CHAPTER 12

Anna never felt the hand go over her mouth until it was too late. Instinctively, she tried to pull away, but a strong arm was already round her waist and she couldn’t move. She couldn’t scream even though she tried. All that came out was a little muffled squeak. One thing she was very aware of, apart from the sheer fright and terror, was a strong smell of aniseed coming from the hand. Before she could take in what was happening, she was being dragged away from the log she had been sitting on, her heels scraping along the ground, over to where the dirt track led up the hill to the transmitter. Then she realised there were two of them as she heard her attacker’s voice say something in Dutch. His accomplice replied in the affirmative, and they both proceeded to manhandle her up the stony track out of sight of the caravan while she struggled in vain to free herself.

After what seemed like an eternity, they stopped and stood quite still, listening. All that could be heard in the pitch darkness was the hooting of an owl, and some unidentifiable noises coming from animals in the forest. It was a warm, balmy night, but Anna was shivering through fear and shock. Kees released his grip on Anna’s mouth, still holding her tightly by the arm, while Joop shone a torch directly into her face. Then Kees spoke for the first time.

“You are Anna, yes?”

“Yes,” she replied, shaking. “Who are you? How did you know my name? What do you want?”

Kees continued. “I will ignore your first two questions as you do not need to know the answers. In reply to your third question, I will not beat about the bush, as they say. We want two million pounds which a certain Frank Benson owes us. You are going to help us to persuade him to hand it over. If you cooperate, you will not get hurt – maybe only a little bit wet and dirty, it is up to you. Now tell me please, what is up this track?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Anna replied defiantly.

Quick as a flash, Kees grabbed her whole face in his huge hand, and squeezed it in his famous grip, knocking off her glasses in the process, and then he said, “Now let’s get this quite clear, my dear. You do not have a choice in any of what we intend to do. Your only choice is whether you remain unhurt, or get seriously damaged. Do you understand?” He punctuated this last bit with an extra hard squeeze of her face, to which they both heard the crack of a jawbone protesting against the severe force.

Anna was terrified now, and she stuttered, “O . . . O . . . OK. I will help you. Please don’t hurt me,” and she put her hand up to her cheek, feeling the pain as she touched it.

“Where are my glasses? I need my glasses, please,” she cried.

Joop bent down and found them lying on the gravel track.

He put them into his top jacket pocket, saying, “I will keep hold of them for you until we get this sorted out. My insurance. We wouldn’t want them to get broken, would we? Now, will you tell us what is up this hill?”

Anna decided to cooperate. “The transmitter mast for the radio station is up there, and there is a concrete building beside it.”

“Good girl, good girl,” said Kees, “now you are seeing sense. Right, we are going to take you up to this building, break into it if we can, tie you up inside it, phone your father’s boss and tell him he can have you back in one piece when he pays his debts. It is all very easy really, as long as everyone cooperates nothing can go wrong and nobody will get hurt. Do you understand?”

“Y . . . y . . . yes,” Anna replied, tears running down her face.

They climbed up the track for another thirty minutes, and then stopped. Joop shone the torch around, but all they could see were trees, with the track winding its way up the hill through the forest and disappearing into the trees.

“How much further is this building?” Kees asked Anna.

“I have only been up here once and it took us an hour, but we kept stopping. I think another fifteen minutes maybe,” she said. Just at that moment, she was sure she could hear her Mama and Dave shouting her name in the distance, and the echo bouncing off the hill opposite.

“OK, let’s keep on going,” said Kees, puffing and panting. He wasn’t used to hills like this in Holland.

Without any warning, they turned a corner, and there it was towering above them. The transmitter mast was festooned with red lights at regular intervals all the way up it. This was a safeguard for the local gliding club which was nearby. A square, dark shape appeared beside it, and as they got closer, a powerful halogen spotlight burst into life, triggered by an infra-red detector, lighting up the transmitter building and the yard. The yard containing the building and the mast was surrounded by a high chain link fence, with double gates half way along one side. They approached the gates and read the notice attached to one of them. It said:

STRATHDEE FM TRANSMITTING SITE
IN EMERGENCY, TELEPHONE: 01339 450450
DANGER – KEEP OUT.
ACCESS TO AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY.

