Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Geoge Douglas 06 - (The Kidnapping) George was sitting on a chair; his head was in his hands. Standing beside him Sandra was holding his shoulders. Robert Smythe was on the telephone talking away. "I don't care Angela I want extra people on this now, my daughter has been taken and I need results!" He was angry now. "*NO I DON'T WANT THE POLICE INVOLVED*! They've already warned against that! Okay Angela fine, I'll expect them!" he hung up the phone and went to George. "I'm sorry George I don't know what to say, I suppose I shouldn't have invited you to the barbecue, it might never have happened!" George wanted to say that it was alright that it didn't matter, but all he could think was `_if only you'd listened to everyone it might have been different_!' He shook his head. Sandra looked at Robert, "its okay Mr. Smythe, I'm sure that everything will turn out okay, but I think I'd better take George home." "What, err, yes certainly Sandra, and it's Robert! George don't bother coming into work tomorrow, we'll all understand." At that George looked up and shook his head. "No, if they're going to get in touch with us tomorrow I want to be there." George said Robert nodded. "I understand, as soon as I know anything I'll let you know." Robert said. George allowed himself to be taken from the house by Sandra. Sandra drove back to George's house and helped him indoors he sat down in an armchair and seemed to be looking for something that wasn't there, finally he turned to Sandra. "I. . . I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing at the moment." Sandra realised that he was suffering from shock, which was understandable. She sat down on the settee before him and held onto his hand. "It's alright George, I'm here with you." She told him, he smiled faintly and nodded. "I know, but you see it just like before, when . . . when I lost Rachael and Michael I found I couldn't cope and wrapped myself up. I almost lost Cathy then . . . I don't want to lose her now!" Sandra held tightly to his hand, "You won't George, remember what I was told, we're to have trials ahead but we will see them through, so trust me George, it will all work out." He looked at her. He could see in her face that she was serious. "Very well Sandra, I trust you!" he said simply. Inside her Sandra prayed that she was right. ------------------------------------- A bright light brought Cathy round. She was lying on a concrete floor with Sharon beside her. She remembered that they had been sitting in the garden talking about their dads. Then there was a pain in her arm and then she couldn't remember anything else. She looked around and saw three men watching her. "It's about time you two came round." The speaker had a sour face, as if he'd eaten too many lemons Cathy thought, "Which one of you two is Sharon Smythe?" Cathy was going to lie and let Sharon get away, but before she could speak Sharon herself spoke up. "I . . . I'm Sharon, where am I?" Cathy almost rolled her eyes up at that; it was a corny line in such a situation. "It doesn't matter where you are!" Sour face said, "Just remember that while you're here you're going to have to do as we say." The second man then interrupted him, "You're not going to be harmed, we just need you to convince your father to help us!" the man had a gruff voice, but the face was kind, Sour face just looked at gruff voiced. "Yeah that's right," Sour face said, "You're just our insurance, so you better behave!" Cathy decided that she didn't trust the sour faced man as he didn't seem like a nice man at all. The gruff voiced man turned to Cathy, "And who are you?" "I'm Cathy Douglas." The three men looked at each other, they didn't know who she was and they were stuck with her now. Sour face spoke up. "Well it doesn't matter who you are, you're in the same boat as Sharon, as long as you both behave you're be fine. Now you both stay in that room while you're here, and keep quiet. Or else! Understand." Both Cathy and Sharon nodded and then allowed themselves to be taken to a small room, which contained a chair and a single bed, Sharon looked at the room and burst into tears. Cathy held the girl in her arms and tried to soothe her. The gruff voiced man looked in at the pair. "I wouldn't worry too much," he said, "It's only going to be for a few days." ----------------------------------------- After a few hours Cathy could hear voices from the other room, she made out sour face and gruff voice talking. "So what's to eat, I'm getting hungry." That was sour face talking. "Don't look at me, I'm no use in the kitchen, you'd better start cooking, and don't forget our guests, they need feeding too!" gruff voice told him and, with many a foul word, sour face's voice receded. Some time later their door was barged open and Sour face was in the room with a tray of food. When Cathy saw what they were supposed to eat she shook her head. "Is that it?" She asked, "I could have done better than that with my eyes closed." "Listen sweetheart," Snarled her captor, "If I had my way you wouldn't have anything to eat, but the boss wants you both alive and happy. Anyway we've got the same so eat it!" Cathy looked at the mess before her in shock, "You're eating like this as well! No wonder you're crabby. Why don't you let me do the cooking?" she said innocently. The man looked at her and laughed. "So that you can escape and let them know where we are, dream on kid." Cathy shook her head. "I mean it," she exclaimed. "All you have to do is to make sure my legs can't move too fast and then you can keep an eye on me as I work!" The man looked thoughtful at that but then shook his head. "Nope! Can't do that!" He shut the door. Cathy took a bite of the food and grimaced, it tasted as bad as it looked! Sharon couldn't even touch it. They heard a cry from the main room and then the door was opened by sour face again. The man pointed to Cathy. "You say you can cook?" He said Cathy nodded her head, "Fine! Come here." She walked to the man and watched him as he attached two handcuffs to her ankles and then tied them together with a short piece of rope; she was then walked to the kitchen where there was a set of messy pans. "You can't expect me to cook with those!" She said. "They've got to be washed properly to start with!" she went to the sink and started pouring hot water into it. She looked around and found some detergent, a cloth and a scouring pad. She looked at her captors. "Well, what are you waiting for? Give me a hand!" And so it was that the