Kidnappers Incorporated

The Ransom Exchange

A short time later, Clover was standing on the station platform, keeping an eye out for Daphne. The train had arrived just a few minutes ago, but the wave of passengers coming on and off made it difficult for Clover to spot her sister anywhere.

"Oh come on, Daph, where are you?" muttered Clover, who was beginning to think that Jerry had woohped her to the wrong station.

Suddenly, a pair of hands covered her eyes, making her jump a little and a familiar voice cheekily said, "You called, madam?"

Clover spun around to see Daphne standing behind her with a wide grin like a Cheshire cat.

"Sis, what are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?" laughed Clover.

Daphne chuckled and pulled her sister into a big hug. "Hey Clove, long time no see, huh?"

"Way too long, Daph," smiled Clover. "It's been simply ages since I last saw you."

"Oh, tell me about it," said Daphne. "I've been meaning to come down for months, but what with so many photo shoots to attend and making sure Trev stays out of mischief, arranging to get some time off has been a total nightmare!"

Daphne brushed a strand of her long, strawberry blonde hair out of her face. Despite the fact that there was an age difference of five years between the two sisters, with Clover being the youngest, nowadays Daphne and Clover looked virtually identical to each other. The most obvious difference between them was that Daphne had her hair styled differently to her mum and sister's coif looks, preferring to go instead for a more shoulder-length style.

"I was so thrilled when the agency said they could book me for the fashion show down here," Daphne continued. "I've been dying to come down here to see you and meet your roomies. It's kinda weird that I haven't gotten acquainted with them before now."

"Yeah, I'm sorry they couldn't be here to meet you," said Clover. "They, err, got some last-minute extra-credit work that they wanted to get out of the way first."

"Boy, that's tough," said Daphne. "Never mind, I guess this means we can have a bit of quality sister time first, before we meet up with them. After being cooped up in that clammy train for the last three hours, you know what I want to do most now?"

"I think I can guess," grinned Clover, before they both exclaimed:

"Shopping!"

******

"Ouch! Alex, watch where you're putting your heels!" groused Sam as she rubbed her aching side.

"Sorry Sam, I was just trying to shift around to get a bit more legroom," said Alex apologetically as she moved about a bit in the small wooden crate that the two spies had concealed themselves in.

Through a slot opening in the side of the crate, the two spies had a good view of the interior of the ACME warehouse, which was crammed full of other crates and boxes. In the centre of the room stood Kate Maloney, who was currently holding a briefcase that contained the ransom money for the release of Jon Baker. Maloney looked at her watch as a bead of sweat appeared on her nervous brow. She had been fully briefed on the plan, which was to carry out the exchange as arranged, whereupon the spies would leap out and nab the bad guys before they had a chance to escape. Nevertheless, she was worried about what would happen to her client should the plan fail to work.

"Maybe it's just as well Clover couldn't make it," grumbled Alex. "The three of us would never be able to fit in this small crate!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down, Alex!" whispered Sam urgently. "The kidnappers are arriving."