· * ·

There was no news from Syria. Susanne and Kjeld checked their email inbox almost every minute. Susanne even set her mobile phone to beep when an email arrived. On 25 February, eight days after they had sent their ransom offer to the kidnappers, Arthur decided they would follow up. They didn’t receive an answer from the kidnappers until the evening of 3 March. Daniel’s captors maintained their demands for a ransom of €2 million. The tone in the long email was angry.

We also remind you of the millions spent by your country’s newspaper companies to print insults of our beloved messenger and Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of ALLAH be upon him) and the millions more spent by your government to protect these companies and ensure the continuation of their blasphemy. Surely they can pay 2,000,000 Euro for the safety of one of their citizens, or is it that your wretched people value attacking Islam more than they value protecting their citizens? Curse be upon you, this will never be forgotten.

The captors described how easily it could be arranged, referring to Marc, the Spanish hostage whose freedom had been bought, and explaining that he would contact them and bring them a personal greeting and a video appeal from Daniel.

We remind you of our conditions: NO MEDIA + QUICK CASH PAYMENT = his safe return home.

The family hurried to reply that they were doing everything within their power to raise the money and that they looked forward to hearing from Marc. However, Arthur wasn’t making any headway in reaching Marc or the Spanish government to obtain the video and the letter. Arthur feared this might mean they were missing some vital information. He therefore proposed on 8 March that Susanne and Kjeld should write to the captors, explaining that they had desperately been trying to make contact with Marc for five days without success, and to ask if they could possibly have any contact details for the Spaniard.

The email ended: ‘In two days, it is Daniel’s 25th birthday. Will you please tell him that we are all thinking of him on this special day and we are praying that he comes home to us soon.’

On Daniel’s twenty-fifth birthday, 10 March 2014, Susanne, Kjeld and Anita were once again invited to have coffee and cake at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Arthur also attended the meeting.

Kjeld was boiling with anger and had difficulty controlling himself in front of the officials. The captors were still sticking to the €2 million ransom, and the family was far from being able to pay that amount. Kjeld was frustrated that the government wasn’t even willing to at least help pay Arthur’s salary. From Kjeld’s point of view, Arthur’s knowledge of the situation in Syria was a huge benefit to other hostages and countries – and to the Danish government as well. But the family was left to pay for Arthur’s work, Daniel’s insurance having long since been depleted. Kjeld felt that more was being done to take care of Danes who had joined ISIS and were now returning home from the war and receiving social security benefits, than for a young, law-abiding citizen from Hedegård.

The Danish authorities held firm in their refusal to help with any kind of expense. Yet the fact remained that everyone at the meeting at the Foreign Ministry agreed that there was no time to lose. The family decided to throw all their energy into a comprehensive fundraising initiative. The risk that this could turn Daniel’s case into a front-page story in the media was a risk they would have to take.

Anita took two weeks’ leave from her job to coordinate the fundraising, which was initially directed at the large network of schools and associations that Daniel had had contact with during his gymnastics career.

The family was busier than ever.

· * ·

Daniel was finally getting plenty to eat. Once a day, outside the cell, a huge flame was lit, which the hostages named Hellfire. Either a huge bowl of lentil soup was carried in for sharing or they were given some potatoes and bread. Daniel gradually increased his training routine by adding jumping squats, regular and oblique sit-ups, and weightlifting. He used jam jars or plastic buckets filled with water as his weights.

The prisoners were also given books and pamphlets to read. They were all about Islam. One of the books was titled The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab and was published by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Saudi Arabia. Abdul-Wahhab had founded Wahhabism, the fundamentalist sect within Sunni Islam that was embraced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and became the country’s state religion. Followers of Wahhabism are known as Salafis and they believe in the ultra-conservative interpretation of the Koran that inspired ISIS.

Another small pamphlet from the Ministry was about Useful Ways of Leading a Happy Life. They were also given an English version of the Koran with a dark-blue cover and gold-coloured writing. Daniel threw himself into reading and used the texts to expand his English vocabulary. The only thing he had read until then had been the penicillin label.

The hostages gradually fell into a tolerable everyday routine, until the Beatles once again disrupted it with fear. They had just had their food brought in and Steven was dividing the tomatoes between them. Sergei got angry and made a scene, because he thought he was always given the worst and smallest tomatoes. An argument flared up about tomato distribution, which stopped abruptly when one of the Beatles shouted: ‘Where’s the Russian?’

Sergei stood up on the floor of the cell. One of the Frenchmen stepped in to act as interpreter. In broken Russian, he translated the message to Sergei that he was going to be released, because the Russian authorities had paid a staggering ransom. Then the Beatles took Sergei away.

A feeling of emptiness lingered in the cell. There hadn’t been any proof-of-life questions for Sergei, who hadn’t even been able to give an email address for somebody the kidnappers could write to. Everything indicated that the Russian had no family, no one who would miss him, and his fellow prisoners barely knew who he was. Nobody believed for a minute that he was really going to be released.

The next time George entered the cell, he pinched his nose tightly with his fingers and said in a nasal voice, ‘I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?’

The good news was that Marc had been released and was probably at home with his family. The bad news was that he had gone back on his agreement and spoken to the press. This was why, George announced, they had shot Sergei as a punishment for Marc’s sins.

The hostages sat cross-legged, facing the middle of the cell, as the British handed around a laptop.

One by one they were asked to describe what they saw on the screen.

George, John and Ringo stood in the centre of the room. Daniel didn’t dare look above their sand-coloured desert boots.

‘It’s a picture of Sergei,’ said one of the captives.

‘Yes, but what do you see?’

‘He’s dead,’ answered another.

‘Can you see where the bullet has hit him?’

They were forced to explain in minute detail how the bullet had gone through his eye, about the blood in his beard and the wrinkles in his forehead.

George gave them a technical speech about the type of ammunition used: the bullet was a dumdum bullet, which explodes when it hits the victim and thus creates more damage.

‘It gives a much better effect,’ explained George, holding the computer in front of Daniel’s face.

‘Daniel, what do the colours symbolize?’

Daniel looked at the picture of Sergei’s head. It looked like he was lying in some sand.

‘His face has a blueish tinge to it, which shows that he’s cold … and that he’s dead,’ explained Daniel.

George made it very clear that if any of the other released prisoners spoke to the press when they got home, they would shoot or torture one of the remaining prisoners.