three men meekly allowed themselves to be ordered by the twelve-year-old and were wiping the pots and pans and crockery whilst she ensured that the kitchen was clean. Once satisfied she then looked through their freezer and pantry to see what stocks they had. "You don't have a lot here! I'll make up a shopping list and one of you can go out tomorrow and buy the stuff." At their looks she turned and added, "Unless you want me to go out and buy it?" The men started to argue that she couldn't leave the house and then notice that she was looking at them with her arms folded and her foot tapping away, the handcuff jangling as she did so. "That's okay miss." Said the gruff voiced man, "If you can cook us an eatable meal then we'll get what you need tomorrow." The other two nodded their heads - they reminded Cathy of those plastic dogs that sit in the back of cars with their head nodding away. "Okay then, let's see what you've got here to cook." Cathy said and started to work away, while she was doing this she tried to find out where they were, looking around for any scraps of paper that could help her tell where she was, but was unable to find anything. Before too long she had quickly cooked a stew with meat and vegetables. This seemed to be enough for all five of them. She followed the gruff voiced man back into the bedroom where her legs were uncuffed and she was able to give Sharon her plate of food, they ate the food quickly and found that it was filling. There was a knock on the door and the gruff voiced man entered. "Thank you for cooking for us, if you'll write out a list one of us will get the goods for you." He passed a piece of paper to Cathy along with a pen. She smiled at him and started to write, and the man left the room. As Cathy finished the list she noticed that the man had given her an envelope; on it was an address '34 North Row' could it be where they were being held? Would the man have been so blind as not to see what she had? Or did they believe that neither of the girls would be released if the ransom, or whatever it was, had been paid? Cathy quickly memorised the address, if it wasn't this house then it might lead who-ever to this place, it was their only hope. But how could she pass the information on without the men finding out? She knocked on the door, the other man, sour face, opened it and Cathy gave the list back to him "How long will we be here?" she asked him, he blinked at the question "For as long as it takes! Why, getting homesick?" he asked sarcastically, Cathy shook her head. "No it just that we're going to need more clothing! You can't expect us to stay in these clothes for much longer, they're starting to smell!" she said with a look of disgust on her face, the man thought for a moment. "We didn't have time to take any clothing with us, you're have to make do, or do you expect us to take you out shopping?" he asked her "You can buy jeans and t-shirts can't you?" She asked, "Men have been buying those for sometime now and it doesn't have to be for kidnapped girls you know!" she said. "I'll have to think about that." He looked at the list he'd been given, "Do you need all that?" he asked. Cathy nodded her head. "If I'm going to be cooking meals for all five of us then yes!", then she tried to be reasonable, "Look most shops have children's clothes for sale, if I put our measurements on there you can get the jeans at the same time." She said with a smile on her face, she took back the paper and then wrote down her measurement and quickly asked Sharon for hers. She handed the paper back to the man who closed and locked the door. Instead of going back to Sharon she waited by the door listening. "Now they want clothes?" said the gruff voiced man "So? Its not as if they're going to need them later is it?" came the reply from the sour faced man. "Can it Pete! If we tell them that they'll be whacked when Joey gets out they won't help us, we've got to keep them sweet, and anyway that kid cooked a good meal," the third man replied. There was a slight pause before the third man spoke again. "Okay, we'll get them some clothes. From what Joey's brief said they're going to be here for a week. So we're going to keep them happy until then. Frank you or Pete will go out tomorrow and get the stuff they want, we're do the recording tomorrow afternoon. Got that?" The other two must have answered because the man continued, "Okay, Frank you make up a milk drink for them with the stuff in it, I'll be happy when they're asleep, that way we won't need to bother about them until tomorrow" Cathy returned to the bed where Sharon was sitting. She took the girls hand. In her head the conversation was still replaying itself. She had an address and two names of the men holding them, plus a third name Joey whoever he was? But how could she get the information out without letting their captors know what was happening? She quickly decided not to let Sharon know everything that she'd heard, she was already scared and if she knew the men's plans she would break down completely. That was something Cathy didn't want to happen. "Don't worry Sharon," Cathy told the girl, "I'm here with you." This did make her friend feel better. "I'm sorry Cathy. If you weren't with me they wouldn't have taken you as well!" and she burst into tears. "I'm not sorry." Cathy said, "There's two of us now against them, they don't stand a chance." She said smiling, which made Sharon laugh, although at the moment Cathy didn't know what she was going to do. A knock on the door disturbed them. Frank opened the door. He was carrying two mugs of cocoa. "You have to drink these down." He told them, Cathy looked at the mugs and then at Sharon. "Can we use the bathroom before we drink them?" She asked, "They look hot and we'll be able to drink them better if they're cooler." She added in explanation. Frank looked at her for a moment and then nodded his head. Cathy took Sharon's hand and the pair walked to the bathroom followed by Frank who stayed outside the room, there were no windows so that the men had no fears of the girls escaping. "It`s okay Sharon." Said Cathy, "I'm keeping the door closed. Now I think you'd better use the loo and wash and then we'll swap over, I don't think they're going to listen to us if we want to use the loo later tonight." Sharon nodded and did as Cathy suggested. Once they had finished Cathy went to unlock the door, she whispered to Sharon that the drink was going to taste slightly funny, but that they wouldn't be harmed, just knocked out for the night, Sharon shook her head. "I