She didn’t normally talk to him this way – like an equal. But, to her surprise, he didn’t object.
‘I know how you feel,’ he said. ‘And we’re going to move fast on this. I just need a few hours to gather some intel, then we’ll hit the ground running at dawn. Dom’s team will work on this through the night.’ He held her gaze. ‘If he’s in there, we’ve got to do this right.’
Twenty minutes later Allie stood in Dom’s office in front of the wall-mounted monitor. The screen was almost too dark to make out Carter’s face. He sat in a chair, his head bowed, apparently asleep – or something like sleep. There was a tension in the way his body hunched forward, as if he was resisting rest. Trying to force himself to stay awake.
Just like she was.
Across the room, at the round table, a group of guards she didn’t know were at the laptops. One, a woman with a long, blonde braid, had the headphones on, listening to Nathaniel’s guards.
They cast occasional curious glances at her, but no one bothered her.
Raj, Isabelle and Dom had gone down to Isabelle’s office to make plans – they’d ordered her to bed. She’d come here instead.
The clock on the screen read 52:21:38.
The numbers were going down so fast. It was breathtaking.
She longed to see Carter’s face. To hear his voice. She wanted to pass him in the hallway and say ‘Hey.’ Really casually. Because they saw each other every day, and seeing each other was no big deal. They’d see each other again in a few minutes.
‘Hey back,’ she imagined him saying. And it made her feel worse somehow.
Because it was all in her head. And he was in so much danger.
Tentatively, she raised her hand, touching the screen. It was cold beneath her fingertips.
‘Stay alive, Carter,’ she whispered. ‘We’re coming to get you.’
Sometime later, Allie awoke with a start and looked around, disoriented. It was so dark that it took her a moment to realise she was in her room.
She had only the vaguest memories of climbing into her bed. She’d been so exhausted after leaving Dom’s office, it was all a blur. She was still in her skirt and blouse, the duvet thrown over her legs haphazardly.
She felt groggy, as if she was dreaming. But she was certain she wasn’t.
Something had disturbed her. A sound.
She fumbled for the switch on the desk light, knocking over the alarm clock. It fell with a musical crash.
The light, when she finally located the switch, seemed insanely bright; it blinded her.
That was when she heard it again.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Three taps in quick succession. From the door.
Suddenly, she was wide awake.
Throwing back the duvet in one smooth movement, she leaped out of bed. Her bare feet made no sound on the whitewashed wood floor as she crossed the room.
She pressed her ear to the cool wood of the door and held her breath. Her heart had begun to pound.
‘Who is it?’ she asked, her voice still rough from sleep.
At first there was nothing. Then, ‘Allie? It’s Dom.’
She exhaled, all the tension leaving with the breath, and yanked the door open. Dom stood in the darkened corridor.
She wore the same clothes she’d had on earlier. Her narrow glasses made her eyes hard to read, but there was something in her expression – something that made Allie’s stomach clench.
‘What’s happened?’
‘It’s Carter,’ Dom said. ‘Nathaniel cut the feed.’
22
When Allie slammed into Dom’s office a few minutes later, Isabelle stood by the map talking to three of Raj’s security guards. She’d changed at some point into neat grey trousers and a white blouse. A black cashmere cardigan hung loose from her shoulders. You wouldn’t know she hadn’t slept, were it not for the circles under her eyes.
Standing next to Dom at the back of the room, Raj was clean shaven, a mug of coffee in one hand. Dom was explaining something, and he was listening attentively.
Shak and Zoe sat at the table, each in front of a laptop, but they weren’t typing. They were looking up at the wall-mounted computer screen.
She followed their gaze. Carter was gone. All that was left was darkness, and a warning carved out in stark white letters: DO AS I DEMAND AND YOU WILL SEE HIM AGAIN.
In the bottom corner of the screen the red clock still glowed: 47:53:15.
‘What happened?’
Her words came out as a stunned whisper. But Isabelle heard and walked over briskly.
‘Allie, good. I’m glad you’re here. Now, listen. Nathaniel cut the feed. Dom and Shak are trying to get it back – there may be a way to hack into the webcam. She’s trying that now. In the meantime…’
Allie didn’t let her finish.
‘I don’t understand. Why did he do this? What is going on?’
The bottom seemed to have dropped out of her world.
They’d been so close to getting him out. And now they didn’t even know if he was still there.