 WARNING
STRONG RADIO FREQUENCY FIELDS EXIST IN
CERTAIN AREAS OF THIS TRANSMITTING SITE.
IF YOU HAVE A CARDIAC PACEMAKER OR
BONES REPAIRED BY METAL / PLASTIC BONE
IMPLANT, YOU MUST REPORT THIS FACT TO
STATION RECEPTION ON YOUR ARRIVAL.

They all read the sign, and Kees programmed the telephone number into his mobile phone. Then a big grin spread across his face as he inspected the gate closely. The latch for locking the gate was pulled shut, but the lugs where the padlock should have been were empty. Someone had been careless when they were locking up. There, beside the gate, hooked onto one of the links of the fence, was the big brass padlock.

“This is our lucky night,” said Kees, as he unlatched the gate, pushed it open and ushered everyone through. As they walked up the gravel path to the transmitter building, they were aware of a deep humming sound all around them. This was coming from a large electrical transformer in a cage, located to the side of the building, obviously for powering the equipment in the building.

When they reached the grey door of the transmitter building, Kees couldn’t believe his luck. The hasp for the padlock was swinging open, and the padlock was hanging on a hook beside the door. However, the door was locked, but only on a Yale-type lock. Kees turned to Joop, and said, “Joop, please do your speciality!”

Joop stood back, and then took a run at the door, smashing his size ten boot into it just below the lock. There was an almighty bang and the whole door, including the frame, shook, but the door remained firmly in place. Joop walked backwards a few paces, and then did a repeat of the operation. This time, the door burst open, the latch ripping itself out of the wood and splinters of the door frame flying everywhere.

Kees said, “I see you have not lost your touch, my friend,” as Joop stood back rubbing his hands together while admiring his handiwork.

They all entered the building, and Joop switched on a light switch he found while shining the torch around, and he blinked as two fluorescent lights flashed once, twice, three times, then burst into life. He then pulled the door shut as best as he could, considering the damage he had caused. The first thing they all noticed inside was the heat. There were racks and racks of equipment, which all seemed to be running as various lights of many different colours were either flashing out and in, or staying on constantly. Lots of meters with their own backlights were visible on the front of the racked equipment, and the needles were indicating various results from the performance of the equipment – much too technical for any of them to understand. There was also a pungent smell of a mixture of hot metal and plastic, and an intrusive whine of discordant notes filled the room, coming from all the pieces of live equipment. They all got a fright when a large cooling fan the size of a car tyre suddenly started up behind the racking, sucking out the generated heat, and expelling it up a big shiny flexible pipe which disappeared through the wall. The noise from the fan was too loud for anyone to speak, so Kees beckoned them to follow him into the room between the racks of equipment. Joop was now gripping Anna tightly by the arm, and jerked her sharply as they followed Kees. He casually strolled along as if he was at an art gallery looking at the exhibits.

The first large cabinet had a plastic etched notice stuck to it bearing the legend:

STRATHDEE FM TRANSMITTER
104 MHz FM

Behind a window in a locked panel, there were lots of knobs, switches and flashing lights, with illuminated dials indicating ‘STATION INPUT’ and ‘STATION OUTPUT’. Opposite the transmitter on the other side of the alleyway was a whole wall of racked equipment, all of it running. The notices on the modules read, ‘DEE TAXIS’; ‘BENSON’S PLANT HIRE’; ‘FORMULA ONE COURIERS’; and ‘DEESIDE RECOVERY’. All of these companies rented space on the mast for their aerials, except, of course, for Benson’s, as Frank owned the whole facility.

“Very interesting!” said Kees after inspecting it all. “Now, we must formulate our plan without wasting any time.”

They walked back between the racks of equipment to where a door led into a small room. Kees switched the light on and they could see it was some kind of small office-cum-kitchen. There was a sink unit and worktop with a kettle and a microwave oven. Two tubular chairs sat at either side of a cheap wood-effect desk. On the desk was an open blueprint diagram of some kind of electronic equipment, and beside it, a laptop computer with the obligatory coffee cup beside it, containing the dregs of someone’s last drink. Also on the desk was a cable reel half full of coaxial cable, and a small plastic wallet with some electrician’s tools in it.