don't know about that, what if they did something nasty to us, we'd never know." She said. Deep inside her Cathy agreed with Sharon, but she realised that, so far, every time Frank had entered the room he always knocked first. The other man, Pete, rarely had and the third man had never disturbed them at all. While they were walking back to their room Cathy asked Frank if they could somehow lock the door at night, when he asked why she decided to tell him the truth. "I promise you that we wouldn't do that!" he said, but Cathy was determined. "You might not do that but what about the others? I don't think that sour faced man would knock first like you do." She didn't say Pete's name, as it would tell Frank she'd been listening. "I'm sorry kid, but I can't let you have the key to the lock, it wouldn't be right." Frank said. Cathy thought for a moment and then said. "What if I put a chair in front of the door? That way if anyone tried to get into the room it would make a noise and wake everyone up!" She didn't say that neither Sharon nor her would be able to wake up. Frank thought for a moment and then said. "You could do, but it would only be for the nights, if you did that during the day I'd be forced to remove all the chairs from that room." He saw Cathy's face and then relented, "Okay then, you can do that, I'll ensure that I'll knock on the door in the morning, but I'm trusting you to keep your word!" Cathy assured him that she would, and that while they had Sharon she wouldn't try to escape. "I don't see how you could anyway!" Frank replied, "Now when I lock this door I won't be opening it until the morning. Is there anything else you need?" he asked them. Cathy and Sharon looked at each other before shaking their heads, Frank nodded. "Good, now drink your cocoa and try to sleep, you won't be here too long I promise you." Cathy watched as Frank closed the door and heard the key turning in the lock. She picked up a chair and wedged it under the handle, Sharon was lying on the bed sobbing away. "Here Sharon, drink this down," Cathy said to her friend as she handed her the mug of cocoa, "I'll protect you." She watched as Sharon drained the mug, her face twisting slightly at the taste. Cathy delayed drinking hers for a bit longer, that way she was able to keep an eye on Sharon as the drug took hold of her. Once she saw that Sharon was asleep she laid down beside the girl and pulled the blankets of the bed over them both, as she was starting to drift off she realised that the recording session might be her way of passing on the information she'd gained. It was just as her eyes closed that she realised that nobody would be able to read her message, if only . . . Trudy! ------------------------------------ George couldn't sleep that night, he tried but kept seeing Cathy in danger he took to standing by the window watching the road, just hoping. After a few hours of this he was joined by Sandra - she had picked up Chris and taken him home after explaining the situation - Before she went back to George. The two of them stayed by the window, watching the dawn rise on a new day. ------------------------------------ Frank's knock on the door had awoken the two girls; Cathy remembering her promise removed the chair from the door allowing Frank to open it. He brought in a tray with breakfast on it, fried eggs, bacon and toast. Sharon looked at it and groaned. "I don't feel well," was all she managed to say before throwing up. Cathy touched her forehead, which was cold, and clammy. She looked at Frank and said. "She doesn't feel right; I think it's a reaction to whatever you gave us last night!" He put the tray down and approached the girls, giving a wide berth to the pool of vomit on the floor. He examined the girl, her glazed eyes and white pallor was evidence of her illness. "Shit!" he said, "You're right, she is ill." He said and picked Sharon up to take her to the bathroom, Cathy followed him. Pete was in the passageway blocking it. "Where the hell do you think you're going with her?" he asked. Frank tried to explain the situation to him, only to be told, "You fool! That's the oldest trick in the book, she's just faking it!" Frank held out Sharon who still had flecks of vomit on her lips, which caused Pete move backward to avoid the smell. "Does this look as if she's faking it?" he asked, pushing past Pete to the bathroom. Cathy was already in there, getting cold water into the basin, Frank placed Sharon onto the toilet, and went to leave but the girl started to slump forward and he quickly went to her and held her up. "Good grief, she's burning up!" Frank said to Cathy who nodded. "I thought she would be," Cathy said, "My Uncle had the same problem once, it was a reaction against a sleeping tablet he'd taken, and it took him a several hours to get over it." She started to apply a cold damp cloth to Sharon's forehead. "Oh god, I'm going to . . ." Sharon started to say and twisted round her cheeks bulging, Frank managed to lift up the seat cover before Sharon emptied her stomach again. "What the problem? Pete said that the Smythe girl's faking illness!" The third man entered the bathroom, just in time to see Sharon coating the sides of the toilet. "If you know how to fake that Ken, then the answer's yes!" Frank told him, "She having a reaction to the sleeping draught, I think we may need a doctor to see to her!" The man, Ken, walked to Sharon and Cathy and gazed into Sharon's eyes. "She'll be okay, make her drink some coffee and then they'll be ready to perform." Cathy didn't like the sound of that and looked at Frank as Ken left the bathroom. "What did he mean perform?" she demanded Frank shook his head, "It's just his way of speaking, he means that we want Sharon to speak a few lines, to let her dad know she's okay and also why she's here," he told her. Between them they managed to get Sharon back to the room, and then Frank got a bucket and cloths and started to clean up the mess. Cathy helped him. "Why are you doing this?" she asked him. Frank glanced around to see if either of his brothers were nearby before answering. "Because Sharon's dad is acting against Joey, we've got to convince him to lose the case!" he told her. Cathy didn't believe him and pressed the point. "No! I mean why are YOU doing this?" She said, "You don't act like your brothers, I don't think you wanted this to happen." "You don't understand, Joey is my brother, it's my duty to help him." Frank said in a monotone voice. "Help him yes!" Cathy said. "But kidnapping children to do it? Isn't that