Knife Edge

6.19 P.M.

Calloway put down the phone, waited a second then pressed the receiver to his ear and pressed 'Redial'.

Julie Neville watched anxiously as the DI waited for an answer, fingers drumming slowly on the desktop.

'No answer,' he said quietly.

'What the hell is Doyle playing at?' Mason snapped.

'It's ringing. He's just not answering it,' the DI elaborated.

Julie got to her feet.

'Can't you find out where he is?' she demanded.

'Not unless he contacts us,' Calloway said.

'What if Bob's already killed him, taken my daughter?' she said, panic in her voice.

'Doyle knows what he's doing,' the DI said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

The mobile continued to ring.

Doyle heard the phone.

Or at least he was aware of it, jammed into the back pocket of his jeans. The roar of the Kawasaki's engine relegated it to little more than a burble on the periphery of his hearing.

They were heading up Tottenham Court Road now.

Minutes away.

He glanced down at his watch.

The lights ahead were on red.

He pulled up alongside a Range Rover, the driver glancing at him then at Lisa, still perched precariously on the back of the powerful machine, her hands laced into Doyle's belt.

'Are you all right?' Doyle asked her, glancing back over his shoulder.

She could only nod, her face drained of colour.

The lights changed to green and Doyle sped off, swinging right into Bayley Street and then again into Bedford Square, easing off the throttle, eyes scanning the square for the phones Neville had spoken of.

There was a large, white building directly opposite him, much of its frontage formed from tinted glass. It also bore a huge clock.

Doyle looked up at the hands crawling round.

The phones were in front of this building.

He sped across the cobbled square, narrowly avoiding two men who were crossing in front of him.

One of them shouted something which he didn't catch.

Doyle hit the brakes, bringing one foot down to further slow the Kawasaki.

A woman in her early twenties was emerging from the glass-fronted building, a man a little older beside her. They were chatting animatedly, the woman laughing loudly.

She was the first to hear the phone ring.

Doyle saw her look towards it, saw her say something to her companion.

Saw her begin walking towards it.

'Oh shit,' he muttered, lifting Lisa clear of the bike, his eyes on the woman.

The phone had rung twice already.

'Leave it,' he roared at her.

She looked at him, as did her companion, but both offered only dismissive glances.

Doyle ran towards the phone as it rang for the third time.

'Get away from it,' he bellowed at the woman who now seemed intent on picking it up.

Her companion, a tall, thin man in a linen suit, his hair slicked back into a pony tail, stepped forward as if to frighten Doyle off.

The counter terrorist barged the woman aside and picked up the phone just before it could ring for the fifth time.

'Doyle,' he gasped into it.

'I'm impressed,' Neville told him.

'Hey,' said the tall man in the linen suit. 'What do you think you're playing at?'

Doyle felt a hand on his shoulder.

'I'm talking to you,' the tall man insisted.

'What's going on?' Neville demanded.

'You could have hurt her,' the tall man said, his hand still on Doyle's shoulder.

'Hang on,' Doyle said into the phone.

He pulled the Beretta from its holster and jammed the barrel against the tip of the tall man's nose.

'I'll hurt you if you don't take your fucking hand off my shoulder,' Doyle snarled, thumbing back the hammer.

The colour drained from the man's face until his flesh was the same colour as his cream jacket.

Doyle heard a low rumbling sound as the tall man's bowels loosened.

'Fuck off, you ponce,' Doyle snarled, the gun still aimed at the man's head.

'Oh my God,' the woman stammered, backing away, tripping on the kerb.

'Go on, move it. Get away from here,' Doyle continued.

The man was frozen to the spot. It was as if every muscle in his body had locked. Apart from his sphincter which seemed to be working quite freely.

'What's happening?' Neville persisted. 'If you're trying to set me up I'll-'

'Some stupid bitch was going to answer the phone,' Doyle told him. 'Her boyfriend decided to be a fucking hero.'

'You'd better not be fucking me about, Doyle.'

'I made it, didn't I? Just talk.'

Doyle looked round and saw that the man and the woman had fled back inside the glass-fronted building.

He eased the trigger forward and reholstered the automatic.

'Is Lisa still with you?' Neville demanded.

Doyle beckoned her over, handing her the phone.

'Are you all right, darling?' Neville asked her. 'Is the man looking after you?'

'Yes, Dad,' she said. 'I didn't like the motorbike though. I thought I was going to fall off.'

Doyle rolled his eyes irritably.

'I'll see you soon, sweetheart,' Neville told her. 'Give the phone back to the other man.'

Lisa did as she was told.

'What fucking motorbike, Doyle?' Neville hissed. 'I told you only public transport.'

'You never said that,' Doyle reminded him. 'Besides, how else was I going to get here on time? Or didn't you want me to? Looking forward to letting off another bomb, are you?'

'Get rid of the bike. Understand? You use public transport or you fucking walk, that's one of the rules. You put my daughter's life in danger, you bastard.'

'Just give me the next set of instructions,' Doyle demanded angrily.

Silence.

'Neville. Are you listening?' Doyle snapped. He thought he could hear chuckling on the other end of the line.

'I knew I picked the right bloke,' said Neville finally.

Doyle's knuckles turned white as his grip tightened.

'Phone box in Cambridge Circus,' Neville instructed. 'It's a straight run, Doyle. You've got ten minutes.'