Eagle Strike

thought for a moment. “Yassen.” He answered his own question. “He must have told Cray.”
    “You have to go to MI6 straight away. It‟s the only thing you can do.”
    “No. I want to go home first.”
    “Alex—why?”
    Alex looked down at the picture one last time, then crumpled the page in his hands. “Cray may have left a message for me,” he said.

    There was a message. But it came in a form that Alex hadn‟t quite expected.
    Jack had gone into the house first, checking to make sure there was no one waiting for them.
    Then she called Alex. She looked grim as she stood at the front door.

    “It‟s in the sitting room,” she said.
    “It” was a brand-new widescreen television. Someone had been into the house. They had brought the television and left it in the middle of the room. There was a webcam perched on top; a brand-new red cable snaked into a junction box in the wall.
    “A present from Cray,” Jack murmured.
    “I don‟t think it‟s a present,” Alex said.
    There was a remote control next to the webcam. Reluctantly Alex picked it up. He knew he wasn‟t going to like what he was about to see, but there was no way he could ignore it. He turned the television on.
    The screen flickered and cleared and suddenly he found himself face to face with Damian Cray.
    Somehow he wasn‟t surprised. He wondered if Cray had returned to England or if he was transmitting from Amsterdam. He knew that this was a live image and that his own picture would be sent back via the webcam. Slowly he sat down in front of the screen. He showed no emotion at all.
    “Alex!” Cray looked relaxed and cheerful. His voice was so clear he could have been in the room with them. “I‟m so glad you got back safely. I‟ve been waiting to speak to you.”
    “Where‟s Sabina?” Alex asked.
    “Where‟s Sabina? Where‟s Sabina? How very sweet! Young love!”

    The image changed. Alex heard Jack gasp. Sabina was lying on a bunk in a bare room. Her hair was dishevelled but otherwise she seemed unhurt. She looked up at the camera and Alex could see the fear and confusion in her eyes.
    Then the picture switched back to Cray. “We haven‟t damaged her… yet,” he said. “But that could change at any time.”
    “I‟m not giving you the flash drive,” Alex said.
    “Hear me out, Alex.” Cray leant forward so that he seemed to come closer to the screen. “Young people these days are so hot-headed! I‟ve gone to a great deal of trouble and expense on account of you. And the thing is, you are going to give me the flash drive because if you don‟t your girlfriend is going to die, and you are going to see it on video.”
    “Don‟t listen to him, Alex!” Jack exclaimed.
    “He is listening to me and I‟d ask you not to interrupt!” Cray smiled. He seemed totally confident, as if this were nothing more than another celebrity interview. “I can imagine what‟s going through your mind,” he went on, speaking again to Alex. “You‟re thinking of going to your friends at MI6. I would seriously advise against it.”
    “How do you know we haven‟t been to them already?” Jack asked.
    “I very much hope you haven‟t,” Cray replied. “Because I am a very nervous man. If I think anyone is making enquiries about me, I will kill the girl. If I find myself being watched by people I don‟t know, I will kill the girl. If a policeman so much as glances at me in the street, I may well kill the girl. And this I promise you. If you do not bring me the flash drive, personally, before ten o‟clock tomorrow morning, I will certainly kill the girl.”

    “No!” Alex was defiant.
    “You can lie to me, Alex, but you can‟t lie to yourself. You don‟t work for MI6. They mean nothing to you. But the girl does. If you abandon her, you‟ll regret it for the rest of your life. And it won‟t end with her. I will hunt down the rest of your friends. Don‟t underestimate my power! I will destroy everything and everyone you know. And then I will come after you. So don‟t kid yourself. Get it over with now. Give me what I want.” There was a long silence.
    “Where can I find you?” Alex asked. The words tasted sour in his mouth. They tasted of defeat.
    “I am at my house in Wiltshire. You can get a taxi from Bath station. All the drivers know where I live.”
    “If I bring it to you…” Alex found himself struggling to find the right words. “How do I know that you‟ll let her go? How do I know you‟ll let either of