wrong?" Frank didn't look at Cathy when he answered. "Yes it's wrong, but it was better than the other plan Ken and Pete had! I managed to convince them to change that, but they insisted that we'd have to do this!" he then looked at Cathy, "I'm sorry you were mixed up in this, I really am." Cathy was going to talk to him some more, but Frank had already finished mopping up the mess and was leaving the room. He returned with some coffee and watched the two girls in silence as they ate the food, Sharon now feeling slightly better and was feeling hungry. When the girls were finished he took the tray back and left them alone. "I'm sorry I was sick." Said Sharon to Cathy, Cathy smiled at her and held her hand, "You couldn't help it," She said, "It was the drug in the drink that did it! Haven't you taken a sleeping pill before?" she asked. "Only once before," Sharon said, "But I don't remember it doing that to me! Oh Cathy what's going to happen to us, they won't let us go I know it!" Cathy tried to smile at the frightened girl to calm her down. "It's okay Sharon, I'm going to try something later, but don't worry we'll be safe. I promise you." Cathy told her, but didn't let her see that her fingers were crossed as the words were spoken. ------------------- Later there was a knock on the door. Frank was there. "We want you to make a video for your father," He told Sharon, "We're going to film you on a computer disk and send it off to your father. It's to let him know you're both alive and well, so if you're both follow me." He left the room with Sharon and Cathy following him. In the room was a sheet covering a wall in front of the sheet was a chair, which was facing a computer screen with a camera perched on top of it; on the screen was a picture of the chair. There was a newspaper folded on top of the chair. Sharon was made to sit in the chair with Cathy standing beside her. Sharon held the newspaper with the headline visible to the camera lens. They could see in the computer screen that the headline was clear and that they both were shown full length in the screen. For some reason that Sharon couldn't tell, Cathy must have been nervous as her hands were constantly fidgeting. "Dad, I'm safe and well." She was reading from a script, she was scared but as Cathy was with her she was trying hard not to show it. "The men here say that you have to follow their instructions or you won't see either of us again." She looked at the camera, "They haven't hurt us or done anything to us. They just want you to follow their instructions." She looked at the list and read it out. It was just that they wanted Douglas to foul up his presentation of a case so that their brother would be freed, once that was done then the girls would be released. Although she didn't really have anything to say Cathy had asked if she could say a few words to her father, the men grudgingly agreed. "Hello daddy," She started. "As Sharon said we're quite well, I don't want you or Trudy to worry about me, please let her watch this to put her mind at rest, you know how she can panic if she doesn't see me." She looked at the men one of them, Pete, was making a circle motion with his hand. "I hope we'll see each other soon, bye Daddy, Trudy. I love you both." And the girls stayed in the shot until the men told them to relax. They were taken back into the bedroom and their door was locked ------------------- Once the disk was received at the offices Robert called George into his office. Seated there was the security team, Helen was also present. Without a word Robert started playing the file, there were the two girls Sharon seated and Cathy standing beside her. George noticed that Cathy's hands were moving in a strange pattern, never repeating but certainly deliberately. When she spoke he listened to her words for any clues, but the message was so short that there was nothing to be gleaned from them. Helen spoke first. "Who is Trudy, George?" she asked him, George had to think for a moment before answering. "She's a friend of Cathy's," He said, "They've know each other since she's been to school." He couldn't see why Cathy had mentioned Trudy but he was still happy to see that she was unharmed. "Why would Cathy want Trudy to see this video?" Helen persisted; George shook his head, as it wouldn't mean anything to Trudy, as she wouldn't be able to hear what was said. "I don't know, Trudy's been profoundly deaf for several years now, I don't know why Cathy wanted her to see this!" Helen shook her head, "I don't know either, but it's our only lead, and we're running out of time," she said, "Where does she go to school?" --------------------------------------- Trudy didn't understand what was happening, she hadn't seen Cathy that morning and nobody seemed to know anything about her? Surely her dad hadn't moved her to another school? He wouldn't be mean enough to do that? Her teacher managed to get her attention and signed that there were some people who wanted to see her. She looked at the woman and man, both of whom were standing just in the doorway, her headmistress was with them. '*Trudy, these people want to take you to see Cathy's father, I've spoken to your mother and she says it's okay,.*' the headmistress signed to her. '*They don't understand sign language so please be kind to them,*' she added smiling. '*Okay headmischief*' signed Trudy also smiling '*I'll behave nicely with them.*' And she looked at the woman who gave a small smile; she tried to say something to Trudy, but decided that since Trudy couldn't hear her she soon gave up. The woman held out her hand to Trudy who took it, and the three of them walked away. Trudy was watching their lips as they walked. "I tell you this is a waste of xxxxxx time," the man was saying (Trudy didn't know what the word was, but from its use she knew it wasn't a nice one) "Possibly, Roger, but we've got to explore every possibility," the woman said, "There's a chance that this girl can give us some answers as to where Cathy and Sharon are." Trudy's heart gave a lurch when she read that - Cathy was in trouble! Her and some other girl! Trudy was determined to help if she could, but she didn't know where Cathy was and how was she supposed to tell these people if she could? She was helped into a limousine that quickly drove off to the centre of town. Trudy watched the faces of the two people trying to find out anything else. "Why the hell Robin and his guys couldn't have kept a closer eye on the brats is beyond me," the man said. "It happens, they were watching the party at the