Page 165 - James Caan - The Real Deal

15 · Kidnap

They rang today and said if we didn’t pay the ransom we will
suffer the consequences.’
‘How much is the ransom?’
‘They will call at four o’clock tomorrow to tell us how much
and give us instructions on how to hand over the money.’
I was completely freaked out. People didn’t get kidnapped. It
was something you read about in the papers, not something that
happened to my family. Still not sure if this was some kind of
prank, I called my brother Adam.
‘You’ll never guess what . . .’
Adam called our uncle and satisfied himself that it was
absolutely genuine.
‘What should we do?’ he asked.
‘I’m going to call the police.’
‘The kidnappers said we mustn’t.’
‘They were talking about the police in Pakistan.’
I called Scotland Yard and was put through to an officer who
had experience of several overseas kidnappings. ‘What should we
do?’ I asked.
‘Honestly? You should pay the ransom.’
This really frightened me. ‘You’re seriously saying that if we
don’t pay the ransom the kidnappers will kill my father?’
‘There is a real chance that will happen. Kidnapping is a
business for some people in Pakistan, and if they don’t carry out
their threats occasionally, then their business will dry up.’
‘What about dealing with police there?’
‘I wouldn’t bother. It’s a politically unstable place and kidnap-
pings are quite common there. There’s a chance they’re involved
somewhere down the line anyway, and if they’re not invol-
ved there’s probably a reason why they don’t want to be involved.
Seriously, if you have the money, I would pay the ransom.’
I couldn’t believe it. The concept was just so alien to me, and I
was quickly realising just how big the cultural divide was between

155