The Secret

‘I think... she’s going to be okay,’ said Steven, struggling to get the words out against the wave of relief that flooded through him as he found the strong pulse in Jenny’s neck. ‘Fingers crossed she’s just been kept sedated but I’ll have to get her to the sickbay in the terminal to check her out properly... but her pulse is strong and there’s no sign of injury.’

‘Great,’ said Nick. ‘Do you think we can tell the police the excitement’s over?’

‘Yep,’ said Steven, allowing himself to relax with a heartfelt sigh. ‘All over.’

‘Good. Time for us to melt away then, before questions start being asked,’ said Nick. ‘We’ll take all traces of the bomb with us but I hope your people can deal with the “clean-up” across the road?’

Steven nodded. ‘Of course.’ He laid Jenny gently along the back seat in the car and shook the hand of each man in turn. ‘I’m not sure I have the words to tell you what I feel right now,’ he said. ‘But I think you can guess. Thank you will have to do.’

‘You would have done the same,’ said Nick. ‘That’s the way we do things. We look after our own.’

Steven nodded, his throat tight. ‘Damn right.’

Steven moved Jenny to the sick bay in the airport where he and the airport nurse were happy to conclude that she was just sleeping under the sedation Khan had given her. He called Tally’s mobile to give her the news and heard her almost explode with joy before seemingly turning away to give others the news.

This puzzled Steven. ‘Where are you?’ he asked.

‘In Glenvane. I flew up to Glasgow this morning after your call and got the bus down. I’m with Peter and Sue and the kids. I thought we should all go through this together. God, what a relief. And Khan?’

‘Gone from our lives.’

‘Good. Sue’s asking when we’ll see you?’

‘I’ll wait here until Jenny comes round and then decide whether she needs a hospital check or not. If not — and I don’t think she will — I’ll bring her straight home.’

‘I take it there was no official police involvement... I mean, no formal kidnap report filed?’

‘No, there wasn’t time. In the end it was down to just me and a few very... very good friends.’

‘Must make the paperwork easier,’ Tally joked uncertainly as if dealing with conflicting emotions.

‘Love you, Tally. See you later.’

‘That has a nice ring to it.’

With Jenny still sleeping, Steven contacted Macmillan and told him all that had happened, apologising for not having kept him in the loop but time had been so tight.

In the circumstances, Macmillan was understanding. ‘Anything I can do to help?’

Steven told him that he had agreed with the soldiers that Sci-Med would make the necessary arrangements to remove Khan’s body from the airport as their operation had been ‘unofficial’. Macmillan assured him that he would take care of this and also seek the Home Secretary’s assistance in smoothing things over with Lothian and Borders Police, offering them Sci-Med’s sincere thanks for their help and professionalism in the situation that arose. The airport bomb incident could be dismissed as a false alarm.

‘That should cover it,’ agreed Steven. ‘I’m going to hire a car to take Jenny home. I’ll stay the night in Glenvane and be back in London tomorrow.’

‘Did you get the disk?’ asked Macmillan.

‘Affirmative.’

‘Good, I think the computer people have just about done everything they can so we should have a meeting as soon as possible to see if we can now unravel just what the hell this has all been about,’ said Macmillan.

Jenny regained consciousness some thirty minutes later, giving a big yawn which made the airport nurse smile and Steven feel like a million dollars. ‘Daddy what are you doing here?’ she asked followed by a sleepy, ‘Where am I?’

‘You’ve been having rather a long snooze, nutkin,’ said Steven. ‘and you’re in Edinburgh Airport although we’re not going anywhere. What do you remember, pussy cat?’

‘A man... there was a bad man... he came to the house and hurt Uncle Richard... we were frightened... and... and then... nothing. I can’t remember anything, Daddy.’

‘He tried to steal you away, nutkin but we wouldn’t let him. He’s gone now and he’s never coming back,’ said Steven giving her a big hug.

Steven was overjoyed that Khan appeared to have kept Jenny sedated the whole time. Working alone, he must have seen that as the easy option. From Jenny’s point of view, there was no terror for her to remember except of course, the trauma of the break-in at the house in Glenvane. But even there, she’d been sedated through the doctoring of the warm milk. She wouldn’t even remember being taken from the house. This was better than he could ever have hoped for. With any luck, the scars should be minimal.

‘Gosh, I’m thirsty,’ said Jenny.

‘And hungry too, I bet,’ said the nurse. ‘And I think we can fix both.’

Thirty two