time when they were distracted, and it was just unlucky that they took Cathy as well as Sharon," the woman said, "I'm glad she's still alive." Trudy was shocked. This was serious! Then she realised that her face was betraying her feelings when the woman looked at her. "You can read our lips?" The woman asked her, Trudy nodded her head, "So you know what we've been saying?" again Trudy nodded. The woman turned her head and must have said something to the man because he stared at Trudy for a few minutes. "You must be xxxxxx kidding!" he said "Language Roger!" the woman said and then she spoke to Trudy, "I'm sorry about this Trudy, but we have to know what Cathy is trying to say to us, the sooner we can work this out the quicker we can help her and Sharon." Trudy nodded to show that she understood, but she was still puzzled. ------------------------------ The rest of the trip was quiet, well the man and woman didn't speak to each other, as far as Trudy could see. The car arrived outside the offices and Trudy was escorted up to the top floor where she found George Douglas waiting for her with a notepad and pens, she took them and smiled at George. '_How can I help?_' she wrote on the pad, George read the message and then spoke. "We think Cathy has a message for us which only you can read, she's asked for you to see the video, if you can tell us anything just write it down," he said, making sure that Trudy had managed to read his lips as he did so. She nodded and wrote. '_Fine, I want to help Cathy. She's always been there to help me._' She showed George the message and smiled, he nodded and smiled back. George took her into an office where there were three other people and a computer. On the screen was a media player program, which Trudy knew how to operate; she expanded the screen and played the message. As soon as the file started she could read Cathy's hands as they played out her message '*Trudy please let dad know. They are not going to let us go. As soon as they get their brother Joey released they are going to kill us.*' Trudy stopped the message at that point and copied it down onto her pad; one of the men took the page and showed it to the others. "Fucking hell! We thought that might happen but didn't think the kids knew about it!" he said. "Hold on Roger," said another man, "I've watched that file over and over, Sharon is relaxed although scared, I don't think she knows! It's Cathy who does but she's only concentrating on passing the message on." He turned to Trudy and said, "Is there any more?" she turned to the screen, although she was now scared for her friend she knew that only she could help them now. She pressed the space bar to play the file - '*We are held by three men, their names are Pete, Frank and Ken - Ken seems to be in charge.*' Again Trudy pressed the space bar to pause the message and wrote the information down, again the page was taken from her for the men to read and talk about. '*I have an address but I don't know if that is where we are. It is 34 North Row. It seems to be a flat as all the rooms are on the same floor. We are locked in a bedroom at the back of the flat. - They think we're going to be here for a week. If I can get any more information I'll try to pass it on in the next message. I'm going to repeat now - Trudy let dad know - three men Frank, Pete and Ken. I don't know their surnames, address 34 North Row, once they've got Joey out they are going to kill us, please help*' Trudy wrote down the address and also Cathy's thoughts that the address might be wrong. Helen quickly took the note. "It's what we thought, the Webb family's to blame, and Robert's the prosecution attorney for the case. The brothers Ken and Pete are bad news. We've never heard about Frank before, either he's that good or he's never been involved before," she said. "What about the address?" the third man asked, Helen shook her head. "We don't have it on their file, it could be where they're based." She looked at Robert, "We're going to have to get the authorities involved in this. They've got the resources that we haven't." Robert shook his head, "We can't! They said that they'd kill the girls if the police were involved." George spoke up; "They're going to kill them anyway! You read what Cathy had sent." But Robert was adamant. "While there's a chance of getting my daughter out of this alive I'm not going to jeopardise her safety." Helen looked at George as if to say 'it's up to you.' George nodded. "I'm worried about Cathy and Sharon too, I've already lost my wife and son, do you think I want to lose my only daughter too?" he said, Robert looked at him so George continued, "We know who has them, we have an address. Hell we could even get this Joey guy to tell us where they could be! Now is the time for action not for sitting back and letting the girls get killed!" George was hoping that shock tactics would work. He went back to Trudy and took her hand. George looked at the people in his office; they were all watching him, including the girl Trudy. He didn't know what to do, should he contact the police and lose his daughter? Or keep quiet and possibly lose his daughter anyway? He sat back in his seat and closed his eyes while shaking his head. The touch of a small hand on his hands brought him to focus on Trudy, who was standing by the side of his chair; he looked at the deaf girl as if wondering what to say. There was a look in her eyes, one of pleading. He nodded. "Very well." He said, "Contact the police. Tell them everything we know." Trudy smiled at him as he said this and then she hugged him, trying to convey that everything would be okay. ------------------------------------- Detective Sergeant Clark was annoyed - not at the fact that the kidnap had taken place, he was annoyed that it had taken so long before the information had been passed on to them. "So let me get this straight. These three men kidnapped your daughters. They're being held somewhere in the city, possibly at this address as far as you know! How did you get this information?" He asked both George and Robert. Robert looked at Clark; they'd already given their statements to two different sets of people and now they had to repeat it again! He drew in a deep breath before speaking. "It's quite simple officer," He said. "My daughter managed to use sign language to give us the message. If she hadn't told us to get Trudy involved we'd just think she was nervous and fidgeting, Clark looked at the young girl who was sitting in a large swivel chair looking at all the police officers in the room. "How did she do that? Are you sure she isn't playing about with you, some kids are like that you know, seeking attention in any way!" Clark said, noticing that Trudy was now watching him. Then he noticed that she was frowning at him and getting out of the seat. She was writing in a notepad, which she brought to him. He read the message. '_I am deaf! That means that I have to be extra careful when dealing with people. Especially people like you who want to put everybody down_!' he was surprised when he read that, it seemed that Trudy was very good at lip reading, he smiled slightly and then his hands moved '*I'm sorry but I'm trying to find out about this, don't let on to them.