The far end of Luke's driveway looked like the forecourt of a car dealership. Matching black SUVs formed a row, presumably belonging to Nick's crew, and just for variety, a couple of police cars and an ambulance were lined up opposite. All very neat and tidy. But between them, a white van blocked the driveway, more abandoned than parked.

"Looks like Mr. Howard found us instead," Nick said.

Howard? That was the second time Luke had heard the name.

"Who the hell is Mr. Howard?"

"Our kidnapper."

Luke reached for the door handle as anger flared in his belly. The man who'd taken his sister had dared to come here? To his house? He itched to get his hands on the bastard, but Nick held him back.

"Stay put, would you? We'll deal with it."

"It wasn't your sister he took."

Luke tried to open the door, but the handle didn't work. What was wrong with the bloody thing?

Nick grinned at him. "I put the kiddie lock on."

Suddenly, the kidnapper wasn't the only man Luke wanted to hurt.

But then Nick motioned out of the window, and Luke took a closer look at the scene outside. In the shadow of an old oak tree, a man dressed all in black held a policewoman at gunpoint. He shouted something, but the glass muffled his words.

"Would you wind the window down?" he asked Nick, fresh fear blossoming in his chest.

Nick shrugged and opened it a few inches, and Luke caught the tail end of what the man was yelling.

"...the girl back, or I'll shoot the cop."

His jerky movements, his high-pitched voice, they both suggested the man's self-control hung by a hair. Where was Tia? Did she know what was going on? That she was being used as a bargaining chip by a madman?

"Don't worry," Nick said. "Not going to happen. No way is she gonna give up Tia."

"Do you think he'll really shoot that policewoman?"

The woman's face shimmered white in the glare from the van's headlights, and she stumbled as the man dragged her backwards.

"Who knows? He looks like he's lost his mind. If he ever had it in the first place."

"Somebody's got to do something! We can't sit here and wait for her head to get blown off."

"Don't panic. Somebody will."

Nick gestured to the front door, and Luke watched, heart thumping, as Ash walked calmly towards the kidnapper. She stopped ten metres away and her lips moved as she spoke. What was she saying? Luke strained to hear, but he couldn't make the words out.

The kidnapper nodded in agreement then jerked his head towards his van, where the sliding side door gaped open like the entrance to the underworld.

What was going on?

Ash took her phone out of her pocket and placed it on the ground, then walked in the direction indicated. When she got to the van, she reached inside and emerged with a pair of handcuffs and a length of rope.

"What's she doing?" Luke asked. "What's Ash doing?"

"Going with him."

"Stop her! We've got to stop her." Luke tried the handle again, but it rattled uselessly. The window wouldn't open any further either.

"Nobody can stop her. Sit still, would you?"

"No, I won't sit still! That's my girlfriend facing a man with a gun."

Nick swivelled in his seat to face him. "I thought you split up?"

"We did, but..." Luke trailed off as Ash sat on the sill of the van and tied her feet together before holding up the handcuffs.

"Put them on," Howard yelled.

Ash shook her head, talking to the kidnapper again. A few seconds later, he huffed and pushed the policewoman away before turning back to Ash, the gun trained on her instead.

Luke pounded on the window, trying to break the glass.

"Good luck with that—it's bulletproof," Nick said.

"Let me out of the damn car."

"No chance."

Luke had no choice but to watch as Ash fastened one cuff around her wrist then attached the other to a cargo ring set into the floor of the van. The kidnapper strode over and looked in at her, his face hidden under a black hoodie. Then he slammed the side door of the van shut before turning back to the frozen crowd of onlookers, waving the gun wildly.

"If anyone follows me, she dies. I mean it," he screeched.

Nick was right; he'd lost the plot.

Howard jumped into the van and peeled out of the driveway, onlookers scattering and tyres squealing. Luke gripped the edges of the window, his heart threatening to claw its way out of his chest. Yes, he and Ash had had their problems, but now he understood that she'd only been trying to help him. What if the kidnapper planned to kill her the way he'd threatened with Tia?

