Her speedometer was tipping 100 mph, but Helen didn’t relent, aware that the next few minutes could decide the fate of all those trapped inside the vehicle, no doubt terrified and appalled by the ongoing chase.She had to stop the van.Shehad to flush out those responsible for this awful trade.And now, as she continued to roar forward, she realized that help was at hand.She first noticed the high squeal of the siren, then spotted the blue flashing lights in her mirrors.A police car was bearing down fast on the speeding vehicles, clearly intending to intervene in the dangerous chase.Finally, Helen felt herself relax, confident that the van would not escape.At long last, the cavalry had arrived.
But her optimism soon turned to consternation as the pursuing police car pulled up alongside her, the traffic officer in the passenger seat gesturing at her angrily to pull over.Alarmed, Helen shook her head, jabbing a finger at the speeding van ahead.But the officer responded by shakinghishead, directing her towards the hard shoulder.Turning away, Helen ignored them, increasing her speed, but the police were ready with their response, racing ahead to block her off from the front, forcing Helen to brake sharply.
Her first instinct was to ease off her speed, circumvent the car and roar on, but now she clocked another police vehicle coming up fast in her mirrors.Cursing, she changed tack, swinging her bike quickly onto the hard shoulder and coming to an abrupt halt.The police car ahead followed suit and Helen marched swiftly towards it, tugging her helmet off.
‘Easy now, madam …’
The officer in the passenger seat had already emerged and was clearly alarmed by Helen’s determined approach.But his anxiety turned to confusion and surprise as he realized who he’d pulled over.Helen took full advantage of this, bearing down on him.
‘You idiot, you shouldn’t be pulling me over.You should be bringing in that van.’
She gestured angrily in the direction of her quarry, but even as the words left her lips she realized that the speeding vehiclewas no longer in sight.Had it darted off a nearby exit?Or just slipped in front of another vehicle, concealing itself from view?Either way it was with a crushing feeling of disappointment and defeat that Helen turned back to the officer in question who stood before her, awkward and uneasy, his pen poised to fill out a Fixed Penalty Charge.
Chapter 33
Blood continued to stream down her face as she tore along the pavement.Charlie had been left shaken and disoriented by their suspect’s unexpected attack, but there was no question of letting their fugitive escape.Without him they hadnothing.
DC Roberts was just ahead of her, keeping pace with the fleeing docker.Having assaulted Charlie, the suspect had raced out of the warehouse and across the yard, careering out onto the street and tearing away down the residential road, determined to evade arrest.Charlie had no idea yet as to the extent of his criminality, but he was certainly guilty ofsomething, busting a gut to put some distance between himself and the breathless police officers.Despite the intense pain and disorientation, Charlie managed to keep pace with him, angrily wiping away the blood that crawled over her lips and chin.
At the top of the street, the suspect changed direction, turning right and sprinting off down another street.Charlie pulled her radio from her pocket, rasping breathily into it:
‘Car three, come in, please.’
There was a brief silence, then her radio crackled into life:
‘Hearing you loud and clear, over.’
‘Suspect has fled the yard on Jennings Avenue and isnow proceeding on foot down Broughton Road.Position to intercept, over.’
‘Roger that, over.’
Gripping her radio, Charlie charged on.Injured she might be, but she was fit and toned, the recent addition of regular PT sessions finally shifting the last of her baby weight.Though she was a good twenty years older than the man they were pursuing, she was able to keep stride with him.Better still, DC Roberts seemed to begainingon him, just a few yards behind the desperate fugitive.Surely it would not be long now until he was safely in custody.
As if on cue, the familiar blue Renault Megane skidded to a halt at the top of the road, cutting off the man’s escape route.DC Shona Williams gripped the wheel, gunning the engine, but DC McAndrew was already getting out, her baton extended.Alarmed, the fugitive now stopped abruptly, DC Roberts barreling into him from behind, surprised by this unexpected move.As DC McAndrew advanced, there was a brief scuffle, then a cry of pain as the suspect rammed his knee into DC Roberts’ groin.As the agonized officer collapsed, his attacker pivoted and raced back in Charlie’s direction.Slowing her pursuit, she braced herself for his approach, pocketing her radio as she reached for her baton.The assailant was too quick for her, however, and she had only just got her hand on the hilt as he threw himself at her, his shoulder slamming into her cheek.Once more, Charlie felt herself flying backwards, her head hitting the concrete hard.The suspect managed to stay on his feet, continuing on past her.Stricken, Charlie staggered back up, with the help of a convenient wing mirror.Shooting a backward glance, she was stunned to see DC Shona Williams’ Renault reversing away.