*' Trudy, who had been watching his hands, opened her eyes wide at his answer and replied in the same way, '*Okay then, but please believe me when I say that Cathy is in trouble and needs help.*' Clark nodded his head. "Very well sir, if I can see the video please." Clark walked to the video player and looked slightly put out when he was called over to the computer; he searched the media player for the play button, but couldn't see it. Trudy reached over and pressed the space bar, which then started the file playing. "Thank you," he said automatically, and then watched the film. He listened to the message that Sharon had to give and watched the girl closely for her reactions. She was scared but she was under control. There was no apparent trauma visible, so she should be able to cope for the next few days. When Cathy started to speak he could see that she was tense, but focused on delivering her message, he could read snatches of her message, but parts of it couldn't be read, almost as if she was stuttering over letters. He turned to Trudy a puzzled look on his face, he raised his hands and signed, '*what's wrong with the picture*' Trudy smiled and replied, '*Nothing, she's using a shorthand version of sign.*' When his face still didn't clear she explained the shortcuts used, as he replayed the message, this time concentrating on Cathy's hands he understood. Clark came to a decision, "I'm going to check on this address, see what's there, in the meantime I'll take a copy of that file, see if our boys can come up with anything else. And, leaving some men behind to finish taking statements, he left to return to his office. ------------------------ When Clark arrived at his office he first of all requested information on the four brothers, Joey, Ken, Pete and Frank Webb, and then he requested a meeting with his boss. The files arrive first, extensive information on the three brothers, but little on Frank, it was almost as if he'd never been involved in anything before, Ken was the ringleader of the three, Joey and Pete acting as heavies. They were suspected of various crimes around the country, but hardly any here in the city. It seems that Joey was currently under arrest for extortion, which made no sense to Clark - this would normally be dealt with by the police, not some legal firm - anyway the case was so clear cut that there was no way he'd walk. This was why the brothers were trying this. Frank Webb however was the odd one, there were a couple of petty thefts when he was younger, but Clark read through the lines to see that he was trying to keep up with his brothers. A couple of years later he broke away from their lifestyle. He joined the army, was involved in the Falklands before being honourably discharged and was now working hard as a taxi driver, he'd even been awarded a citation for his actions during a road accident, it was his prompt work that saved the life of a victim. Clark was stumped; this wasn't the type of man who would kidnap children, not even for his brother! Then he noticed Frank's address - 34 North Row! This was the address that the Douglas girl had given. It was too simple! They wouldn't be so stupid as to allow the girl to let everyone know where they were, or would they? It was the Douglas girl who told them to get Trudy involved, and both girls knew what they were doing, even if one of the kidnappers knew sign language the short hand that the girls had, although simple, was such that they'd never think of it. He quickly wrote up his notes, he thought that there was enough evidence to get a raid set up immediately. He didn't think the girls would be in serious danger - the Webb brothers would want to keep them safe until they managed to get Joey out, after then it would be the normal pattern. This was the situation as he brought it to the attention of his chief. After checking through the evidence they decided to go ahead with the raid at 6 o'clock the next morning. ------------------------------- Voices in the outer room attracted Cathy's attention, she had heard Frank's name mentioned and so she concentrated on what was being said. "So you've sent Frank out for the stuff!" That was Pete's voice. "Yeah, it's better to keep him occupied, that way when we have to do it he won't be able to stop us, he's in it as far as we are!" Ken's voice answered. "But he's soft! Remember what he was like with Nipper, couldn't stop bawling for a week after we'd got rid of it!" Pete again. "Don't worry; he thinks we've got the goods on him. He still reckons that he killed old man Wilson. I've told him that if he doesn't help us I'll tell the cops!" Ken laughed at that and was joined by Pete, "As far as he knows he's heading for a long stretch one way or another, if he only knew that Joey whacked the guy while Frank was unconscious. It's the only thing holding him here." "So what are we going to do with those two bitches?" Pete finally said. "I've got plans to bring Frank into our gang forever, he's going to whack the two and we're going to make sure he does, that way he's ours!" Ken finished. Cathy moved away from the door, she now had a chance if only she could use it. -------------------- Frank arrived back at the flat carrying the shopping that Cathy had asked for, along with some clothing. As soon as the girls were handed them Cathy immediately took Sharon with her to the bathroom, she asked Frank to remain outside the door while the two girls bathed and changed their clothes, Sharon was especially happy since hers still had the reminder of her vomit still lingering. The girls shared a shower, luxuriating in the pleasure of the water washing over them, they quickly dried off and put on the Jeans and T-shirts provided, and Cathy picked up their dirty clothing and unlocked the door. "Can I put these into your washing machine?" she asked Frank. He seemed surprised that she would ask him but quickly gave his assent. He guided the two girls to the laundry room where the washing machine and tumble dryer were. 