Kees surveyed the situation. He noticed two water pipes running up the wall which then turned off at ninety degrees to feed the sink. He then went over to the table, unwound a long length of cable from the reel, and cut it with a pair of wire cutters from the toolkit. “Bring the girl over to the pipes,” he shouted to Joop.

Joop obeyed, and then he tied Anna’s wrists together and finally lashed her tethered wrists to the water pipes. When she let out a little yelp, he loosened the knot and pulled the flex further away from her skin. She pushed against the flex as he did this, and the final result was a very sloppily tied knot. She began to wonder if this was intentional on his part.

“I hope this is not hurting you, my dear?” he enquired.

Terrified, all she could manage was a little squeak, and a shake of her head.

“Now, I must make an important phone call,” he said, pulling his mobile from his pocket.

Back down at the caravan, Katharina and Dave were mystified as to where Anna could have gone. They walked all around, shouting her name in the still night air. All they could hear was their echoes coming back to them.

“Maybe she’s gone back down to the farmhouse for something she forgot,” suggested Dave.

“No, no, she would tell me first,” Katharina said. “She is a very thoughtful girl, and she would never do anything like this.”

“Anyway, I think I’ll go back down to the house and check. I’ll also check the studio. She can only be either there, or up the hill at the transmitter, and she wouldn’t be going up there for a walk at this time of night, would she?”

“OK darling,” Katharina said, “I will stay here in case she turns up. Dave – I’m really, really worried. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Don’t worry, my love, we’ll find her. After all, this is Strathdee!”

Dave arrived back down at the farmyard to find all kinds of mayhem. Clive had abandoned his programme when he had taken the call on the studio phone. He had to run over to the farmhouse and bang on the door to get Frank out of his bed on the strict instructions of the caller, who said he would phone back again in fifteen minutes to speak to him.

Both Frank and Tamara were running over to the studio in their dressing gowns when Dave arrived.

“What’s going on, Frank?” he shouted. “Have you seen Anna? She’s disappeared.”

“No, I haven’t, Dave, but something’s not right. Someone is phoning here in a few minutes and it doesn’t sound good. I hope the two are not connected – you know – Anna and this phone call.”

“Oh God, Frank, are you thinking what I’m thinking? Could it be our past catching up with us?”

“Don’t say that, Dave, please don’t say that.”

At that precise moment, the phone rang. Frank pounced on it and lifted the handset.

“Hello”.

“Hello, is that Mr Benson? Mr Frank Benson, formerly Mr Frank Bentley?”

Frank’s heart sank. “Who is this?”

“I think you know who this is, Mr Benson. I think you know very well who this is. I think your friend Katharina will have told you all about us, Mr Benson. Oh, by the way, are you missing anybody by any chance?”

“Anna,” Frank shouted down the phone. “Anna. Where is Anna? What have you done with her?”

“You don’t need to know where she is. She is with us, Mr Benson, or can I call you Frank? She is such a lovely girl, Frank, so helpful. She is going to help us with our task. So are you, Frank, and if you don’t, well . . . she just might meet with an unfortunate accident. Now, we wouldn’t want that, would we?

“What do you want?” Frank growled.

“I think you know what we want, Frank. You still owe some people a rather large debt. We have taken over the debt, and it’s amazing, Frank, how that debt has grown. It has matured very nicely over the years, and now stands at a very healthy two million pounds. Now, Frank, you will pay us that debt within the next twelve hours in order to get your lovely Anna back safe and sound. Do you understand me?”

“I can’t do that!” Frank gasped. “Where can I get that kind of money in that time?”

“Oh, I think you can, my dear Frank. I happen to know that you have access to that kind of money. Now, do you have a pen and paper? I want you to write down a number I am going to give you. It is an account number with a bank in Zurich, and you will make sure the money is deposited in it by close of business today. Now, do you understand me?”

All of the colour drained from Frank’s face. He was beaten. “OK, go ahead,” he said quietly. He wrote down the number and the bank that Kees read out to him.

Then Kees said, “Fine. Now we are getting somewhere, Frank. I will call you again at, say, 10 am to make sure you have made the transfer. Goodnight, and sleep tight! Oh, and one more thing – NO POLICE. If you are so stupid as to contact them, we will know, and the girl will pay for it.”

Frank replaced the receiver, trembling, and said to Dave, “Come over to the house. And Clive – you carry on with your show as if nothing has happened. OK?”

