"No buts, 'If -- you want to see your daughter, again, keep your mouth shut."

"Yes. Now listen carefully, Alan --"

Over the phone, Alan heard the high, frightened voice of his daughter. "Dad? I'm sorry, Dad. They say. if you tell the police anything about Anna, they'll kill me, but I don't care, I… oh!"

"Oh Anna! I've been waiting for your call. Have you heard about -- about my leg, Anna?"

"Hello?" he said.

He recognized her voice at once. "Anna!" he said, "his heart beating fast.

"Never mind your leg. Listen to me, I'll say this once; and once only."

"Alan?".

"what? Anna, what are you --"

"We've got your daughter, Alan. Jane. That's her name, isn't it? Speak to your father, Jane. Now!"

The phone rang again in Alan Cole's room.

Alan heard a scream, which was suddenly cut off. Then Anna's voice again: "She won't die if you keep. quiet, lover boy. But if you say a word, a single word shout me to the police, you'll find her body in the river Thames. Do you understand?"

Alan tried to speak, but there was something wrong with his voice. Yes, he said. "But, please…"

There was a knock on the door. A nurse came in.

Slowly, he tried to understand. He hadn't told. the police about Anna, because of her husband. But why was that so important?

"You don, t look OK." The nurse put her hand on his head, and felt his wrist. "Well, you're not too hot; and your heart's OK." She smiled at the policeman. "Just half an hour, now. Remember, he's had a very serious accident."

"Yes… yes, fine, thanks."

Why has Anna kidnapped Jane

The phone went dead. Alan Cole sat very still. There was a terrible pain in his chest, his mouth was dry and he couldn't move. He sat like a stone.

Because Anna has a secret. Something very important that I, Alan, know about、but mustn't tell the police. Anna will kill Jane if I tell anyone about it.

"Hello, Mr Cole. A policeman to see you. Are you OK?"

But why? What was going on?

But what is this secret? What am I supposed to know?

It's like a dream, he thought. Surely it didn't happen. But that voice on the phone, it was Jane all right. And Anna, too. Anna… saying that she had kidnapped Jane.

"I know that." The policeman came in and sat down, and the nurse went out, pushing the telephone table in front of her: "I'm Detective Hall, Mr Cole. We met before."

"Yes," Alan said. The policeman had a kind, friendly face. The kind of… you could trust. He'll help me, Alan thought. He's probably a father himself.

"You've probably read in the newspapers, Mr Cole, that we've arrested two men." The policeman told Alan the story about the two Irishmen in the coach factory. "So we know they bombed the coach, and how they did it. `I suppose you're pleased about that."

No! Fear burned Alan like a fire. I mustn't tell him about Anna. If i do, Jane will die…

"Er… yes," Alan said quietly. "That's good. But why have you come to see me?"

"I just need to ask you a few questions about the day before the bombing. You see, we think these… put the bomb in the coach three days before the bombing, while the coach was at the factory. So the bomb was already in the coach when it came back to the Mews."

"Was it?" Alan said. He didn't really understand what the policeman was talking about.

"Well, did you notice anything unusual -- anything at all?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Let's take this slowly, the policeman said. "The day before the bombing, when did you leave work?"

"At… about six o'clock. Half past, perhaps,"

"And you didn't go back?,

"Were you alone, Mr Cole? When you saw the horse?"

"No," Alan said quietly.

"I'm sorry?"

"I see." The policeman wrote in his book. "Alone?"

For a moment Alan didn't answer. A new, very, unwelcome idea came to him, and he began to feel sick with fear. It wasn't those two Irishmen, he thought, it was Anna! She put the bomb in the coach when I 'was with Sandman. I was alone with the horse for at least ten minutes; she had plenty of time.

"He did? Oh, yes, of course. I went back to see a horse, Sandman. He had a bad leg."

"The coach, yes. And the horses. Mostly the horses."

Then he looked away, quickly, out of the window. He felt cold, frightened, lonely.

"Are you sure about that, Mr Cole? You see, a guard told me you came back later, at about ten,"

"We think so, yes. And in your job, you look after the coach, don't you?"

That's why she phoned me. To make sure that I never tell the police.

