Chapter 11: Friend and Ally

17:12, 3 August

By chance, Laura happened to be close by Assam when the two terrorists who had grabbed her came running into the prayer hall. Assam had been talking to Fisah and Laura was trying to remain close to the woman in the hope of getting to speak to her again. Laura was sitting on the floor pretending to read the little, green-covered book that she had been given. The book was an English version of the Qu'ran and a copy had been given to every teenager in the hall.

"Assam! Assam, a helicopter, we saw a helicopter!" one of the men said excitedly as they both ran up.

"Are you sure you haven't been smoking that water pipe of yours again Hadij?" Assam replied.

"No, it was real. We both saw it and Mushtaq thinks he might even have hit it," Hadij replied.

Assam looked at Mushtaq for confirmation and when the second man nodded, a huge grin on his face, Assam raised his arm with lightening quick speed and slapped him across his right cheek. Mushtaq howled and raised his hands to the inflamed skin of his face. He looked at Assam in bewilderment. He had thought he would receive praise, but instead his leader seemed to be angry with him.

"Fool! If it is true that there is a survivor who knows how to fly a helicopter why would we try and kill him as soon as we first see him? How many people are left that have that skill do you think? How many?" Assam was now right up in Mushtaq's face, his spittle actually landing on the other man's skin as he shouted at him.

At the mention of the helicopter Laura couldn't help but gasp. She knew the odds were that the terrorists had spotted Jamie. When she looked up, Fisah was watching her and Laura knew she had caught her reaction to the news about the helicopter. She cursed herself inwardly. This was exactly the kind of error that she had been warning herself against making. Laura turned her attention back to Assam.

"We must have this man on our side. A pilot would be useful in many ways and we must persuade him to work with us. Where did you spot the helicopter? What was it doing?" Assam asked.

Hadij quickly unfolded a map and pointed out where they had encountered Jamie.

"We could see it for some minutes before we got close," said Hadij, "it seemed to be flying a search pattern. Perhaps he's looking for something, survivors maybe?"

"Perhaps. How are our new recruits coming along, the special ones?" Assam asked, turning to Fisah.

"It is too early to say, give me a few weeks with them and I think they'll be useful. It's all too much for them still," she replied.

Laura wondered what they meant by 'special' recruits. She glanced around her at the teenagers who had been rounded up so far. Their numbers seemed to be swelling all the time and she estimated there were now close to two hundred boys and girls in the prayer hall. As she looked, something occurred to her. None of the teenagers was of Asian or other ethnic origin. She knew Glasgow had quite a large Asian community and even quite a sizeable Chinese population, yet all of the teenagers here were white. She wondered if the 'special' recruits were surviving teenagers who were already Muslims?

"We need to break off our sweeps for survivors and concentrate on this pilot," said Assam, "he must be our priority."

Laura began to get worried for Jamie. It was clear that the leader of the terrorists was hell-bent on capturing her brother and was dropping everything else to achieve that. The fact that he was intent on capturing rather than killing Jamie was of some small comfort.

He had landed the helicopter on the impressive lawns that surrounded Skibo. He had noticed a large ornamental lake and numerous lodges dotted about the grounds. Jamie now approached the impressive castle cautiously. [http://www.carnegieclub.co.uk/index.php?sectionid=68&parentid=1 for views of Skibo] He made a full circuit of the extensive building, but saw nothing to alarm him. Finding himself back at the main entrance he walked up the steps and through the front door. Inside it was apparent that no expense had been spared on decorating and furnishing the luxury hotel.

In front of him a sweeping staircase with ornate wooden banisters rose upward to the upper floors and a massive stone archway split balconies that ran on two sides. He wandered around the ground floor and found a large dining room, a bar, several public rooms, a huge kitchen with all of the equipment one might expect for a well appointed restaurant and finally the sports area. The sports area included a gym, a spa which included a swimming pool, sauna and plunge pools. The more he saw, the more he was coming to the conclusion that Skibo would be an ideal base for him to work from. A leaflet at the reception announced fishing, shooting, quad bikes, off-roading, tennis and even archery.