“OK, boss.”

Back at the farmhouse, Dave phoned Katharina on her mobile and told her everything. She was absolutely distraught, and it brought back all the memories of her ordeal with these men.

“I shall be back up very soon, darling, please try to stay calm,” he said, trying to reassure her.

“Dave, I don’t have that kind of money,” said Frank, panicking. “All I can do is phone Ronnie in Spain and put myself at his mercy. He has millions stashed away.”

He lifted the phone and dialled the Spanish villa. It rang for ages, and then a sleepy voice said, “Hello. Who is this at this ungodly hour?”

“Ronnie, it’s Frank.”

“This better be good, Frank, you woke me up!”

“Oh it’s good, Ronnie, it’s so good that it’s the biggest load of shit you’ve seen in a long time. Ronnie, I need two million quid by four o’ clock today.”

“WHAT? Is this some kind of joke? Frank, are you drunk?”

“Ronnie, I’m deadly serious. The debt collectors from years ago have caught up with us. They have kidnapped Katharina’s daughter and given me twelve hours to pay the money into a Swiss numbered bank account.”

There was silence at the other end. Frank was the first to speak. “Ronnie, are you there? Did you get all that?”

Finally, Ronnie spoke. “Frank, oh Frank, what have you done, old boy? I can’t get you two million. I’m having problems of my own just now. I’ve just had to sell one of the helicopters. I have only one suggestion for you.”

Frank was almost in tears by now. “Ronnie, you’re my last hope, mate. Can you not help us?”

“Frank, the only thing I can do is this. Now listen closely. If you can stall these people for another twenty-four hours, I can get you a hit man who will take them out for you with a high velocity precision rifle. You will have to pay him, though, and it will cost you thirty grand. That’s the best I can do, mate. Sorry.”

“Ronnie, I’m sorry to lay this on you. Thanks. Thank you, mate. I think we will have to take you up on your offer. We’ll talk about it and get back to you.”

“Do I go back to bed, then?” asked Ronnie.

“No, mate, go and make yourself a cup of coffee. I think we will be phoning you back very soon. Maybe in an hour or two.”

This was well out of Frank’s league, and certainly way beyond real life for Dave. This was stuff right out of a crime novel or a movie. He had read books like this and had thrown them down half way through; saying that they were too far fetched as nothing like that would ever happen in reality. Now he was living it.

After Frank finished the call, he turned to Dave and said, “You go back up to Katharina and tell her what’s happening. Let’s take an hour or so to get our heads around all this. Maybe she won’t want guns involved where Anna’s concerned. Personally, lad, I don’t see that we have any choice. I’ll go back over to the studio in case there’s another phone call, and I’ll give you a call on your mobile in about an hour and a half. OK?”

“OK, Frank. This is terrible, Frank, it’s like your worst nightmare. What about the police, Frank?”

“He warned me about that.” Frank tried to be tactful with his words. “He said it would affect Anna’s safety if we contacted them.”

“Oh God, what are we going to do?” cried Dave, his eyes filling up with tears.

Frank put his arm around him, and said, “Let’s take some time out – have a breathing space. At the moment, everyone is safe. We just need to work out what to do. Go on – go back up to Katharina just now.”

Dave left the farmhouse and sprinted back up the track to the caravan. When he got there, Katharina was beside herself with grief, shaking, sobbing and speaking incoherently. Dave tried to comfort her, and then put the kettle on for a calming cup of tea.

Back up at the top of the hill, the three of them were standing in silence in the little office. Then Kees beckoned Joop out into the main transmitter room, and spoke.

“Joop, my friend, we are winning so far. We have such a good plan that nothing can go wrong. However, we do need to give ourselves some extra insurance just in case. I suggest that we work out how we can put the girl in some potentially serious danger and terrify her, so that if Mr Benson starts to mess us about, we can tighten the screws, as it were, and get her to plead directly with him over the phone. It usually always works. We need to find somewhere dangerous, and I immediately thought of tying her to the transmitter mast, but it would be dangerous to us also with the risk of radiation burns. We need to find a lake, a river or a cliff edge - somewhere where we can tie her up, so that one slash of a knife to the rope, and . . . goodbye Anna!

