Page 115 of King’s Ransom

But he was no statue.

His whole front half was cloaked in shadow, his head shrouded by a hoodie, his hands wedged in the pockets.

He was fifty yards away.

And looking directly at me.

I’m not easily unnerved, but the way he just stood there, absolutely still, unmoving in the slow-falling snow, staring right at me, was genuinely unsettling.

It was as if he wasn’t just watching me.

He was evaluating me.

‘Sam, what are you doing back there?’ Heidi called from up ahead. From where she was, she couldn’t see the mysterious man.

Suddenly, explosively, my phone rang.

I almost jumped out of my skin.

Fumbling, I grabbed it from my pocket.

The call was from a number I didn’t know.

I turned back to check on the dark figure behind the snow mound.

He was gone.

I answered the phone, half-expecting to hear the chilling voice from December 21st.

‘Hello, Mr Speedman? It’s Narelle Wyvill, the nurse looking after Agent Mills at Phelps Hospital.’

I exhaled. ‘Hey, Nurse Narelle. What’s up?’

‘Well, thirty minutes ago, Dr Shepherd brought Agent Mills out of her coma. Now the FBI is all over the place. That other agent, Mr Hooper, said they’re going to take her to the Irving Center at New York-Presbyterian down by Columbia University. It has a Level 1 adult trauma centre and can do much more than we can with her injuries. I, well, I just thought you’d like to know.’

‘Thank you so much for telling me, Nurse Narelle. That’s very considerate of you.’

And it was. She was a nice lady.

I felt bad that I hadn’t been there when Audrey had woken up, but then again I doubted that Special Agent Hooper would’ve let me see her anyway.

I said, ‘Did they say when they were going to take her to the other hospital?’

‘It’s not a case of when, sweetie. They’re doing it right now.’

‘Gosh, thanks again, Nurse Narelle.’ I rang off. ‘Heidi, Georgy, quick, we gotta hustle.’

With a final concerned look back across the stream at the mound of snow, I hurried away with Heidi and Georgy.

Audrey was awake and I desperately wanted to get back to the hospital to see if she was all right.

Phelps Hospital

28 December, 1735 hours

We arrived at Phelps Hospital in Georgy’s little red Yaris to find FBI vehicles and NYPD cars filling the ER’s turnaround.

The whole area was bathed in the strobing glare of police lights.