‘What the hell are you doing?He’s going that way …’
As she turned to gesture frantically in the direction of theman, she immediately spotted the problem.A rubbish truck was coming up the street, effectively blocking the way ahead for DC Williams.The young DC had done the right thing, reversing quickly and then changing course to try and cut the fugitive off some other way.She would need other officers on hand, however, as the suspect would clearly stop at nothing to escape, so Charlie half staggered, half ran up the road, pursuing the fugitive as best she could.Even now, he cast a concerned look over his shoulder, clearly annoyed that the pursuing officers would not give up.Perhaps if they stuck at it, if luck was on their side, they could still bring him in.
Her vision was blurred, the pavement seeming to rise up in front of her, but Charlie powered on, using every ounce of her determination and energy to keep going.Her feet hammered the pavement, her footsteps echoing round the quiet street.This seemed to alarm the man ahead, who raised his speed once more, pumping his arms violently as he sprinted forwards.He was close to the end of the street and Charlie wondered what trick, what tactics, he would adopt now.His mind must be working overtime, feverishly assessing his options, as he continued his desperate bid to escape.
Hitting the junction, he didn’t hesitate, lurching left back down Jennings Avenue.Charlie was half-amused to see him slide over the bonnet of a parked car into the road to speed up his headlong escape, like some action hero in a Hollywood movie, but seconds later her good humour evaporated.To her horror, Charlie heard the anguished squeal of brakes and then the unmistakable thud of a collision.Shocked, she raced forwards, crying out as she spotted their suspect lying face down in the road, blood already seeping from a nasty head wound.Nearby a car idled, stopped dead in its tracks by the accident, but Charlie ignored it, rushing over to the injured man instead.Immediately,her stomach lurched, her heart in her mouth.Their suspect was unconscious, a crimson pool of blood already forming a halo round his head.
Desperate, Charlie punched the call button on her radio.
‘This is DI Brooks, requesting urgent assistance.We need an ambulance ASAP and …’
But as she looked up, the words died in her mouth.There was no point calling for her colleagues because they were already here, DC Williams gripping the steering wheel of the offending car, her face a picture of abject horror.
Chapter 34
They cowered in the gloom, disoriented and fearful.Ever since they had been herded back into the battered van, the unnerved workers had been utterly in the dark, confused as to why the driver was going so fast, why they were being thrown around so violently.It made no sense to them – they’d undertaken this journey numerous times and it was usually as uneventful as it was soul-crushing.So why was their minder driving like a madman today?Viyan thought she knew the answer, but kept her counsel, not wishing to provoke the anger of her fellow passengers.What she’d done had been reckless, foolhardy, and might yet rebound on her badly.But she didn’t regret it, she knew that she might never get a better chance to liberate herself and was glad she’d seized the opportunity.Indeed, at one point, her hopes had soared as she thought she made out the faint sound of police sirens in the distance, but then that sweet sound had receded and with it, Viyan’s chance of freedom.
Had the woman given chase?Pursued them somehow?She’d been wearing biking leathers in the money transfer shop and could easily have kept pace with the rusty van if she’d managed to get to her bike.For Viyan, this could be the only explanation for their captors’ desperate, erratic driving.Though the others moaned and wailed as they were thrown from side to side likegalley slaves on a raging sea, Viyan loved it, praying for things to get worse still.If the van crashed, then surely they would be found, rescued, liberated?Obviously such an outcome would be risky, with injuries, even death, a possibility, but were they not slowly dying anyway?
To Viyan’s dismay, however, after the sound of the sirens faded, their journey resumed in a more sedate manner.She was still not sure where they were, their route unfamiliar, the turns unexpected, the sound of the road underneath strange and confusing.As the minutes passed, however, she realized that they were once more tracing a well-trodden route, leaving the roaring traffic and blaring horns behind to head out into the countryside.Before long they were bumping along rough dirt tracks and shortly afterwards she heard the driver calling out to one of his fellow minders, ordering him curtly to open the main gates as he dropped his speed to a crawl.
Viyan’s heart was in her boots, her hopes crushed.Had they simply lost their pursuer?Or had something bad happened to her?Hadshecrashed?Viyan prayed silently for her deliverance, prayed that the woman’s resolve would remain, perhaps even strengthen.Whatever suspicions the mysterious woman in the money exchange entertained have only have been strengthened by the pursuit.Had she noted the registration plate of the van?Viyan desperately hoped she had, as a hastily scribbled two-word note would hardly count as evidence.Please God she wouldn’t abandon her quest now – in Viyan’s mind this benevolent stranger was her only hope.
