Chapter 14

It took the press half a day to get hold of the story. By mid-day, we were getting phone calls from reporters wanting to talk to Will. Jane sent two reporters off with a flea in their ear. It still didn’t stop them waiting outside when we left to go home.

‘Are you going to pay the ransom Mr Wainwright?’ shouted one.

‘Mr Wainwright where does this leave your divorce?’ shouted another.

Will just ignored them and pushed through to the car. He opened the door for me and I climbed in. Then came the question that made him stop.

‘Have you got anything to say to Ryan Betts family sir?’

Will stopped and turned to face the reporter

‘I’ve spoken to George Betts today. What I said has nothing to do with you or your readers.’ He got into the car and told Thomas to take us home.

Over the next few days, the number of reporters dwindled. An actor’s nanny had revealed that he had been trying to give her another baby to look after. All the tabloid reporters focussed on that and left us alone. It was more than a week before we had any contact.

It was a Wednesday morning when Jomo Kitur came into our office. He was six feet tall somewhat overweight with a round face and short cropped wiry hair. Jane came in with a very embarrassed look on her face.

Mr Wainwright, there is a Mr Jomo Kitur here to see you. He says it’s about your wife.’

‘Send him in, Jane.’

She walked to the door and called the man in. He walked into the office, a big smile on his face and offered his hand. Will didn’t get up and made no attempt to shake the man’s hand.

‘Good morning Mr Wainwright. It’s a pleasure to meet you.’

‘I wish I could say the same Mr Kitur, now what do you want.’

‘Come, come, Mr Wainwright we are both businessmen, there is no reason we can’t be pleasant to each other.’

‘Well, Mr Kitur I know what business I’m in, what do you do?’

Will didn’t offer a chair but he sat down anyway. He seemed extremely relaxed. He leaned back in the chair.

‘I am what you would call a fixer. I fix things for people. Today I want to fix it for you to see your lovely wife again.’

‘And just how are you going to do that?’

He clasped his hands in his lap and gave Will a big smile.

‘I know the people holding her, not personally you understand but I know people who know people who know them. Anyway, I know what they want and they would like me to talk to you.’

‘Let’s just cut to the chase Kitur, how much do you want?’

‘No, No, No, No, Mr Wainwright, I do not want anything. I am just here to help you deal with the very bad people who are holding your wife. I am your friend Mr Wainwright.’

‘You are no friend of mine Mr Kitur. Now cut to the bottom line how much?’

‘There is no need to be angry Mr Wainwright. All you need to do is transfer ten million dollars to an account I give you and we can have your wife back in a couple of days.’

‘One hundred thousand.’

‘You don’t understand Mr Wainwright. These are very dangerous men. You don’t joke with these men.’

‘Who’s joking? If Samantha turns up unharmed at the British High Commission in Nairobi, I will pay your friends one hundred thousand pounds for their trouble.’

Kitur laughed. ‘Mr Wainwright, my friend, you do not understand. You are not in charge here. These men, they are very bad men, and they hold all the cards. They will decide how and when your wife will be released. –Now they have given me this picture of your wife. It was taken yesterday. You can use your computer to verify the headline.’

Will took the photograph, looked at it carefully then keyed something into his computer. He waited for a while then after a few mouse clicks looked at Kitur. I’d seen him negotiate before but I’d expected him to be more upset, but he seemed amazingly cool. He looked up at Kitur and smiled.

‘Mr Kitur, This photograph proves that Samantha was alive two days ago. It does not prove she is alive now. You say your friends hold all the cards. You are obviously unaware that in poker terms they hold nothing more than a pair of deuces. You see I am divorcing my wife, she and her lover, the man your friends killed on my boat, tried to kill me. I would be financially better off if she never came back. So tell me why you think I should give you ten million pounds for her release.’

Kitur’s smile disappeared as Will continued.

‘Now Mr Kitur I will tell you what is going to happen. When you leave here today, you will take with you a satellite phone that you will pass on to your friends. In ten days time, you will return here and I will talk to my wife on that satellite phone. Then we can negotiate. I warn you now any money I spend on trying to secure my wife’s release will be deducted from my offer.’

For a moment, Kitur looked stunned, then he pulled himself together.

‘I can see I’m wasting my time here.’ He passed Will a card. ‘Call me when you come to your senses, but be warned my friend these are very bad men. Whatever fate may befall your wife will be on your head.’

‘Be warned Mr Kitur. If my wife comes to any harm, I will visit that harm on you. Now don’t waste your time talking to Samantha’s family. They don’t even own their own house, they have no money to offer you. Now I think this meeting is over, Jean will give you the phone on the way out’

Kitur stood up he started to offer his hand but soon realised Will had no intention of shaking it and pretended to smooth down his trousers. I followed him out and made sure he took the satellite phone. When I got back into the office, Will was leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his neck.

‘So, the game begins.’