"I see." The policeman sighed, wrote in his notebook, and stood up, "That's all then, Mr Cole. The guard wasn't sure. Probably it was a different night."

In a strange, shaky voice, Alan said, "I was alone when I was with the horse, yes."

"Yes, I am. And she's not my friend any more now -- we've ended it."

"You're sure about that, Mr Cole?"

"No."

The'policeman said nothing. Alan felt his hands shaking and put them under the sheet. Why is he looking at me like that? he thought. What does he know?

And I can't say anything about it.

"Are you sure, Mr Cole? The guard says you have a lady friend, and sometimes she visits the horses with you. Was she with you that night?"

And that means she didn't love me at all, she just used me. I thought I was so lucky, an old man with a young pretty woman in my bed -- and all the time she was laughing at me. Worse than that -- she's a murderer! She killed George and Bernard and John, and she took my leg, and now she's going to kill Jane as well!

If I tell this policeman, Jane will die.

After the phone call. Kev and Anna tied the cloth round Jane's mouth again, and went back into her kitchen. "Anna had the bag over Jane's head too," but Jane could hear most of what they were saying. They were angry, arguing.

As the door closed, he opened his mouth and said, "Detective Hall."

But the policeman walked away. He didn't hear,

"Right then. Thank you for your help. Good night, Mr Cole." He walked to the door, and went out.

Anna's voice was high and angry. "Because of me? What about you? You were supposed, to understand bombs and radio transmitters, and what happened? The transmitter in that camera didn't work when I pressed the button!"

But if I say nothing, will they ever let her go?

If I 'speak, Jane will die.

Oh God, Alan thought. What do I do now?

"You've made too many mistakes with this plan, Anna," Kev said. "The Queen of England is still walking around Buckingham Palace because of you."

Alan watched him go, unable to say another word. He had felt so helpless, so frightened. I have to speak, he thought, I have to do something. But I can't.

"Yes. I'm sure it was."

Alan lay in the dark and listened to the voices in his head, arguing this way, and that way, until he thought he would go crazy.

Woman! She killed five people! She blew my leg off!

"You probably didn't press it hard enough," Kev said coldly. "It worked in the end, didn't it?"

"Yes, too late!" Anna said. "That was your mistake, not mine. So now we've got Cole to worry about, and this girl. We've got to get her away from here fast."

If I don't get away from them soon, f m going to die.

Keep your mouth shut, If you speak, she'll die.

They won't, Anna won't. She's a woman, she couldn't do that, She was your lover,

There was an icy fear in Jane's stomach. They know I can hear them, and they don't care, she thought. I'm sure Dad will keep quiet, but they can never let me go now. They'll have to kill me, because I know too much.

But they'll still kill her, if she's seen their faces.

"Wait until midnight, when the house is quiet."

Those two men the police have arrested are innocent. They'll go to prison for thirty years if I don't speak!

Oh God, he thought. Where is Jane now?

"Nurse!" he said,"Nurse, I need a telephone, now!"

I can't, it's too dangerous. I can't! I want to see my daughter!

Then, the third time, he, got into his wheelchair and went out into the corridor. It was midnight.

For two hours he lay in his room and, listened to the voices in his head and. thought he was going crazy. His lei ached, his chest felt very hot. Twice he decided to get tip and tell someone, but his body wouldn't move.

Jane was in the boot of a car. Her hands and feet were tied, the piece of cloth was round her mouth, and the bag was over her. head, but she knew she was in a car boot because she could hear the engine, and when she tried to sit up she hit her head.

The police will think that I helped Anna put the bomb in the coach! I'll go to prison.

What can I do? If I speak, they'll kill her. But if I don't speak, they'll kill her later. So I've got to tell the police now, it's Jane's only chance.

That woman is laughing at me. She was laughing at me when we made love. I hate her! I hope she dies!

I don't know them, I don't care about them. Jane is the only person who matters to me!

She won't die, Jane will. I must keep quiet!

And then what? How long before they kill me?

She didn't know how long she had been there. There wasn't much air, but she couldn't do anything about it. She just lay there and thought: it can't be much longer. We must get there soon and then they'll let me. out.