27/10/07
6:00 PM
The Grid
"Right, catch me up." Adam said, walking on to the Grid. Jo was on the phone, so was Ros, Malcolm was walking towards him, Connie was at a computer. Harry was in his office, also on the phone.
"Border police stopped and searched a car this morning, this side of the channel tunnel, found a middle eastern man in his early thirties unconscious in the boot with no ID for him anywhere in the car." Malcolm said, without taking a breath. "They called an ambulance and sent him to William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, they took prints there and ran them through the missing persons database, obviously Zaf's on there. It's not a brilliant set of prints, whoever took them doesn't do it often and they only did one hand, but it narrows the search down to two on the database and the other one's female."
"Okay, how sure are we that this is Zaf, can we talk to him yet?"
"No." Jo called. "He didn't arrive conscious, they've transferred him out, I'm on hold waiting for one of the doctors who treated him."
"It's very likely to be Zaf, Adam." Malcolm said. "I'd say eighty to eighty-five percent, even with prints that bad."
"Photos?"
"That's what I'm after now." Jo called.
"Adam, go and fetch his ICE file." Harry said, walking in. Adam turned to walk out.
"Hello Doctor Hatch," He heard Jo say behind him. "I'm Gwen Phillips, I'm calling about the unidentified man you saw this morning, we think we may know who he is. What can you tell me about him?"
Adam came back a minute later, the sealed file in his hand. Jo stood up and came towards him.
"Adam, they've emailed photos to front desk, they'll be with us any minute. He said Zaf came in drugged, only woke up briefly and wasn't talking sense, but he sounded British."
"Okay, where is he now."
"He's en route to the Truro Centre." Jo said. Adam felt himself grimace. "What? What does that mean?"
"Torture. It's a specialist centre for torture victims." He answered shortly. Jo's eyes widened.
"The police have the driver." Ros said. "He's insisting he's only that, that he didn't know what he was carrying, but they're holding him for kidnap, GBH, possession with intent to supply and resisting arrest."
"Don't let them let him go. Until we know he wasn't involved in doing this to Zaf, we assume that he was. Get us his details too, let's see if we know him."
"Our priorities are as follows:" Harry said, holding out a hand for the file. "Firstly, to verify that this is Zaf Younis. Secondly, to apprehend his captors. Thirdly, to find out from Zaf what he did and did not give up."
"What are we going to tell his family?" Jo asked. "His mother kept on calling the flat. She's going spare."
"As little as possible. What do they think he does?"
"They think he's an interpreter." Adam said.
"She didn't even know he was missing." Jo said. "So far as she knows he just dropped off the face of the earth."
"We can't have her anywhere near him until we know he's sufficiently compus mentis to keep his cover intact." Harry said. Jo opened her mouth as though to protest, then seemed to think better of it.
"We need to tell her something Harry." Ros said. "Otherwise there'll be a stink when we do. We can say he was with a group in… Syria, Libya, Uzbekistan, somewhere like that that he was suspected of something by someone or other… It isn't difficult to fabricate that sort of thing. We can't hope to hide this from her completely."
"I'll go to Truro." Jo said.
"That's my job." Adam said. It wasn't just recognising Zaf, it was asking him what he'd given up, and that wasn't pleasant.
"Ros, Jo, talk the police in to giving us the driver." Harry ordered. "Adam, get on the road. Once we're certain this is Zaf we can invent something to keep his family quiet."
Note: I know that in the sixth episode of season three, Zaf tells Jo that his mother thinks he works in town planning, but I didn't realise that until this fic was almost finished, and it makes a fine mess of some aspects of the plot, so I am leaving it as it is.
Second note: I am very grateful to Antonia for her reviews. If you notice, every new chapter is preceded by at least one review. This is quite intentional. If you want the story faster, review.