‘It’s not a game Will, this is Sam’s life you’re playing with. You could have just paid them, you’ve got the money, we’ll make more than that on the McMahon deal.’

‘Oh sure, then he’d be back next week telling me they wanted twenty mill. I’ll get her back, and I know it’s going to cost me money, but they won’t see a penny of it.’

‘I don’t see how you can do that. You don’t even know where she is.’

‘We do it the same way we make business people do what we want. We put pressure on them.

I’d have said more but he picked up his phone and started a call.

‘Hatcher. What have you got for me? Good, I have a name for you, Kitur. –No, not Somali, probably Kenyan. My guess is that he’ll be flying back to Nairobi tonight or tomorrow. –Ten days time. --Hatcher, I want this to go just as we discussed. Just remember I know where the bodies are buried. If Her Majesty’s Government find out who supplied the RUF in Sierra Leone, your chances of a knighthood will be pretty damn small. –Yeah well, a man like you will always turn it to his advantage. Just remember, she must not be harmed. Okay, I’ll look forward to hearing from him.’

He put the phone down and smiled at me.

‘That will put the cat among the pigeon’s.’

I got up, crossed the office and sat on his desk. For a while, I sat there trying to work out how to say what I wanted. I supported him but I wasn’t sure that his way was the best way of dealing with this situation.

‘Will, are you sure this is the right way to go about things. That was Karl Hatcher on the phone, wasn’t it? Do you really want to get involved with him?’

‘I need to destabilise them and he’s an expert in that field. He does it to whole countries.’

‘Only so he can sell more arms. I know you Will, if Samantha gets killed or seriously injured in your rescue attempt, you’ll never forgive yourself.’

He reached out and took my hands.

‘Trust me, my love. I will launch no rescue attempt. I just intend to educate her captors a little. I really will do my best to get her back’

Amin Ahmed put the phone down. White women sickened him. He’d long believed they had no morals now he knew it was true. How could their men tolerate such behaviour? Now he had to face the fact that this woman’s behaviour had significantly reduced her ransom value. He paced the room, kicking out at anything that got in his way. His intention had been to calm down before he went in to see her. He was unsuccessful. As he opened the door, he was still seething.

Samantha looked up as the door opened. At first, she was relieved to see Amin, the only one of her captors who spoke English. Her sense of relief disappeared as soon as she saw the look on his face. He marched across the room and gave her a hard slap with the back of his hand.

‘Whore! Bitch! You western women disgust me. You have no respect for yourselves and certainly no respect for your husbands.’

Samantha raised her hand to her stinging cheek and eye. She could feel the hot sticky blood starting to run down her face

‘I don’t understand, what did I do? I’ve done everything you asked. I gave you all the information you wanted. What did I do?’

‘You fuck around on your husband, that’s what you do. He is divorcing you. Do you really think he is going to pay for you now? I think I should sell you. Al Shabab will pay good money for a beautiful western whore.’

‘No! No, please.’ she sobbed. ‘He will pay I know he will, he won’t leave me here. Please wait. Talk to him please. Give him more time please.’

‘My colleague says he would be better off if we killed you.’

‘No, Will would never think like that’

‘But it’s true, isn’t it? Your western divorces mean that if we release you, it will cost your husband much money, if we kill you, it costs him nothing.’

‘Yes it’s true I suppose but Will is not like that.’

‘He is a businessman. They are all like that.’

‘He will get me out of here, I know he will.’

‘You’d better hope that he does. For you, the alternative is not good.’

Samantha’s heart sank as he left the room. She’d been trying to put on a brave face but she knew everything he’d said was true. If only she could talk to Will, tell him how sorry she was, tell him how hard she’d tried to get Ryan to turn back.

I tried to have faith in Will. I knew that he wouldn’t turn his back on Samantha, but his insistence that he wouldn’t pay a ransom had me worried. When his father Tom paid us a visit, I discussed it with him.

‘He’s really adamant Tom he won’t pay any ransom money. He says he’s got a plan but he won’t tell me what it is. We both know he can afford to pay and not even notice the loss.’

‘Ah but that would be paying the Dane geld.’

‘Sorry I don’t understand.’

‘And that is called paying the Dane-geld; but we’ve proved it again and again, that if once you have paid him the Dane-geld, you’ll never be rid of the Dane. Rudyard Kipling’

‘I can see how that applies to blackmail but not to kidnapping.’

‘Look, lass, what do you think would happen if word got out that Will had paid a ransom. You and any children the two of you might have would never be safe. You’d need bodyguards wherever you went.’

‘Hold on Tom. You’re getting a bit ahead of yourself there. Who said anything about children? We’re not even married.’

‘He’ll be a damn fool if he lets you get away, and one thing he is not is a damn fool. –Now if he said he’ll help her he will, you just have to trust him.’

‘I do Tom. I do trust him. I just wish he’d tell me a bit more. Why is he keeping me out of it?’

‘Maybe because it isn’t strictly legal, and if you don’t know, you can’t be an accessory’