The locks clicked as Nick released them, and Luke sprang out of the car.

Nick followed, muttering, "Poor bastard."

Luke paused to stare at him. "What? What are you talking about?"

Dan strolled over, smiling, her hands relaxed by her sides.

"This is handy. At least it saves us the trouble of looking for him. Might get a lie in tomorrow," she said.

Nick nodded his agreement. "Yeah, although I'm getting kind of hungry."

Hungry? The man was hungry? Luke felt like he was about to throw up.

Dan looked at her watch. "Are you joining in the pool?"

"Count me in," Nick said. "What are we doing? Ten-minute slots?"

"Five. The US offices are joining in too. Nate's gone off to make popcorn."

Luke couldn't hold back any longer. "What the fuck are you two talking about? In case you hadn't noticed, your friend has just been abducted at gunpoint."

How could they be joking right now? Someone needed to tell him what the hell was going on.

One of the policemen wandered over, greeting Nick with a complicated handshake.

"Jason, it's been a while."

"All right, Nick? How do you want us to play this?"

"Hold back for a bit, would you? Dan and I will head off in a minute. Can you follow behind us?"

"Sure. Give me a shout when you're leaving."

"No worries. Will do. Your woman okay?" Nick asked.

"Shaken up, but someone's taken her into the house for a sit down and a cuppa. She'll be fine."

Everyone had clearly gone mad.

"A woman's been kidnapped," Luke told the policeman, as that seemed to have escaped his notice.

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it."

Luke's jaw dropped as the cop strolled back to his group of colleagues in front of the house. The ones in uniform shifted from foot to foot, unsure of what to do with themselves, but a couple in plain-clothes were laughing.

"What about Ash? Nobody seems to be taking this seriously."

"She'll be fine," Nick said.

"You don't know that. The last time we saw her, she was decidedly un-fine."

Was Luke the only one who cared?

"I do know. She just messaged me."

"What? But she left her phone here." Luke pointed to where it still sat on the ground.

"Correction. She left one of her phones here. She still has another two with her."

"But she was handcuffed."

"Was being the operative word. She won't still be handcuffed. Trust me," Nick added, seeing the disbelieving look on Luke's face.

"I'd better get going," Dan said, fishing a set of car keys out of her pocket. "She left her coat in the car, and it's chilly out. She won't be happy if we keep her waiting for ages in the cold."

"I'm coming with you," Luke insisted.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Nick said. "Besides, you should go in and see Tia."

Luke hesitated. He'd desperately wanted to check on his sister, but that was before his girlfriend got abducted.

"I'm worried about Ash," he mumbled.

Nick gave an exasperated sigh and relented. "Dan, take Nye with you and go on ahead. I'll stop with Luke and Tia for a few minutes then follow."

Dan looked as if she was about to protest, but Nick held up a hand.

"Look, he was living with her for two or three months. She'll have got under his skin like she does with everyone else."

He was right. Ash had wormed her way under Luke's skin and into his heart.

Nick turned back to him. "But Luke, you will not get involved. Just see that Ash's okay, and I'll bring you back. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Luke understood he didn't have much choice.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he hurried into the house and found Tia curled up on the couch in the den, arms wrapped around her knees. When she saw Luke, she leapt up and hugged him.

"I missed you," she sniffed.

"I missed you too."

"Ash told me you tried to deliver the ransom?"

"Yeah, I did, but it went a bit wrong."

"You were so brave."

He didn't want to let on he'd been terrified the entire time. "I'd have done anything to get you back."

Nick came into view, tapping his watch, and Luke steered Tia towards the door. "Let's get you to bed. We can talk more in the morning."

"Okay. I'm really tired, but I didn't want to go to sleep until I saw you."

The instant his sister was tucked under her duvet, Luke sprinted for Nick's car. As they left the drive, a screen on the dashboard displayed several pulsating blobs. Nick pointed at a white blob a mile or two behind the others. "That's us, and the other white dot is Dan."

"Is the red one Ash?"

