The Invisible Assassin(57)

The phone went dead.

Who were they? thought Jake. One thing was for sure, it wasn’t Pierce Randall. The voice on the phone had made the point that Jake wasn’t to contact the lawyers. Unless it was a double bluff on Pierce Randall’s part: getting the book back, but keeping Jake on their side for the future.

Jake was certain it wasn’t the Watchers. He’d met Penny Johnson, and these sorts of death threats weren’t their style, despite Carl Parsons attacking Lauren. He also felt the phone call ruled Gareth out from being behind Lauren’s kidnapping. He’d been told not to go to the authorities. Well, Gareth was the authorities.

But he needed someone with him if he was to make sure Lauren, and himself, came out of this alive once the book had been handed over.



Robert looked out of his front door at Jake, and then past him into the street.

‘Where’s Lauren?’ he asked suspiciously.

‘She’s been kidnapped,’ said Jake.

Robert’s mouth dropped open, shocked. Then he clamped it shut again, his eyes searching Jake’s face.

‘What?! Who by?’

‘I don’t know, but they’ve threatened to kill her,’ said Jake.

Robert’s expression turned to the kind that must have struck terror into his opponents on the rugby field.

‘Over my dead body!’ he snarled.

‘I hoped you’d say that,’ said Jake.

Jake went in and Robert shut the door and followed him into the ultra-neat living room.

‘This is about the books?’ Robert asked.

Jake nodded, and then filled him in on what had been happening over the last few days, including the accidental stabbing of Parsons, and Lauren posting the book to him. Jake took the book out and showed it to him. Robert reached out tentatively and took the book from him, turning it over in his huge hands, studying it, the dark leather-like material that encased it, and the symbol of Malichea etched into it. He didn’t attempt to open it. Instead, he handed it back to Jake, who slipped it into his jacket pocket.

‘The trouble is, they know I’ve got it,’ Jake told Robert.

‘How?’

Jake sighed.

‘They may have forced Lauren to tell them what she did with it,’ he said unhappily.

Robert’s face darkened and he smashed a huge fist against the nearest wall at the thought of Lauren being tortured for the information.

‘Anyway, they said they’d hand her over if I give them the book,’ said Jake. ‘They’re going to phone me to tell me where the exchange is to take place.’

‘And you want me to go with you.’

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Robert was coming with Jake.

‘Yes,’ agreed Jake. ‘I don’t trust them. The trouble is, they said that if I bring along the authorities, or anyone else, they’ll kill her. So I don’t know how we’re going to play this. I don’t think two of us will be enough to handle them; but if we bring any more, it could blow the whole thing.’

Robert was silent, thinking it over.

‘You’ve no idea where the exchange is going to be?’

‘No.’

Just then, Jake’s mobile rang. He put his finger to his lips to urge Robert to keep quiet, then answered it.

‘Jake Wells,’ he said.

‘Forty-three Wharf Road North, Paddington,’ snapped a voice. ‘Fifty minutes.’

‘I can’t possibly get there in fifty minutes . . .’ Jake began. But he was speaking to empty air. The caller had hung up.

He looked at Robert.

‘Forty-three . . .’ he began.

‘I heard,’ said Robert. He’d grabbed a jacket and was already hurrying towards the front door.





Chapter 26




Fifty minutes. Why fifty minutes? The specific time worried Jake. They must have known where I was, he thought. From Baron’s Court to Paddington. There was no way they’d be able to make the journey in fifty minutes in Robert’s battered old van, certainly not with congestion in central London as bad as it was. The underground was possible, but with delays happening constantly, and changes to be made, and then looking for Wharf Road North on foot, fifty minutes became very doubtful. So it had to be a taxi, the only other vehicle that could use bus lanes and hopefully get through the traffic, and be able to take them right to their destination.

Jake and Robert raced to the taxi rank at the High Road, and very shortly they were in the back of a cab heading towards central London.

In the cab, Jake expressed his concern that the kidnappers knew where he’d been when they phoned.

‘It’s that business of fifty minutes. This way, we can just do it in fifty minutes. If I’d been further out, we’d never make it there in time.’