the chair with a rope. Therefore she could not get to the door. It was a small shabby room. A small light flickered on the ceiling. The windows were darkened. In the middle was only a chair where the little girl was sitting. At the end of the room there was a bed and a cupboard.
Katie quickly went to the girl and freed her from her bonds.
"Everything will be all right," she said gently as she opened the rope. "What's your name, anyway? Were you alone here the whole time or was there someone else trapped here with you?"
"Ava and no, I was alone all the time," the girl replied.
Katie, a little sad that her brother is not here: "Okay, come on, we have to go. I'll get you out of here!" and pulled the girl with him.
As they left the room and entered the living room, she paused briefly.
"You go to that window there" and pointed towards the window that was open. "I just have to do one more thing."
The girl followed her instructions and went out the window to freedom. Katie went back to the desk where she had found the USB stick and pulled out a piece of paper. She knew that the stick and what was on it was valuable and that it was the only way she could possibly get her brother back.
So she wrote a message to the kidnappers:
I have something you want!
Hyde Park corner to Paddington, 8pm!
And bring Adam with you!
She then disappeared through the window where Ava was waiting for her.
"Come on, let's get out of here. There's a taxi waiting at the end of the path and it will take us away from here," she said, pulling Ava with her.
When the taxi arrived, Katie signalled for her to get in. The taxi driver wondered about the new guest but said nothing.
"Back to London, Miss?" he asked.
Katie did not really know what to do now. Ava needed urgent medical attention but she couldn't get to the hospital or the police. How could she explain that to them? There was only one person who could help her now. When he gave her the thought, she rolled her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and then gave the taxi driver the address:
"221B Baker Street, please"