'By now the police should have been told where they were', Cathy thought to herself. 'If only she knew if the address was right!' She busied herself by loading the washing machine and starting it working, showing Sharon how it was done. Once the machine was humming away at its work the three stayed in the room, Cathy started working on Frank again, but far enough that Sharon couldn't hear her. "So what's going to happen to us?" she asked him. "Well when Sharon's dad gets Joey out then you'll be returned to your parents, safe and sound," he told her, but didn't look at her while he said that. "No we won't," she said evenly, "I heard what you were all saying last night." He looked to Sharon who was oblivious to the conversation. He realised that she wasn't aware of the plans ahead. "Look I'm the one who supposed to do that, to show the others that I'm still part of the family," he said, "The only thing is that I'm not going to!" he added, this time he looked straight into her eyes. "I'm going to drug your drink and tell the others that I've poisoned you both, they won't check to see, and when we've gone you'll be able to escape." Cathy thought about that for a moment and then shook her head. "It won't work!" She said to him and then she asked him "Who was Nipper?" "Where did you . . ." He began but at her look he then said, "Nipper was a dog I had when I was younger Joey and Pete took it for a walk one day, they told me that it ran away and went over some railway tracks, a train hit it." He didn't tell her that he went to the railway and found the dead body of his dog, its lead still tied to the track. Cathy nodded as he told her. "Ken and Pete won't let you save us, they'll force you to kill us both, and I don't think you could." Frank turned away from her. "That's what you think!" He said, "I've already killed one man, two kids wouldn't be any different!" Cathy waited for a moment before shooting her bolt. "Won't it?" she said, "You not going to be unconscious this time! So you'll have to do it, and not let Joey do it this time!" at his amazed look she explained how she'd overheard Ken and Pete talking, as he listened to her he realised that he'd been played for a fool. ------------- Over the past few years he'd been haunted by the memory of waking up at the Wilson house, Isaac Wilson's body was lying on the floor next to him. -- Everyone knew that old man Wilson was crazy; the man was always talking to himself. But everyone also knew that his house held money, it had to! As Wilson had never been known to spend much - so he must have been hoarding it away! The Webb brothers decided that since he didn't need it they would take it from him. At least Joey, Ken and Pete had decided, and since Frank was the younger brother he had to do as they told him, he was fourteen at the time and already had been dragged into trouble by the others too many times to count. The plan wasn't foolproof, that was the trouble with their plans! They managed to get into the house. But Isaac was at home. He caught the four youths in one of the bedrooms. "Scatter!" said Joey and the four ran and split up, but Frank wasn't fast enough, Isaac managed to grab hold of his arm and Frank slammed into a doorpost, which knocked him out. When he came to Joey was shaking him. "Jeez man! I didn't think you had it in you!" He was saying, "You were like a madman. He couldn't stop you at all." He looked to the body lying on the floor, blood seeping from the man's head. "What happened?" Frank asked groggily. "What happened? The guy asks!" Joey said, "Hey man I saw it all, old man Wilson grabbed hold of your arm and you hit the door, I thought you were out of it, but then you picked up that lamp and started to swing out. You must have caught him a couple of good ones 'cause he went down. Then you just seemed to flake out." Frank got unsteadily to his feet and looked at the body lying there, looked smaller than Frank remembered. He went to reach out to the man but Joey stopped him. "No need man! You've killed him. Now come on we've got to get out of here before someone else comes in." And Joey bundled him out of the house. Their haul was some small trinkets that they couldn't sell; they didn't find any money - mainly because there was none to find! It was after this that Frank made the effort to break away from his brothers. He tried to make up for the life he'd taken - or that he always thought he'd taken! He'd joined the army as soon as he could leave home, before settling down with his family, hell he'd even managed to make a living at taxi driving. Then a couple of weeks ago Ken showed up with Pete. Ken had persuaded Frank to help them with a little job. Except that the job was kidnapping the family of Robert Smythe. The only trouble was that when they'd attacked only the younger daughter and her friend were available, so they cut their losses. Pete and Ken were all for scaring the life out of the two girls, humiliating them. Frank put his foot down. But he couldn't stop their plans for killing their victims after the job was done so he decided to ensure that he was the one who would be seen to 'kill' them. He knew that some sleeping medicine would slow the breathing and heart rate, but these would revert back to normal after a few hours. So he managed to get some, all he was waiting for was the right time to administer them! But now after what Cathy had said he was starting to get angry, his own brothers had let him think he was a killer, forced him to help them. How could they? Then he realised that they did what they always had! Nipper was his dog. They never had one. So they took his! It had been the same with things that he'd had as a boy, after a time his brothers had taken them and broken them. Now they we doing the same with his life! He had to stop them! ------------------------ Frank looked at the two girls; they didn't deserve this. He'd have to get them out somehow, his hand went to his pocket where he'd placed the gun - Ken had given him the weapon. Frank had never held one since his spell in the army, and he never wanted to see another one again, he took out the gun and looked at it, and then he glanced at the door. Cathy watched him seeing the anger building within him, she touched his arm. "No yet!" She said, "We need to time it right!" at his look she glanced over at Sharon who was now sitting in the corner of the room. "Are we at that address - 34 North Row?" She