"Yeah."

The red dot was ahead of Dan, moving steadily.

Their strange convoy continued for half an hour, first along the main roads then out into the countryside again. When the red blob suddenly stopped, Luke's heart stuttered too. From the map, it looked as if the van had pulled up in an area of woodland.

"Oh, fuck, he's planning to shoot her like he tried with me." Panic rose in his chest, icy fingers clawing at his insides.

Nick glanced at his watch. "Ten twenty. Shit. My pool time isn't until eleven. I've lost this one unless a miracle happens."

Luke stared at him. "You're insane."

They rode on in a tense silence until Nick's phone buzzed, and the woman's voice Luke heard earlier filled the cabin.

"Time's ten twenty-six, Nicky. So, tell me, who got the pool?"

"Pool?"

"I'm crazy, not fucking stupid."

"Fine, it was Luther."

"Didn't he win the last one, too?"

"Yeah, the lucky son of a bitch."

"Gotta go. Jason's just turned up. See you in a minute."

Nick turned to Luke. "Told you she'd be fine."

"That was Ash?"

The woman on the radio had sounded so different from the Ash Luke knew, confident and self-assured in contrast to his Ash's sweet hesitancy.

"Yeah, it was. She changes her accent more times than she changes her mind."

Why would she need to do that? Luke was about to ask when Nick pointed out their destination just ahead.

"We're heading for a clearing just around that bend."

When they arrived, Nick held Luke to his promise and made him stay in the vehicle. Luke watched Jason and another policeman ask Ash questions as she perched on the bonnet of their car, eyes downcast. Was she okay? Had the kidnapper hurt her? He looked over at the van, slewed at an angle with its doors wide open. Was that the kidnapper on the ground next to it? Luke pressed his face against the glass to get a better look. Yes, it was him in the black hoodie. Howard.

"Is he dead?" Luke asked, pointing.

"Don't think so," Nick said. "He's got cuffs on. Those cops next to him are waiting for him to come round."

Luke's hands curled into fists as he thought of what he'd like to do to the man. How dare the bastard hurt his family? If the police hadn't been present, he'd have marched right over and punched him, but instead, he had to settle for watching as the guy slowly stirred and got hauled to his feet by two officers.

Shoulders slumped, head down, he didn't look quite so scary now. At least, until he got close to Ash. The bastard tried to lunge at her, cuffed arms outstretched, but she stood her ground and the police hauled him back. Why was she laughing? And more to the point, why did the man hate Luke's family so much?

The kidnapper got closer, and as he passed by Dan's SUV, the headlights lit up his features. Of all the shocks Luke had received in the last few days, this one was perhaps the most unexpected. He froze, unable to tear his eyes away from the man's face. It was almost, but not quite, like looking into a mirror.

"What the...?" Luke started. He stepped out of the car, and Nick didn't try to stop him this time. "Who are you?"

The prisoner glowered back, unspeaking.

Ash stepped in to do the honours. "Luke, meet Simon Howard, your half-brother. Simon, I'd introduce Luke, but I'm sure you already know who he is."

"You're a bitch," was Simon's only reply.

"Oh, you're wrong there. I'm not a bitch. I'm the bitch. The queen bitch, in fact. I lost my crown for a while, but I need to thank you for helping me to get it back. It was almost a pleasure doing business with you."

Ash took a mock bow and laughed again. Was there something in the water? That wasn't the Ash Luke knew. Simon still looked like he wanted to punch her as the police marched him towards their car.

"See, fucking crazy," Nick said.

Who was he talking about? Ash or Simon? Luke felt like he'd fallen down a rabbit hole and ended up in the eighth circle of hell.

He faced his...girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend? "You okay?"

She shrugged, looking at her feet. "Yeah."

"Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head and followed up with a bark of laughter.

"No."

Fuck, he'd never been in this situation before. What was he supposed to say? He barely knew Ash anymore, and right now, he wasn't sure whether to love her for saving Tia or hate her for lying to him. Okay, think logically. They should talk. He should ask her to come home so they could discuss this. That would do for starters.

