Ultimatum

Seventy-seven

21.34

Tina saw the whole thing.

Having radioed Control to call for urgent assistance, she’d reloaded the Glock and was walking along the side of the road towards the front of the convoy, holding it in both hands as she tried to locate Fox and his rescuers, when a black BMW saloon lurched out of the woods twenty yards in front of her in a screech of tyres and accelerated away in the opposite direction.

She’d known straight away that Fox was in the car and that she was too late to stop him. Even so, she’d assumed a firing position, aiming at the rear windscreen, when from somewhere to the left of the burning armed response vehicle she heard an intense burst of automatic gunfire that sent her diving to the ground.

When she looked up, the BMW had left the road and was heading straight for a tree. It struck it with a loud bang, and she could see the airbags deploying inside. The engine stalled, and an eerie silence descended on the woods.

Tina was on her feet in a second. Through the smoke and flames, she saw one of the armed officers emerge from behind the lead car and advance on the BMW, holding his MP5 in front of him. He looked shocked but unhurt.

Tina shouted over to him, and he turned round, recognizing her instantly.

‘I’ve called for help, but for the moment we’re on our own,’ she told him as they walked slowly towards the BMW, weapons at the ready, keeping a few feet apart so they wouldn’t make such an easy target.

‘Jesus,’ he said, and she noticed that he was very young, mid-twenties at most. ‘Is everyone else down?’

‘I think so. Look, I know this is going to be hard, but we’ve got to try to take Fox alive. He has information we need.’

‘If he tries a damn thing, I’m going to take his head off,’ said the cop, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead. ‘He’s just killed some very good friends of mine.’

Fifteen yards ahead of them, the BMW’s front doors slowly opened, and Tina’s finger tensed on the trigger. She had no idea how many gunmen were in there, or what they were armed with, but she knew they weren’t going to come quietly. The adrenalin was making her hands shake, and she had to fight to stay calm as they continued to advance on the car, step by slow step.

The first sirens cut across the night sky, still some distance away.

Nothing moved inside the car.

Tina and the cop exchanged glances, stopping five yards short of the vehicle.

‘Stay calm,’ she told him. ‘We can stay like this until help gets here. It’s not far away.’

Before the cop could answer, there was movement from inside and two men slowly rolled out of the car, one from either front door.

‘Get your hands where I can see them!’ yelled the cop, who was covering Fox.

Tina was covering the man who’d rolled out the driver’s-side door. He was now lying on his side facing her, one of his arms squashed beneath him. He was dressed entirely in black, with black face paint covering his features, and even from some distance away she could see that his eyes were cold and alert. She didn’t like the fact that she couldn’t see the hand that was squashed beneath him, and she shouted at him to bring it out from under his body, working hard to keep the tension out of her voice.

He didn’t move. Just stared at her with those cold eyes.

‘Do it!’ she snarled, aiming the Glock directly at his chest.

The sirens were getting closer now.

The man smiled at her.

And then, in one whip-like movement, he brought the gloved hand up from beneath his body, already pulling the trigger.

Tina fired back twice, hitting him in the chest, leaping out of the way at the same time as his bullets whipped past her, conscious of the sounds of automatic weapon fire and shouting coming from the other side of the car.

As she hit the ground, landing on one shoulder, the man was already bringing his gun round to fire again, the two bullet holes in his chest smoking from where they’d struck his body armour. There was no fear on his face, simply a look of contempt, as if she was little more than a fly to be swatted away.

Tina cracked off a third shot, more in desperation than anything else, hardly having time to aim it at her target.

And struck lucky.

The bullet hit him in the neck, knocking his gun hand off balance so that when he pulled the trigger, his own bullet passed over her head.

A look of surprise crossed his face, as if he hadn’t been expecting that, but he was up on his knees now, still holding on to his gun, and Tina wasn’t taking any chances. She fired again.

This time the bullet struck him in the forehead. He wobbled for a moment, and the look of surprise on his face seemed to melt away beneath the blood running down it, and then, without a sound, he tumbled sideways on to the tarmac, and stopped moving.

Tina was on her feet in an instant, which was when she saw the cop rolling on the ground and clutching his shoulder, his MP5 beside him. Ten yards beyond him, Fox was running into the trees, holding a pistol, but she could see by the stiff, awkward way he held his upper body that he too had been hit.

Shaking with tension, she raised the gun and aimed at Fox’s running figure, knowing it was completely illegal to shoot a suspect who was running away, and knowing too that if she killed him, the secrets he claimed to know would stay hidden for ever. But he was already disappearing into the undergrowth, and she knew she’d never hit him from where she was.

And then she heard it. The sound of an approaching helicopter, coming in fast. Fox couldn’t escape now. He was trapped.

Even so, the adrenalin was tearing through her at such a rate that she couldn’t even think about not pursuing him.

Shouting to the injured cop that help was on the way, she took off after Fox.

Fox ran fast, ignoring the pain in his arm from the gunshot wound and the nausea that was trying to envelop him. He wasn’t the type of man to give up, even though it was now clear his plan had failed. It had always been hugely risky, but he’d come so close that it hurt to fall at this, the final hurdle.

The sirens were coming from all directions, but it wasn’t them that concerned him. It was the sound of the helicopter coming in fast somewhere ahead of him. Soon it would pick up his body heat and track him until he was finally cornered.

There was no way he was going back inside. How could he? There’d never be another opportunity like this one to escape their clutches. They’d throw away the key this time, and never move him outside the prison walls again. He couldn’t have that.

He wouldn’t.

But things weren’t quite finished yet. Fox was nothing if not resourceful, and there was one last chance to snatch success from this situation. It was slim in the extreme, but what choice did he have?

He slowed down, hearing the sound of footfalls in the trees behind him.

It was time for one final throw of the dice.