Pitch Black (Romantic Thriller, Completed)

Chapter 26

Luke may have kicked me out, but no way was I giving up.

Old me never gave up, and tonight, I felt more alive than I had in months. I also felt kind of guilty about that.

What did I have in my pockets? A wad of cash, a set of lock picks I'd got at the same time as the knife, and the phone I'd bought after I got to England. Not enough. If I was going to help Luke, I needed more equipment, especially as he wasn't keen on my assistance.

Based on past experience, the kidnappers wouldn't be in touch straight away. Now the first contact had been made, my money was on them leaving Luke to stew for a while. They wanted him tired and unable to think straight.

Not too long, though, because that had other risks. The longer Tia was missing, the more likely others would notice and involve the police. My educated guess was that the next contact would be in the early hours. That gave me a bit of time. I just hoped it would be long enough to do everything I needed to do before the circus started.

I set off on foot into the village, keeping in the shadows. The kidnapper's message had said "they" were watching, but I was fairly sure there was nobody out the front of the house. I hadn't seen anyone in the lane earlier, and more importantly, I hadn't felt anyone.

The woods out the back would provide a better hiding place, but I'd check those later, and the gardens next door. The kidnapper had referred to "we" rather than "I," but a gang was unlikely. A pair, maybe, but more than that tended to lead to infighting. I'd worked one case where three idiots argued so much, one ended up in hospital while the abductee snuck out the back. Made my job a heck of a lot easier. I had a feeling this case wasn't going to be so simple, though.

As I neared the village, I called a taxi to meet me outside The Coach and Horses. Nobody would bat an eyelid at a cab picking somebody up from a pub. Within ten minutes, an ancient Vauxhall Vectra with a taxi plate on the back rolled into the car park.

"Where to, love?" the driver asked.

"London, please. Belgravia. I'll give you directions when we get closer."

It took just under an hour to reach my destination, a part of the world I hadn't visited since last year. I had the cab pull over to the side of the main road and hopped out.

"Keep the change." Money wouldn't be so much of a problem now.

"Thanks, love. Do you want me to wait?"

"No, I'm fine from here."

I walked along a couple of side streets until an eight-foot wall loomed ahead. Cameras watched me—I could see their red eyes in the gloom. I crossed the road and hopped up on a rubbish bin, one installed by the council last year in an effort to keep the borough tidy. The extra height allowed me to see the house beyond the wall. No lights. No movement.

Good.

As the occasional car trundled past, I walked around the block and went through the same routine at the front. A single window glowed next to the front door. Ruth, the housekeeper, had always been a creature of habit, and she turned the hall light on when she left each day, a welcome for anyone coming home late.

I smiled in the darkness. Albany House looked the same as the last time I visited, and better still, it appeared nobody was home.

Ten minutes. I had ten minutes to get in and out, and I set the timer on my watch. The instant I breached the perimeter, a unit would be dispatched from the London base of my company, but even if the driver broke the speed limit, they'd take fifteen minutes to get there.

How about the police? Well, they didn't worry me. Nobody would make that call. After all, it wasn't against the law for me to break into my own home, was it?