How Daniel was going to fly from Turkey to Denmark was also a subject of discussion. Since no one knew what state he would be in, Arthur suggested that it would be better if Daniel didn’t have to fly commercially, such as on Turkish Airlines. The Danish Air Force had an aircraft available which Peter Bartram, the Danish Chief of Defence, thought could do the job. If Daniel was in a poor physical or mental condition, he wouldn’t have to wait for weeks to come home to Denmark.

In addition, a doctor and an operative from the intelligence services would be part of the team in Turkey. Since a criminal offence had been committed against a Danish citizen, PET’s responsibility was to ensure that the procedures were followed and all the evidence was collected if there was a possibility of filing a case.

Arthur prepared himself for what he both hoped and feared was just around the corner: the money transfer to ISIS that would set Daniel free.

· * ·

The Beatles dished out thirty more dead legs. Daniel no longer screamed in silence. He resisted for the first time.

‘If you don’t stop, you’ll ruin my legs!’ he shouted, beside himself with pain.

It worked, but not as intended, as the Beatles then began beating up one of his fellow prisoners instead. He waited apprehensively for a proof-of-life question, but none came. Meanwhile, he talked with James about taking a letter out to his family in New Hampshire if Daniel was released. Perhaps it would be James’s last chance to communicate with them.

‘I don’t know if I’m strong enough to do it,’ said Daniel, looking at James’s three-page handwritten letter. He was frightened of carrying a physical letter from an American whom the Beatles were denying any channel of communication. He and James talked about whether Daniel should stick the letter up his rear end, or if it would be OK just to hide it in his underpants. They had no idea what would happen to Daniel when he left the cell. Perhaps he would be body-searched.

‘You shouldn’t take the risk,’ said James.

They decided that the safest method was for Daniel to learn the letter by heart. They sat next to each other, cross-legged with their backs against the wall. When Daniel read the first line, he ground to a halt. James’s i’s looked like z’s and his handwriting was almost illegible. James took the letter and read out one line at a time, which Daniel repeated. He also asked detailed questions about James’s family in order to remember the words better. James talked about his cycling trip with his mother and the shopping centre he visited with his father; about his sister, who was going to get married; and he repeated the names of his brothers, Michael, John and Mark, whom he missed every single day.

James started talking about the lack of any negotiations. He wanted Daniel to say to his family that he believed his captors had another plan for the British and American hostages, and that he had written this letter as a last farewell, because he was afraid that he would never come home.

‘Don’t ask me to deliver your own death certificate,’ pleaded Daniel and asked for more specific greetings to the family.

They reviewed the letter over and over again, until Daniel knew it by heart, so that they could finally tear it up and eat it.

In the following days, Daniel memorized the words and would sometimes ask, ‘Repeat that sentence again.’

James sent greetings to his brothers, his sister Katie, his mother Diane and father John and his maternal grandmother. Daniel promised that he would call them and pass on James’s message as soon as he was free.

· * ·

The tenth of June was a day of relief. When Susanne and Kjeld pressed ‘send’ on their email to ISIS, it carried a message that the ransom had arrived in Turkey. They also sent an apple-green question to Daniel.

Who bought his old car?

‘Susanne and I guarantee that we will keep our part of the agreement. It is extremely important that nothing goes wrong at the last moment. We hope to hear from you soon.’

After an hour and fifty-five minutes, the answer was in their inbox.

We are pleased to hear that you have our CASH ready.

For once, there were fewer capital letters, but before the kidnappers would give proof of life, the family had to confirm that the money was in €500 banknotes and that they had included the daily penalties.

This confirmation MUST be within 24 hours. Also you MUST be ready to follow any instructions given IMMEDIATELY.

Susanne and Kjeld confirmed straight away. Arthur was waiting in Turkey, ready to hand over the €2,040,000 as soon as they had a proof of life from Daniel and instructions on where and how to deliver the money.

The payment of the ransom took place at a critical moment. On the same day, ISIS launched an offensive in Iraq that could have put Daniel’s life in danger if he remained in captivity. Thousands were fleeing Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, with whatever they could carry, while clouds of smoke rose into the air over the metropolis and the nearby military camps. ISIS fighters quickly seized control. The Iraqi security forces, who had been trained in the 2000s by the United States and Denmark, among others, fled from their positions faster than the civilians. Widespread corruption and lack of loyalty in the Iraqi army led to the soldiers discarding their uniforms as soon as they sensed an attack was on its way.

‘The city fell like a plane without engines,’ a businessman from Mosul told the Guardian.

It was no coincidence that Mosul fell to ISIS so easily. After the American invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi army had been dissolved; an action that stripped away the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Moreover, the Americans introduced a policy of ‘de-Ba’athification’, the purpose of which was to remove the influence of Saddam’s Ba’ath Party on any new political system. This meant that all civil servants affiliated with the Ba’ath Party were banned from future employment in the public sector. In short, many Iraqis were excluded from participating in building the new Iraq. This strategy contributed to an uprising among Sunni Muslims, whose role in Iraq had diminished due to their affiliation with Saddam’s Ba’ath Party.

After US forces withdrew from Iraq in late 2011, the now heavily Shiite-dominated government further excluded the country’s Sunni Muslims. Despite what President Barack Obama proclaimed, it wasn’t a ‘sovereign, stable and independent Iraq with a representative government’ when the Americans left, but a cauldron of sectarian tension and a corrupt power apparatus.

ISIS was born in the shadow of the western invasion, nurtured in the chaos of the Syrian Civil War and matured into a fully fledged army and political presence in Iraq when its warriors captured Mosul, where many Sunnis welcomed them as an alternative to the Shiite government in Baghdad.

ISIS looted hundreds of millions of dollars from the city’s banks and took over military equipment that had been given to the Iraqi army by the Americans. Within a few days ISIS troops were driving around in American Humvees in their capital of Raqqa. They had successfully abolished the borders between Iraq and Syria with their self-proclaimed caliphate.

It was only a matter of time before the United States would return to Iraq with bombs.

· * ·

On 11 June the Beatles pounded heavily on the wooden door and the hostages turned towards the wall. The British guards went round, hammering their fists into the hostages’ ribs, before George stopped at Daniel. While holding his nose, he asked, ‘Are you the Danish boy?’

‘Yes, I am.’

‘We have a question for you,’ continued George.

Daniel tensed. He was about to know for certain whether he was on his way home.

‘Who bought your old car?’