Page 37 of King’s Ransom

I snatched the cop’s radio, clicked the talk button.

‘Chopper unit, can you tell us what floor they’re on?’ I said.

The pilot answered: ‘Uh, can’t tell exactly, but they’re high up, in the top half of the tower, but below the blow-through level on the 75th floor.’

I turned to Garrett and Audrey.

‘Could be 61 or 73, let’s move!’

I pressed the button for the elevator.

It came and we dived into it and headed down to Level 73.

We had seven minutes.

As I stood in the descending elevator with Audrey and Merritt Garrett, I turned to face them.

‘Whoever’s doing this is inside this building with us,’ I said. ‘There weren’t any people attached to the exterior of this tower when we arrived. The police chopper would’ve seen them, somebody would’ve seen them. He must’ve put them out there while we were occupied with the boy in the elevator shaft.’

‘I concur,’ Garrett said as he drew a pistol from a holster inside his blazer. It was a silver .45-calibre Smith & Wesson 4506–1. (It was a big gun, all swagger. Of course—unlike me—as a licensed private investigator in the state of New York, Garrett could ­conceal-carry a firearm.)

I nodded at the pistol. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve got another one of those handy?’

He grinned and tossed me a second, smaller, pistol from inside his jacket. It was a Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0. (Garrett was evidently brand-loyal when it came to his guns.)

My phone buzzed.

Heidi’s name was on the screen.

She must’ve arrived in the bedroom on the 95th floor by now.

I answered it. ‘Heidi? What’s up?’

‘Sam, you know that big-ass military drone that was sitting on Mr Billionaire’s bed?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Well, it’s not sitting on the bed anymore. It’s flying. A few seconds ago, its rotors started up. Now it’s hovering right in front of us.’

Up in Aristo King’s bedroom, Heidi, Bill and the Tech Detect stared wide-eyed at the huge black military attack drone now hovering above Aristo King’s bed.

Within the confines of the magnificent bedroom it was huge, its two massive guns now looking even more intimidating.

Only moments before, along with two glove-wearing FBI forensic technicians, Heidi and Bill had been examining the four items on the bed, beside the Tech Detect who’d been looking at Aristo King’s cell phone.

Then, without warning, the big drone’s quad-rotors had started turning, speeding up till they became spinning blurs, and the drone gently lifted up off the bed.

Down in the elevator, I said into my phone, ‘What’s it doing?’

‘It’s rotating laterally,’ Heidi said. ‘It’s turning.’

I thought for a second.

Then it hit me.

‘Heidi! Bill! Get down! Get on the floor now!’ I yelled.

Up in the bedroom, Heidi and Bill threw themselves to the floor just as the drone’s two massive guns explosively came to life.