Read The First Rule Of Survival for Free Online Page B

‘Assuming we hear nothing today, it will be seventy-two hours since Toby Henderson went missing. There has been no ransom demand; no communication. What can we take from this?’
    Johannes Dyk replies blankly, ‘In one respect, relief that there have been no further abductions. On the other hand, this is a highly unusual series of events. If the kidnappers of these children want to exert pressure on us for their own gain, then I would still expect to hear from them within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.’
    Du Toit says: ‘And if we don’t?’
    ‘Then . . .’ Dyk runs a small pink hand through his white hair. ‘Then, I am afraid, you face a very serious situation. Unless you can identify some clue as to the identity of the abductor, or abductors, then you seem to have a cold trail.’
    De Vries says: ‘You think this is the work of a group?’
    Dyk looks him in the eye. ‘Possibly.’ He turns back to du Toit. ‘It is conceivable that this is a couple working together.’
    ‘A couple?’
    ‘There have been examples – very rare, I might add – of a married couple working in tandem to steal children. In those cases, it would be to form what they would regard as their family. It might be that they have lost a child, or children, through illness or accident, perhaps even by their own hand – and now seek some kind of surrogate replacement. But to abduct three children – it seems to me incredible.’
    ‘So we assume a single perpetrator?’
    ‘Based on precedent, yes, but there are concerns about organization. Is he keeping them or killing them? The longer we don’t hear from this man, or men, the more inclined I am towards the unpalatable truth that these boys have been taken and killed.’
    ‘A serial killer?’
    ‘Well,’ Johannes Dyk pronounces, ‘that is a much misused term. It is not my area of expertise, but a classic serial-killer scenario would not begin with three murders in such quick succession. Such an extraordinary event would be the culmination and marked acceleration after many months, maybe years, of activity. So, unless you have child abduction and murder – white child murders – stacked up over years, then I am inclined to say no.’
    De Vries says: ‘No.’
    Dyk bows at him.
    ‘But,’ du Toit says, turning to the rest of the group, ‘I’m still unhappy about how they were taken so easily, in full daylight. Who do these boys trust enough to get into his car so easily?’
    De Vries says: ‘Parents of friends? Teachers, clergy?’
    ‘A policeman?’ Dean Russell says. There is a silence.
    Du Toit is the first to speak.
    ‘It would explain Toby Henderson,’ he says quietly, ‘but I don’t know. Unless he was in a marked car, would a child get in? Even then . . .’
    ‘If the officer were known to him, perhaps?’ Russell says.
    De Vries says: ‘I’ve talked with the parents. They all say that their sons were intelligent, sensible young boys; that they would never go off with a stranger. I believe that’s what they taught them.’
    ‘We need to think about this more,’ du Toit tells them. ‘We know that whoever was targeting them wanted middle-class white boys, and we know that he took them in what appear, to us at least, to be public open spaces.’ He drifts off, looks expectantly at his audience. No one speaks. Finally he turns to the one black officer in the room. ‘Mikkie, nothing from the patrols at the abduction sites?’
    Everyone turns to Sergeant Mikkie Ngolo. He has said nothing for the entire meeting; just listened and waited to be addressed.
    ‘Nothing, sir. We have found no one who noticed the boys, saw a car pulled over at the kerb, saw anyone at the Family Day who seemed out of place.’
    ‘Nothing?’
    ‘Nothing. I think this is because these boys were walking on the streets, two of them after school when there were many children walking home; at the Family Day, there were also many children playing around the ground, they did not stick