If he was successful in hooking up with other survivors, a set-up like this would be absolutely perfect. Plenty of accommodation, the huge kitchen and dining area and with the large flat lawns all round the castle would make it easy to spot anyone approaching. That would make it easier to maintain security. Of course, the fact that the castle was in remote Sutherland, in the far north of Scotland, made it unlikely that any dangerous groups from Glasgow would ever come anywhere near it.

Jamie climbed the staircase and began to investigate the bedrooms. He was staggered by the opulence, the sheer size of them and how well fitted out they were. The beds were all four posters. The bathrooms had huge claw-foot baths. There were TVs and DVD players and even points to hook computers up to a broadband connection. The view out of the windows was of the highland mountains and Jamie couldn't help but grin to himself as he stared at their majesty and grandeur.

"Yes, I think I'd like to live here. Who wouldn't give their right arm to wake up and look at that every day?" he thought to himself.

He counted sixty rooms and even found a laundry room, obviously necessary given the amount of sheets and towels that the hotel would use. Again he realised that he hadn't even considered the logistics of something like laundry when he had been thinking about gathering together other survivors.

"I need to sit down and figure out what else a large group of people will need," he thought, "I also need to act on what else dad told me, I need to start to gather some weapons for protection."

He sat down at the desk in the bedroom he happened to be in and used the hotels headed notepaper to begin to draw up a list for himself.

• Food - where is there a large supermarket or distribution warehouse close to Skibo?

• Weapons - where is the nearest army camp?

• Energy - check the hotel's energy sources. Generators? Fuel? Could I rig up some wind turbines? Check for a nearby supplier.

• Medical supplies - nearest hospital?

• Helicopters - could I fly a military helicopter? Where is the nearest airforce base?

• Survivors - should I be more proactive and start sweeps in the helicopter to try and pick people up?

He stopped thinking and reviewed what he had written so far. He could see that he was going to be busy. His thoughts about whether he would be able to fly a military helicopter were driven by his knowledge that the Robinson was too small. It was only a two-seater and wouldn't be any use for lifting anything heavy either. He had visions of the huge Chinook helicopters that the British Air Force used. Those things could carry tons of stuff and would be invaluable in getting the things he might need out to this remote castle.

Jamie checked out the hotel's energy source before returning to the little helicopter. He found it had generators as emergency back up and he checked to see what fuel they used. He also picked up a copy of the local phone directory as he left the reception area of the hotel. The directory would allow him to look for the local facilities he was interested in and help him identify whether he would be able to get what he needed without going too far from the castle. Pleased with himself for thinking of Skibo and finding it so perfect for what he wanted, he climbed back into the helicopter and prepared to return to the farm.

07:22, 5 August

Laura had only managed to have very brief conversations with Fisah over the last few days. Progress in gaining the woman's confidence was therefore frustratingly slow. She was sure that Fisah was open to friendship, her words and gestures, even her body language when they were close, all suggested that. Laura knew she was racing against the clock. It would only be a matter of time before the adult, armed, terrorists tracked down Jamie and captured him. That hadn't happened yet, despite the fact that Assam had left only Fisah and one other guarding the teenagers so he could concentrate his efforts on Jamie.

Laura volunteered to help Fisah and Mushtaq serve up breakfast to the other teenagers and she kept up light conversation with Fisah as they worked side by side. Mushtaq completely ignored her and that suited Laura just fine. She hadn't forgotten how cruel he had been when he and Hadij had captured her at the Wal-mart store. Once breakfast had been served up, Laura saw her chance to again try to talk to Fisah, when Mushtaq took the large pot that had held the porridge back to the kitchen.

"Fisah, I could tell you weren't happy about being involved in the execution the other day. How did you get mixed up with these psychopaths anyway?" she asked, in her haste having to take a very bold approach.