The Colonel laughed. ‘Well, madam, you can see it’s raining, can’t you? We didn’t want our poor prisoner to get wet, so we gave him a nice yellow raincoat, you see. But it was an expensive raincoat, because one of its buttons is a small radio transmitter. So we can hear everything they say and we know where they are on the plane!’
Helen smiled. ‘Good idea, Colonel. I hope it helps.’
‘Prime Minister,’ Michael interrupted. ‘They’re coming!’
Helen looked through the window. The door of the plane was open and people were coming down the steps one after another. Some of them started to run towards the airport building, and a few knelt down on the wet tarmac.
‘What are they doing?’ Helen asked.
‘Praying, perhaps?’ said Michael. ‘To thank God that they’re alive?’
Police and doctors came out of the building and watched through the binoculars. She did not see Carl.
‘Ninety-nine, a hundred. That’s it, then,’ said Colonel Carter. The plane door closed. ‘Now we move on to the next step of our plan. Goodbye, Prime Minister.’
