Free Return Fire (Sam Archer ) by Tom Barber Page B

started ringing.
    She scooped up the receiver in one smooth motion, not taking her eyes off the television above her desk.
    ‘Carter.’
    A beat later, she froze.
    Turning to Cobb immediately, she pointed to the receiver and then at Payan’s mug-shot quickly on her computer screen, catching everyone’s attention. As she started a trace on her computer keypad with her left hand, she pushed the button for the loudspeaker with her forefinger and placed the phone back on the cradle.
    ‘Can you repeat that?’ she said.
    ‘You…heard me,’ a man with an Eastern European accent said. ‘Did you like…what I left you...in Brixton?’
    Payan, Archer thought, standing beside Fox and Chalky.
    The second kidnapper.
    A complete silence fell over Operations as everyone in the room listened intently to the call, the report on the television playing silently on the screen above their heads.
    ‘Is that Payan?’ Cobb said.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘All we want is to get Detective Vargas back. We’ll do what you say. What do you want?’
    ‘Stan…Stanovich told you what I want. Money. I…knew you’d try to kill…me. I had to send a...message.’
    Looking at Marquez, Archer frowned. The man had a bizarre, monotone way of talking; his speech was staccato and abrupt, as if he was struggling with the words, delays between the sentences.
    At her desk, Nikki turned to Cobb and held up her fingers, mouthing ten seconds. On the computer screen behind her, Archer saw the numbers of the software she was using counting down beside Payan’s mug-shot, the red circle tracking the call contracting by the second.
    As he looked at the map, his stomach jolted.
    The call was coming from somewhere nearby.
    ‘So you want two million pounds?’ Cobb said, watching the trace countdown and speaking slowly. ‘Tell me where and how we can deliver that to you.’
    ‘I’ll…call you b…back with an account n...number.’
    ‘Wait!’ Archer said, as Nikki frantically motioned at them to keep talking.
    Pause.
    ‘Let us talk to Vargas. A proof of life.’
    He paused.
    ‘If you want us to do what you want, we need to know that she’s OK.’
    There was a pause followed by some kind of shuffling noise.
    Then the call went dead.
    ‘Did you get it?’ Cobb asked Nikki as they all stared at her screen.
    ‘Yes, sir,’ Nikki said, checking the screen and looking at the tight red circle drawn in up close on the city map. ‘He’s in Hendon. Fifteen minutes from here.’
    ‘Call EOD and SCO19,’ Cobb ordered two of the other analysts. ‘I want them both at the scene immediately. Warn them that the house will probably be rigged up with explosives just like the other.’
    As Nikki studied the map and the other analysts got to work, Archer leaned forward and noted the address. Without a word, he turned and quickly headed for the stairs, not waiting for orders and intent on finding Vargas himself.
    Cobb saw him leave and guessing where he was headed, turned to Fox.
    ‘Give him a lift.’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ he said, turning and following Archer.
    Beside Cobb, Shepherd turned to Marquez and Josh. ‘Both of you go with them. And this time we need that son of a bitch alive.’
     
    Inside the house in Hendon, the blond South African rose from his chair and stuffed the piece of paper into his pocket, having ended the call. The Middle Eastern man with the burn scars didn’t move, keeping the silenced pistol an inch from Payan’s face.
    ‘Did they get it?’ he asked.
    ‘They got it,’ the South African said, checking his watch. ‘You heard them trying to keep us on the line. They’ll have the trace.’
    The Middle Eastern man smiled.
    ‘It’s game time,’ he said. ‘Call Finchley and tell him to let the bitch loose. The cops will be so distracted they’ll never realise what she’s doing.’
    The South African nodded, pulling his cell phone and scrolling for a number as he turned and headed for the door. Watching him go, Payan remaining strapped to the chair,