“This is quite a rocky area, so I will go outside with the torch to look about for a suitable spot. We have plenty of time, and as long as we have her in a suitable spot by nine o’ clock, we should have all of this wrapped up by ten. As previously arranged, the bank will telephone me at ten as soon as the transfer has been made. Then we rush down to the car and make haste back to Holland.”

“What if the bank doesn’t phone?” asked Joop.

“We have to hope that they will phone, but if they don’t, we put the girl in such terrible danger, and then get her to speak directly to Frank Benson on the mobile phone. A damsel in genuine distress has very persuasive powers in getting results. You do remember when we re-possessed the Rolls Royce, don’t you?”

Taken aback, Joop replied, “But that girl died, didn’t she?”

Quite calmly, Kees replied, “Yes, my friend, she did. But we did get the car, didn’t we? Just remember and never forget: two million is one hell of a kill! Now, you go back in and guard our guest, while I do a little reconnoitring.”

Kees went out the door with the torch, and Joop went back into the office.

“Let’s see if we can get a cup of coffee going here,” he said.

Anna was surprised to hear him being almost human. “What are you going to do with me?” she asked.

Joop ignored her and hunted in a wall cupboard, found a jar of instant coffee and a tin of sugar, and then proceeded to wash out two dirty cups that were lying abandoned on the draining board. He filled the kettle and switched it on. With great precision, he carefully measured out two rounded teaspoonfuls of coffee and emptied them into the cups.

“Do you take sugar and milk?” he asked Anna.

“Yes, one sugar please. Now, please, can you tell me what you are going to do – I’m scared.”

Joop made the coffee, put the cups down on the desk and sat down on one of the chairs. He started drinking his; quite oblivious to the fact that Anna was tied up and couldn’t even reach her cup. After taking a sip from his cup, he scratched his chin thoughtfully, and then said, “My friend has plans to tie you up somewhere very dangerous by morning, then use your terror as a lever in getting the money out of this Frank Benson – but only if the bank does not contact him by ten to say it has been transferred. I have reservations about this plan, as the last time we tried something similar, the girl died. I do not wish to retire with another death on my conscience, so you better be very, very careful.”

“Can I have a drink of coffee, please?” Anna asked.

“I’m sorry, please forgive me,” Joop said, and he raised the cup up to her mouth, letting her take a few sips. Anna thought he had completely changed now that he was on his own. She thought she would push her luck a little further.

“Can I have my glasses back now, please?” she asked, giving him a pleading look.

“Oh, yes, I suppose so. I forgot all about them. Here you are.” He took them out of his jacket pocket and carefully slipped them onto her face.

Outside, Kees had scrambled round to the rear of the building where the ground was much rockier. He had to clamber over some large rocks while shining the torch all around him, and he was getting quite breathless with the effort. This was looking promising. He was looking for a cliff edge, and without warning, he suddenly found one, almost tumbling over the edge. He stopped dead in his tracks, his heart pounding with the unaccustomed exercise and the sudden fright, and grabbed hold of a small silver birch tree which was growing between the rocks on the cliff edge. He shone his torch downwards, over the edge, but couldn’t see the bottom – it was a long way down. He could hear some fast-flowing water down there, rushing through the gorge in a frenzy, its sound distorted by the rocky walls and making it sound like he was listening to it through a drainpipe. Kees didn’t know it, but he was staring down into the depths of Lover’s Leap.

A wry smile spread across his face. He had found his dangerous spot. This would fit the bill perfectly. He turned to make his way back to the transmitter building, and the pain suddenly hit him like a sledge hammer. It gripped his chest like a massive steel claw, and then his arm. His wry smile quickly changed to a contorted grimace, as he let out a yell. He lost his footing, and as he began to slip over the edge, he grabbed hold of the silver birch, and was left dangling there with no hope of being able to pull himself back up. The pain was unbearable, and as he began to feel himself slipping into unconsciousness, he kept on yelling for help.

Joop was beginning to like this girl. Against his better judgement, he sat chatting to her, and even learned about her plans for Aberdeen University. He had untied one of her hands so that she could drink her coffee herself, and he was actually beginning to feel sorry for her. Half an hour had passed since Kees had gone outside, so to prevent himself from getting any closer to the girl, he told her he was going outside for a minute to see if he could see his friend. He had to remain objective, and not let any personal feelings get in the way.

