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“We all comfy now?” Callum glared at them.

The cop seemed bemused as everyone else grinned and Elle gave Callum a thumbs-up.

“The chairs have to go,” Callum muttered. “No more chairs. I don’t care if the Queen comes to visit; she can bloody well stand.”

“If you’re done having a meltdown about the seating arrangement,” Joe said, “we’ve got the security footage from the hospital to look at.”

The cop’s radar pinged, and his attention zeroed in on Joe. “They just handed it over to you?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Without a lawyer or a warrant?”

“David has superpowers.” Joe grinned at the man. “He asked nicely, and the security team handed it over. I think it’s a Jedi Mind Trick, but he isn’t sharing.”

“Just play the bloody footage,” Callum barked.

“All righty,” Elle said as she tapped her laptop and the footage from the flash drive David had given her appeared on the huge monitor facing the window.

“The blinds?” Julia said to Joe.

With a smile for his wife, Joe edged Callum out of the way and closed the blinds so they could see the screen better.

The footage was in black and white and had come from a camera over the front entrance of the hospital. There was a time stamp in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. As one, the team leaned forward, each intensely focused on the video as, at just past ten, Ryan strolled through the front doors. As they watched, he smiled at an elderly woman before lifting his hand to call one of the idling black hackney cabs over to him.

When the taxi pulled up in front of Ryan, he opened the rear door and leaned in to say something to the driver. Just then, a tall man with broad shoulders bumped into Ryan’s free side. Next thing they knew, Ryan was being helped into the cab and the man followed in behind him. The door closed and the cab drove off. No one near Ryan seemed to notice that he’d just been kidnapped.

“Oh,” Julia muttered. “That isn’t good.”

“Does the abductor have something in his hand?” Harvard rumbled, staring at the screen. “Can we replay the bit where he helps Ryan into the cab?”

Elle typed in some commands, and the video jumped back to the spot Harvard wanted.

“Can you zoom?” Harvard asked.

The image became bigger, but not clearer.

“I can’t increase the pixels, which means this is as sharp as it’ll get,” Elle told them.

“There’s definitely something in his hand.” Harvard pointed at the screen. “By Ryan’s throat. See?”

David nodded. “Looks like a syringe. Classic drug and drop. It’s a technique we learned in the agency, for use if we needed to quietly extract someone for questioning.”

“You can say torture,” Elle said. “We’re all friends here.”

David tugged a lock of his wife’s hair before he addressed his fellow spy. “Harvard, you recognize that guy?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to recognize,” Julia said. “All we have is his rear view.”

“And that’s all we need.” Harvard smiled at her before turning to Elle.” Can you play it again? Slower, this time.”

They watched the whole thing in slow motion.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Harvard asked David.

David nodded. “Yeah, he never did learn to change his gait or body language. I’d bet my life we’re looking at Stephan Prentice, American. Special forces washout and current mercenary. Our paths crossed on a couple of jobs.” He cocked an eyebrow at Harvard.

“I met him in a hot zone. Guy nearly got us all killed. I’d know that walk anywhere. Plus, he’s got the build and the moves.”

Callum placed his hands flat on his desk. “You’re thinking someone hired him to take Ryan?”

“It’s the only possible explanation,” Harvard said. “Prentice doesn’t have personal vendettas. If there’s no payday, he ain’t interested.”