Skinner's festival

'Pilot, if I use this thing, will it work?'

'Shouldn't have a problem this close to the ground. We're right on top of a cell here too. You might find it a bit patchy, but go ahead.'

Skinner peered at the keyboard in the dim cabin light, and keyed in the stored number of Brian Mackie's direct line. He was answered after a few seconds.

'Brian, it's me. You made good time getting back. You'll know by now that we were right about that plane at Edinburgh. We're heading for Glasgow. I want you to call Willie Haggerty, give him the number of the Senator.' He dictated the number which he had memorised. 'Tell Willie I want people at all docks, and I want as many men as he can get under cover at Glasgow Airport.'

The line went faint for a second, then strengthened again. 'You think they'll go for another plane?'

'Has to be. Could be they're just going to drive in and hijack one, using Alex as bargaining power. But the way this thing's been planned, I reckon they've got a back-up ready. Needn't be very big. An 800-mile range will get you to a hell of a lot of places from Glasgow. Especially overnight. Whatever it is, wherever it is, I can't let them take off with Alex on board. Now give Haggerty the message, and tell him to make sure that nobody moves in without me there to give the orders. I don't want any of those Glasgow lads playing cowboys with my daughter's life on the line.'

95

Suddenly the trace vanished from the monitor. Skinner could not actually see the screen, but he sensed its disappearance from the sudden look of panic which flashed across Arrow's face.

'Where's it gone? What's happened?' he snapped.

"S'OK, Bob,' came the calm, steady voice of Andy Martin.

Seated next to Arrow, he had detailed maps on his knees and a torch in his hand. 'They're in the Charing Cross underpass, beneath that ugly office block that goes over the road. We'll have them back in a second. Yes, there it is. Still on course for Glasgow Airport. Just going on to the Kingston Bridge now.'

Skinner turned to the pilot. 'How fast can this thing go?'

'Twice as fast as they can. And dead straight, remember.'

'Good. I must be at the airport before they get there. We'll follow them for a minute of two more, then once we're absolutely certain that's where they're headed, we'll put the foot down and beat them to it. Suppose they see a chopper there at an airport, they won't think anything of it.'

Martin broke it. 'Hold on, boss. They seem to be turning off the motorway.'

'Eh! Which way?'

'Hold on. They're in a sort of a curve. They're still on the sliproad. I'll know in a minute. Yes, they're still heading west. I'd say they're taking the off-motorway route to the airport, out through Govan. That's got to be it. It's one last feint. Tricky sods these.'

'God, Andy, but I hope you're right. Look, we can't track them street by street through this. Let's give them two more minutes, then we commit to Glasgow Airport.'

They hugged the line of the motorway as it headed towards the airport, and, as they did so, the trace from the dye on the Vauxhall Senator stayed to the north on Arrow's screen, moving much more slowly now, as the car wound through the streets of Govan.

Skinner tapped the pilot on the shoulder to attract his attention.

'How long to the airport?'

'For us, three minutes. For him, by that route, fifteen minimum.'

Skinner was about to commit himself finally to Glasgow Airport, leaving the trace behind, when Martin broke in. 'What the hell's this? They're doubling back.'

'What?'

'The trace. It's turned back on itself.'

'Dear Christ!' said Skinner, with a sigh of fear and frustration.

'It's gone again,' said Martin. 'Pilot, hover. Hold your position.'

Arrow and Martin stared at the screen. Skinner leaned back over the seat for a clear sight, and Arrow turned the tracer set half towards him, to allow him to view. The little cathode screen stayed obstinately blank.

'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!' Skinner roared in his rage.

'Where's the fucker gone?'

Arrow offered a suggestion in hope. 'He could have gone into a garage to fill up.' I 'Bollocks! You think this lot's planning includes running out of petrol in the middle of the night in fucking Govan! They'll have another car somewhere. The bastards have stashed the Senator and switched. We've lost her, boys. We've lost her.'

His despair was even greater than that of the night before, for then there had been that other slim possibility. But now…

'No!' The certainty in Martin's voice banished the darkness gathering in Skinner's heart.

"The Tunnel. The Clyde Tunnel entrance is down there. Pilot, head north.'

The helicopter banked sharply round and headed away from the bright lights of the motorway, towards the network of orange lines which crisscross the west of Glasgow by night, bisected by the dark slash of the River Clyde.

North they went, but the screen was still dead, even when they had almost reached the river.

'Andy, you sure about this?'

'What other chance is there? They'll have gone out of range for a bit. We'll have to catch them up. Look. There they are already!'

'Yeah, you beauty!' Skinner cried with delight. 'You bastards won't do that again,' he growled at the trace, as if, through it, Alex's kidnappers could hear him. He looked again and saw that the Senator was headed due north. "

'So, now where're they off to?' asked Adam Arrow, and the atmosphere at once grew more sober again.

'What does the map say?' asked Skinner.

'I don't need the map for that,' said Martin. 'They're headed up Crow Road, towards Anniesland Cross. From there they can go in four different directions. It's anyone's guess now which one they'll take.'

'Whatever it is,' said Skinner, 'we've got to guess their destination, and get there before them. Otherwise…' His voice tailed away wearily.

'Let's see what they do,' said Martin. 'They could even cut back across the Erskine Bridge and come into the airport from the other side. Anniesland Cross'11 tell us that. They must be there now. The trace has stopped. That'll be the traffic-lights. Of course they're so complicated there, it's always possible the bugger could get lost!'

He stared at the screen. 'There he goes again. West is it? No, he's going north still. That makes it Bearsden, and Milngavie beyond that. That's the wrong way for a boat, and it's away from all the airports. Christ knows where he's off to. Bob. To lie low for a few days, d'you think?'

Skinner shook his head. 'No, they've got what they came for.

They won't let the sun come up on them. Somewhere there's an aircraft. Any ideas, pilot?'

'No, sir. Not in this direction. I have to warn you, though, if they've got a full tank, they'll outlast us, especially if we're flying stop-and-start like this.'

Skinner nodded. 'Aye, I figured. Look, my last option is that if we're going to run out of fuel, we land on the road in front of them and shoot their tyres out. But that's nightmare stuff. It's the slimmest of all chances for my daughter.

'How long have we got?'

'No more than half an hour, sir.'

'Jesus.'

'Here, Bob. Hold on a minute. I've got it.'

Skinner looked over his shoulder to the rear seat. A sly smile showed on Martin's face. The green eyes, made even greener by the reflection of the screen caught in his contact lens, seemed to glow brightly in the dark. •He's off to Balnaddar.'

96

'Sorry to bother you, sir, but we've got a mystery here.'

Maggie Rose had come through on Mackie's direct line, nc long after he had finished passing Skinner's message on ti Superintendent Haggerty. She explained to him that Sarah s Julia Shahor had vanished, find that there were clear signs t, their disappearance had been sudden and unplanned.