Chutzpah

The response, supposedly from Terry, was enough on its own to convince Tony. It didn’t make him happy though that the kidnappers had raised the ransom by £50,000.

The whole message was sheer chutzpah on the part of Paolo, who had realised he would need a kind of diversionary tactic to get him off the hook for not being able to showcase the living Terry. Upping the ante was inspired, particularly as it raised the stakes quickly, which would be important if he planned to persuade Tony to pay up tonight.

But Tony wasn’t quite ready to concede, not yet.