‘Ever since Gilmour Martin arrived in the UK.’
Strover looks up at Silas. ‘You think he’s responsible?’
‘We have to consider it.’
He thinks back to what happened to his own super-recogniser unit. Kate, its best operator, was nearly killed in a car accident, denting the unit’s performance as well as its morale. One month later, his boss closed the unit down and signed a contract for Centaur, a new facial-recognition software system that’s yet to go live.
‘Why a Tesla, though?’ Strover asks. ‘Quite a top-end car to abduct someone in.’
‘Not if Gilmour’s trying to frame Rob, a well-known techpreneur who’s already got one himself.’
‘It’s also electric,’ she says. ‘Silent. And Teslas have a chill mode – it softens out the throttle response.’ Strover really should consider a job on Top Gear. ‘A person wouldn’t even be aware that there was a car behind them,’ she continues.
‘Get on to the super-recogniser unit in Nottingham,’ Silas says, a new urgency in his voice. Gilmour might be trying to destroy Rob’s career, but Silas isn’t going to allow him to ruin his. ‘Ask them to go through ANPR records for the night that their star performer disappeared and look for a Tesla registered to Gilmour Martin. Then check in with Dublin, Madrid and Hamburg.’
86
Jake
Jake stands with Bex at the corner of Shepherdess Walk, looking down towards the Tesla, still up on the kerb.
‘Something’s happening,’ Bex says.
The driver of the Tesla gets out and walks over to the entrance to the block of flats where they now know Rob lives. He disappears inside and reappears a minute later with a woman. Kate. He takes her by the arm and walks her over to the car. Is she going willingly? Maybe she’s unwell? The driver now has one hand on Kate’s elbow, either to steady her or to restrain her.
‘It’s her,’ Bex says.
‘Kate!’ Jake calls out from down the street and starts to run towards her.
Kate turns to look at them. Jake knows at once that she’s under duress. There is nothing but fear in her face. A moment later, the driver bundles her into the back of the car, helped by another woman standing nearby, who gets in after Kate.
‘Wait!’ Jake calls again, still running. Bex is close behind him.
But the car is already accelerating silently away from them.
‘Get the number plate,’ he says, making a note of it himself. ‘You got it?’
‘I think so,’ Bex says, out of breath.
They confirm what they’ve both remembered. Bex writes the number down on the back of her hand with a biro as Jake calls DI Hart on his mobile to tell him what’s just happened.
‘She was definitely not going willingly,’ Jake says.
‘Number plate?’ Hart asks.
Bex holds up her hand. He reads it out to Hart, glancing around him. Someone else is coming out of the apartment door. A tall, dignified Asian man with an attaché case in one hand.
‘Dr Varma?’ Bex asks the man tentatively. He clearly recognises Bex but tries to ignore her as he walks off down the street.
‘I’ve got to go,’ Jake says to Hart, hanging up.
‘Dr Varma?’ Bex says again, following the man like a reporter in pursuit of a politician. ‘What’s wrong with Kate? We saw her get into a car just now and she didn’t look too happy.’
‘I’m late for another appointment,’ the man says, almost breaking into a run.
Bex is undeterred and grabs the man by his arm. He stops, visibly shocked by the physical contact. He looks down at his arm and then at Jake, who’s caught up with them. Bex has mentioned the neuropsychiatrist that Kate’s been seeing, how good he is. This must be him. Jake moves around to stand in his way, in case he tries to make a run for it.
‘What’s going on?’ Bex asks. ‘With Kate? Where was she going?’
Dr Varma scans the street, shifts his feet. He couldn’t look more guilty if he tried.
‘Is Rob in the flat?’ Jake asks, gesturing up at the building behind them.
Dr Varma shakes his head.
‘Where is he?’ Jake says.
‘I can’t say anything,’ Dr Varma says, still staring at the pavement. He then looks up at Bex. ‘You have no idea who you’re dealing with here. If he knew I was even talking to you now, he’d—’
‘Who?’ Jake says, interrupting him. ‘Who are we dealing with?’
Dr Varma bites his lip. ‘I can’t tell you anything, I’m sorry. I have two children. A wife.’
Jake is unable to control himself any longer. He checks the deserted street, then grabs Dr Varma by the lapels of his suit jacket and rams him up against the wall.
‘Jake!’ Bex protests, but he’s beyond listening.
‘You need to tell us now where Kate’s been taken,’ he says, his face close to Dr Varma’s. Jake is not a violent man, but the last six months seem to have suddenly caught up with him, all the anger for being so stupid that day with a stranger in Swindon, the hatred he feels for Rob, the boat fire.
‘Jake,’ Bex says insistently, a hand on his arm. Jake ignores her. Dr Varma looks from her to Jake and back to Bex again, his frightened eyes darting between them.
‘Tell me where she’s gone,’ Jake repeats, tightening his grip on Dr Varma’s lapels.
‘I can’t,’ he says breathlessly.
‘Tell me,’ Jake says, lifting the doctor off his toes. ‘We need to know.’
‘Jake,’ Bex pleads again.
Jake lets him go, pushing him away like a repulsed lover. Dr Varma is still breathing hard as he adjusts his dishevelled tie. There’s a rip down one side of his jacket.
‘I’m sorry,’ Jake says, shocked by his own violence. He looks up and down the street, as if searching for an explanation for his own behaviour. ‘Kate’s in real trouble,’ he says. ‘We need to help her.’
‘I know,’ Dr Varma says, his voice barely audible.
‘You know, but you can’t tell me where she’s been taken?’
‘If I do, they will kill me.’
The two men stare at each other, both still breathing hard. Jake searches his face, pleading now in silence. ‘I get it,’ he says, raising a hand to Dr Varma’s shoulder, tidying up the ripped suit material before patting him. ‘It’s OK.’ Time to go. Jake’s done all he can here. The man has a wife and children to think about. It was wrong to ask. He’s a loyal family man. And then Jake remembers the man’s profession.
‘First, do no harm,’ he says, his eyes fixed on Dr Varma’s. ‘Primum non nocere. Isn’t that the Hippocratic principle you’re all supposed to follow as doctors?’ Jake’s father was a GP. ‘If you don’t tell me where Kate’s been taken, she’s going to come to a lot of harm, believe me. You’re the only person who can stop that happening.’
A siren wails in the distance. It’s a long time before Dr Varma speaks.
‘Brittany,’ he says, his voice almost a whisper. ‘Rob’s got a house in Brittany, beyond Brest.’
Jake looks at him in disbelief and then turns to Bex.