My Little Pixie

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Kidnapped

Things ran along in an almost surreal tranquillity until Tuesday morning. I had just sat down at my desk, after sending my pixie into university, when I received a phone call from the agents who I still had keeping an eye on Emily and Elizabeth.

"What have they got up to now?" I asked with a slight chuckle.

"It's not that, Sir," the agent replied urgently. "They're being attacked. It looks like a kidnap attempt."

I did not hesitate and brought the duty manager in on our call - as it happens, it was Thomas. Within seconds, he had taken over the conversation, determined the exact location and taken charge of the security drones that we had been using to keep the girls under observation.

I hurried along to join him in the security office. He was sitting at the primary command desk. On one monitor, there was video of a nondescript, white, transit-style van heading out of town and, on another, a map showing our resources converging on it.

"Have you run the plates?" I asked Thomas.

"Absolutely no point, Sir," he answered tersely. "These are professionals. They'll be ringers."

I hurried across to the secondary control desk and started dialling up the security around the estate to a heightened level. We needed everyone on full alert with the second shift awake. Whilst I did not think it was likely, it was possible that the attack could be a decoy, aimed at distracting us whilst another team attacked Dendean House.

My Guard Captain arrived at the run, still pulling on his jacket. He took about three seconds to assess the situation then exchanged a glance with Thomas, wordlessly telling him that he should retain control of the operation with Emily.

So I stood up and let him have the secondary command desk. I moved to the back of the room, quietly watching the video from our drone as the van moved along the motorway at a speed which was evidently intended to avoid attracting attention. Our resources were converging on it rapidly.

"Do we extract Naomi?" Thomas asked.

I thought about it for a moment before replying, "There's no point. If the attack had been aimed at me, they would have taken both girls. Get a couple more armed security guards on her now and bring her straight back home when she's finished her lectures.

He made a brief phone call to arrange the guards then returned his attention to the screen as the van moved steadily along the motorway.

"Getting ready!" Thomas said suddenly to the agents in one of our pursuing SUVs. "We're approaching a service station. Don't get too close but get a second drone ready in case they go for a switch."

As anticipated, the van left the motorway [freeway] at the service station. We watched as it reversed into a gap between two large, articulated lorries.

And, from our elevated viewpoint, we could see there was a second van already parked in the gap.

"Getting ready," Thomas said. "Drone number two in the air."

"Putting up number three too," a calm voice responded. "Number one needs a new battery."

We watched as a couple of their guys jumped out of the vans. They were both wearing nondescript workman's clothing with caps pulled down low over their eyes.

Within seconds, a large aluminium trunk - an Emily sized trunk - had been transferred to the second van and both were moving again.

Thomas relaxed slightly as drones tracked the two vehicles. The one that presumably contained Emily carried on along the motorway. The one that had been used in the kidnap headed back towards town. Without saying anything, he popped the video of the attack up on a third monitor.