Once he was outside, he stood still in the calm night air. The sky was beginning to get light in the east as dawn approached. Then he heard it: a strangled cry coming from behind the building. There it was again. It sounded like Kees, but different somehow. Joop quickly made his way to where the noise was coming from, and when he was right beside the spot, he still couldn’t see anyone. Then reality struck him hard when he looked down and saw his friend. There he was, dangling over a sheer drop with his hand tightly clamped around a birch tree which was growing between the rocks, right on the edge.

“Kees, Kees,” he shouted, “hold on, hold on tight. I will get you back up.”

Joop edged himself closer to his friend, still shouting for him to hold on. As he got nearer to him, some rocks broke away from the edge and rattled their way down into the abyss. His heart was pounding like a pile driver now as he wrapped his right arm around the silver birch tree, and then with his left arm, he reached down and grabbed hold of Kees’s arm.

“I’ve got you, Kees, I’ve got you. Pull hard on the tree while I pull you up. We’ll have you up in no time, my friend. Then we’ll get a doctor.”

Silver birches are hardy trees. They will grow where no other tree would ever consider growing. Peat bogs, marshes, rocky outcrops with little or no soil – it’s all in a day’s work for the silver birch. They do not, however, take too kindly to supporting the weight of two well-built Dutchmen. This particular tree had now met a challenge far worse than the severe inclement weather and barren terrain that it would normally take in its stride. With a tearing of root tissue and a cracking of loose rock, it finally gave up.

Kees, Joop, the tree, and a pile of rocks cascaded down into the murky depths of Lover’s Leap. It wasn’t a straight forward journey, as they smashed into rocky protrusions jutting out from the walls of the gorge on their way down. There was no chance for any of them. This was the end. A gruesome, messy, final end.

Anna sipped at her coffee, her jaw aching every time she took a mouthful. Twenty minutes had passed since Joop had gone outside, and she was beginning to wonder, even hope, that something had gone wrong. She still had one hand free – her left one – but her right hand was tied very firmly to the pipe with a multiple knot that would take more than one hand to undo. At least, she could now see what she was doing, and she could see around the room clearly for the first time. There were the usual Health and Safety notices on the wall above the desk, describing what to do in case of electric shock, and showing the correct way to lift heavy weights. As her gaze panned around the room, she saw a large pictorial calendar with Scottish scenes. Then, beside the calendar on the wall, was a cream plastic box which looked a bit like a baby alarm. It was connected to a cable which ran down the wall to a black power supply plugged into a socket. The switch on the socket was off. She screwed her eyes up, trying hard to focus on the plastic box, and could see that it had two buttons right in the middle, with the word ‘CALL’ etched into one of them, and ‘ANSWER’ on the other one. Someone had attached an adhesive label, made from one of these instant label machines, above the ‘CALL’ button. It said ‘STUDIO’. She figured out that this must be an intercom between the transmitter building and the studio down in the farmyard.

She was already hatching a plan, but she was terrified that Joop would suddenly come in through the door, and if he caught her trying to attract attention, well, it didn’t bear thinking about. She sat there for another fifteen minutes with no sign of him. All she had for company was the continual whine of all the equipment. She was also sure she could hear very faint music, with someone talking in between the tracks, and she realised it was coming from a pair of headphones which she could just see through the open office door, hanging on a hook and plugged into a patch board beside the transmitter. This was Clive’s programme on Strathdee FM.

Joop had now been gone for over half an hour, and Anna was sure something had happened to him. Perhaps he had got lost looking for Kees. Perhaps Kees was lost too. She decided to try out her plan, which was to switch on the intercom and press the ‘CALL’ button. The only trouble was that she couldn’t reach the switch, or the call button. Then she noticed a stack of aluminium rods lying propped against the wall beside the sink. They were used for repairing damaged elements on the aerials. She selected the longest one, and found that she could reach the power socket no bother at all. She positioned the rod carefully on the bottom of the rocker switch, and pushed.

‘Beep’. The intercom bleeped into life and a red light came on above the ‘CALL’ button. Next, she positioned the rod directly on the ‘CALL’ button and pushed. A green light came on beside the red light, and two seconds later she could hear a repeated tone coming through the little speaker, just like the ‘engaged’ tone on a telephone, on