The cry was a beacon.
Minshull’s head snapped round, his body following as he changed course and made for the sound.
He’d gone too wide, missing the shadowed heart of the woods by a considerable distance. Had it not been for Amelie Kemp’s wail, he might have missed them entirely.
He honed in on the cries, the sound amplified by the echoes reverberating through the close-growing trees. It wrenched at his core, stoking his rising fear about the woman being held beside its source, but for once, Minshull willed the sound to continue.
Please let her be okay, he begged whichever deity may be listening in the rain-pummelled woodland, all too aware that his plea wasn’t only for the baby strapped to Lukas Hall.
The cries grew louder, calling him through a dense patch of brambles that grappled with the fabric of his trousers as he tore himself free. Rounding a wide trunk of two trees that had grown together as one, he caught sight of something about ten yards ahead.
The flash of a raised hand, dropped quickly back into the undergrowth.
Instinctively, Minshull began to count. Three seconds later, the hand appeared again, held for three seconds, then disappearing.
Drew Ellis.
They’d discussed it once, months back. Ellis had been reading about non-radio communication used in surveillance situations and had been amused by the raised hand method. A hand raised for three seconds exactly then lowered for three. Repeated as needed to signal your location. The receptor would repeat the pattern, confirming both receipt and location.
‘Like at school, where everyone had to raise their hands when the teacher wanted the class to be quiet,’ he’d joked. ‘A hand up for quiet, everyone’s hands up in reply.’
It had made them laugh, then, in the warm, familiar confines of the CID office.
This place was far removed from there. But Ellis had remembered and was using the signal for real.
God bless that kid!
Minshull retreated behind the double-headed tree, raising his palm in the direction of Ellis.
Three seconds visible. Three seconds hidden. Three seconds visible again.
Peering around the rough bark, he saw the identical reply.
Then, across the glistening foliage as far from Ellis as Minshull was, another hand rose.
Three seconds visible.
Three seconds hidden.
Three seconds visible again.
Kate Bennett, now in position.
Bolstered by the presence of his colleagues and friends, Minshull began to move.