"Will you—"

A cop interrupted. "Good to see you!" He clapped Ash on the back like she was one of the guys. "Can I borrow you for a few minutes?"

"Sure."

She practically ran off, leaving Luke with his mouth hanging open, the rest of the sentence stuck in his throat. Great. That went well. Still, it gave Luke breathing space to work out exactly what he needed to say.

On the far side of the clearing, Simon Howard got unceremoniously loaded into the back of a police van, and before Luke could stop her, Ash climbed into the SUV with Dan and took off after them. He was left with little choice but to ride with Nick.

"Do you really think that man's my half-brother?" Luke asked.

The revelation made him feel sick, not just because his father had kept him in the dark all these years, but because Howard was evil personified. How could they be related?

"Yes, we do."

"How did you find him?"

"I don't have all the details. We'll have to get Dan to fill us both in when we get back to the house."

The background chatter on the radio provided a soundtrack to Luke's thoughts. He got so engrossed in trying to unravel the mess in his mind, he barely noticed Dan's car parked in a lay-by a few miles down the road.

"Why have they stopped?" Nick muttered, pulling in behind.

They both got out and walked to the driver's side, where Dan sat with both hands on the steering wheel, staring pointedly out of the windscreen. In the passenger seat, Ash had her hands in her lap and her eyes fixed forwards.

"Are you two okay?" Nick asked.

No answer. Then Dan glanced over at Ash, catching her eye, and the first hint of giggles escaped from her lips. That did it. Ash and Dan both collapsed in hysterics, with Dan laughing until tears fell from her eyes.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. What?" Nick asked.

Dan waved her hand in front of her face, signalling she couldn't speak.

"Maybe it's some kind of delayed shock?" Luke suggested.

"No," Ash spat. "It's just he was the worst kidnapper ever." Another burst of laughter. "He was waving the gun around, and he had the safety on. The safety! It was my lucky day when he agreed to take me instead of that poor policewoman."

"Saved us a bunch of trouble tomorrow," Dan said.

"Yeah, and I got to spend a little alone time with him."

"But you were handcuffed," Luke said. "And tied up."

Ash rolled her eyes. "I had a handcuff key, and when I tied my feet together, I used a quick-release knot. The idiot didn't even check it."

"What about when he opened the door? He had a gun."

"I wasn't even in the van at that point. When he stopped, I climbed out the back door and onto the roof. My only regret was missing his face when he realised I wasn't there."

"I'd like to have seen that, too," Nick said.

"When I dropped down behind him, he tried to swing the gun around, but I twisted it out of his hand. And it still had the fucking safety on."

There was another pause as Ash and Dan dissolved into laughter again, with Nick joining in this time. But Luke still didn't see the funny side. What did Ash know about guns? He didn't even know where the safety was, so how did she?

"The safety," Ash continued. "Can you believe that? When I got him with an uppercut, he dropped faster than a second-rate hooker on a deadline. He'd even given me the cuffs and rope to tie him up with."

"Not bad, baby," Nick said.

Baby?

"Three minutes, Nicky. Shame it was over so fast—I was having fun." Then she smiled brightly. "I wonder what the prison doctor will make of his mysterious groin pain?"

She turned to Dan, and they high-fived.

Another vehicle pulled up behind Nick's, and the girls climbed out of their car as Jason unfolded himself from the passenger seat of his.

"What's this? A convention?" Jason asked.

"Oh, just feeling a little car sick," Ash told him, voice sweet as pie.

"Strange, that. The prisoner's complaining he feels sick too, except my officer reports he's clutching his balls. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Ash glanced at Dan then quickly looked away. "Can't help you there, I'm afraid. Maybe he caught himself on the door sill as he fell?"

Jason didn't look convinced, but he let it go. Everyone climbed back into their respective cars, Ash driving the SUV this time. Her car shot off into the distance, leaving the smell of burnt rubber in its wake and Luke more confused than ever.

Who was Ash, really?