Page 103 of Next in Line

The next voice he heard may have been coming from under the Mediterranean sun, but it was as cold as an arctic blizzard. ‘Good morning, Superintendent. Can I presume that my leader is no longer in solitary confinement, and is ready to take my call?’

‘Not until I’ve spoken to Inspector Hogan,’ said William, not sure what he would do if Chalabi refused. A long silence followed.

‘It’s Hogan, sir,’ said the next voice on the line.

‘Can you confirm that Her Royal Highness is still alive and well?’ asked William.

‘I can, Bill.’

‘And Lady Victoria?’

‘Shit-scared, to quote her,’ said Ross. ‘They’re both outside on the balcony, sitting in the sun.’

‘Satisfied, Superintendent?’ asked Chalabi, after he’d snatched back the phone.

‘Yes,’ said William, who’d picked up two vital pieces of information that he would pass on to the Assistant Commissioner at the first opportunity.

‘Then put me through to my leader immediately, or you’ll have spoken to your friend Hogan for the last time.’

William reluctantly handed the phone to Khalifah, and although he couldn’t understand a word of the conversationthat followed, the name Diana occurred several times. After a few minutes Khalifah passed the phone back to William.

‘Now listen carefully, Superintendent,’ said Chalabi, ‘because I’m going to say this once and once only. In a couple of hours’ time, I will be phoning you again, and by then you will have arranged for a car to take His Excellency Mansour Khalifah to Heathrow, where he will board his private jet ready to take off for Libya. Do I make myself clear?’

‘Two hours may not be enough time to find a car and get him to the airport,’ protested William.

‘Come, come,’ said Chalabi. ‘If you can’t, I will have to execute one of my prisoners on the hour every hour. I’m sure Lady Victoria, like her ancestors before her, will set a good example. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to work out who will follow her, if you make one false move.’

‘But …’ began William.

‘There will be no buts, Superintendent. That is if you’re hoping to see the Princess alive again. As you now have only one hour and fifty-eight minutes, I won’t waste any more of your precious time.’

William had his next sentence prepared, only to find he’d already been cut off. Khalifah, who appeared to have made a remarkable recovery, gave him a condescending smile.

‘I won’t hold you up, dear boy,’ said Khalifah in an exaggerated public-school accent, ‘unless the governor wants to hang about and kiss my arse …’

The governor took a pace forward, but William threw out an arm, blocked his path and quietly led him out into the corridor, accompanied by a regal wave of the hand from Khalifah.

‘I’d be happy to serve a life sentence for killing that man,’ muttered the governor as the door slammed behind them.

‘Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,’ said William.

The governor paused for a moment before saying, ‘I owe you an apology, William, because I can’t begin to imagine what else you know, and can’t share with me,’ he said as the younger of the two doctors came out of the hospital wing and joined them in the corridor.

‘I told him I needed to take a leak,’ said the young doctor, ‘so this will have to be quick.’

‘I don’t think you know Dr Harrison, governor,’ said William. ‘We were on the same track team at London University, although he was a long-distance man.’

‘Where I studied Middle Eastern languages, not medicine,’ confessed Harrison as he shook hands with the governor. ‘So I’m a PhD, not an MD.’

‘What did Khalifah have to say for himself?’ asked William, not wanting to waste any more time.

‘I could only hear his side of the conversation,’ said Harrison, ‘but he made it clear that DI Hogan should be thrown overboard the moment his plane had taken off from Heathrow, and that once the yacht reaches Libyan territorial waters, someone called Victoria will suffer the same fate.’

‘And the Princess?’ asked William.

‘They have no intention of letting her go, even if Mansour Khalifah is released.’

‘Then what else do they have planned?’ asked the governor.

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