asked him. "No!" came the shattering reply, "That's my home address; Ken decided that we'd have to bring you somewhere else." "Oh sod!" Cathy said. "Well where are we?" she asked Frank "This is an old nuclear fallout bunker." Frank replied, "It's under the court house. Ken reckoned that nobody would think of looking for us here!" Cathy started to look distressed, Frank regarded her closely, "Why, what's wrong?" he asked her. "Well I told dad that I was at that address, I'm sure the police would have raided the place by now," she told him, Frank was amazed 'how had she managed to do that!' he wondered, but she then spoke again. "When are we supposed to make another video?" "Ken wants the next one to be done tomorrow." He told her, "You're supposed to be giving another set of instructions." He glanced at Sharon, "Pete has some plans for her if we don't hear any good news!" he told her. "What do you mean plans?" Cathy quietly asked. "You really don't want to know! Pete's a sadist from what I remember. If you can get a message out I'd suggest you do it!" Frank said equally softly. Cathy nodded and then concentrated on remembering their location. ---------------------------------------- Clark was slightly worried; even if Frank did have the girls he wouldn't keep them at his house! And that was another thing. Cathy's message said that they were in a flat, but the floor plan of 34 North Row was of a two storey house, he didn't think that Cathy would have made a slip like that. He decided to do the unforgivable. He took his car and drove to North Row, took out a clipboard and started to knock on doors. He said he was conducting a survey - which changed with each house. When he got to number 34, a dark headed girl of about 11 answered the door. "Hello mister." She said Clark smiled at her. "Hello is your daddy in?" he asked her, the girl looked behind her. "Mum there's a man at the door!" She shouted out, she then looked at Clark, "Mum's in but dad's been away for some days now." Clark filed this bit of information away. A woman approached the door wiping her hands on a towel she was carrying. "Kathy what did I tell you about opening the door to strangers!" the woman said. Clark could see that she looked worried, almost scared, she turned to him, "I'm sorry but we're not interested," she said as she started to close the door. Clark took a risk. "Mrs Webb, I think we need to talk about your husband Frank," he said. The woman stopped closing the door and looked at him. "Are you from the cab firm?" she asked, "Because I've already told you that he's away and I don't know where he is." "I'm not from his work," Clark said, and produced his identification. The woman gasped as she looked at it. "Kathy! Go up to your room and play," she said, at the girl's moans she turned round and looked at her. "You will do as I say young lady, or you're going to hear from your father when he gets back." The girl sulkily went upstairs and Clark was shown into the house. "Mrs. Webb, where is your husband?" Clark asked the woman. "I don't know, he got a message from his brother the other day and just took off." She told him, "I haven't seen him since then." She looked at Clark. "I'm so scared that he's doing something stupid." "When did you last speak to him?" Clark asked her, she looked at the floor and then back at him. "It was this afternoon; he said that he was in trouble and that he loved me." She started to cry, "I don't think he's coming back to us." Clark looked at the phone and then back at the woman. "Have you received other calls since then?" he asked her, at the shake of her head he picked up the handset and dialled 1471; listening to the voice at the other end he jotted down the number given. He pressed 3 and waited, eventually the phone was answered. "Hello, where is that please," he asked the person at the other end, the name given was a shop near the centre of town, he thanked the person and hung up, looking at the woman he asked, "Do you have an up to date picture of your husband?" The woman looked around and then picked up a family snapshot, three happy, laughing people - a man, the woman and Kathy their daughter. As she handed him the picture she said. "Please find him for me, we both miss him." Clark looked at her she was crying away knowing that whatever was wrong it was worse than she'd imagined. "I'll find him and I'll let him know," was all he could say, as he was leaving the room a noise on the stairs made him look up, Kathy Webb was looking down at him. "You promise to find daddy?" she asked him, he nodded. "I will." Clark told her seriously. As he left the house and continued to the next one - just in case anyone was watching, he wondered about Frank Webb. From the way his wife and daughter reacted he thought that Frank was an unwilling participant in the kidnapping. So why had he helped out? This was causing more questions than answers. After going to three more houses he returned to his car and drove off, his next stop was the shop that Frank had phoned from, he called in to his chief to call off the raid. There was no use in frightening either of the people in the house for no reason. The owner of the shop couldn't help, but the assistant was more co-operative, "Him? Oh yeah he came in about two, picked up some food and clothes for his kids." Clark asked how the assistant remembered Frank. "It was the way he was acting, not really suspicious just agitated all the time, kept looking around as if people were after him." When asked if she'd seen which way Frank went after leaving the shop the answer was "Sorry, I had to serve another customer, I think he went to the right, but I couldn't swear to it." Clark thanked the assistant and left the shop, to the right was the underground station, courthouse and police station. Frank must have been heading for the underground, which meant that they could be anywhere; it was just another dead end! Clark returned to his office, to be greeted with a bawling out by his chief - How dare he place himself in jeopardy like that, what if the gang had been there? What if the house was being watched? Hadn't he heard of proper procedure? He listened to all the complaints in silence then his chief said. "But after all that - good work! At least you found out that Webb isn't holding the girls at his home." Clark nodded. "That's true chief, but the question remains, where the hell is he?" Clark looked at the photograph, the happy scene showing on there, "And what the blazes would drive you away from your family?" ---------------------------------