“Yeah I never switch it on.”
“No, most people don’t, everyone tends to think they’re safer than they are, always complacent about their safety and then sometimes the worst happens and they’re not ready, silly really.” Cobb said and closed the door behind him.
Ellie and Tony were greeted with sniffing disdain at reception in the beautiful opulence of Claridge’s entrance foyer. The revolving door led into the grand reception, floor in polished black and white checks, gilt and glass everywhere and imposing square pillars supporting an ornate and powerful place.
The receptionist was unhappy at first at the thought of divulging information about guests and unimpressed by any official badge, but was ultimately moved to action by Cobb’s photo thrust under her nose.
‘Yes she did recognise the man, he had a suite and were they sure this man was a wanted killer?’
The answer shocked her. A copy of The Daily Express and Cobb’s picture, amongst the others, inside, page four, yielded a sharp gasp. There was an even greater gasp from the attractive girl and her bright face blanched as she looked behind them. Both of them turned reaching for their Sig 220’s knowing what it meant.
Cobb was crossing the foyer when looking to reception he looked at the girl and saw the fear in her eyes; the man and the woman there on his side of the desk reached into their jackets. Cobb shouldered the nylon bag reached into his waist band, pulled the pistol out and started to run, pointing the weapon behind him spending his last four rounds in a self cover escape blast. It worked.
Tony, Ellie and the receptionist threw themselves for cover as the PSS spat the rounds in their direction, glass shattered on a huge gilt edged mirror and wood splinters flew up from the frame of a free standing screen. One round chipped the plaster on a square column as it ricocheted into a beautiful art deco lamp on a table above Ellie’s head, dropping bulb glass into her hair.
When they looked up Cobb was just on the other side of the ornate revolving door. Unhesitating in spite of the door’s expense and beauty Tony, up on one knee, took careful aim and slammed three close grouped shots at the shadow of Cobb’s departing head as the door turned on its pivot. The glass in the door was toughened safety glass and the shots made a three centre spider web and did no more.
Ellie and Tony were on their feet and running, but as Ellie went to thrust herself full force into the segment and push her way out Tony, running just behind, encircled her with his arms and pulled her to the ground, slamming her right shoulder which made her squeeze the trigger. A spider web appeared a foot off the ground in the glass panel of the revolving door dead opposite their position. Then the door began to disintegrate under a close quarter barrage of sub machine gun rounds. The wood splintered and glass flew in all directions, into the foyer, onto the check floor and over the two prone DIC officers sheltering with arms over heads from the onslaught.
Cobb had simply got through the door, thrown away the PSS pistol and ripped the MP5 from the Nylon bag. It was cocked and ready to go and he simply clicked it from safe to automatic and in less than a second, knowing they’d pursue him out the door, turned and fired, he saw them fall to the right, saw the round hit the glass as they fell just as he opened up. He couldn’t be sure if he’d killed them or not, but he pocketed one of the other magazines, unclipped the spent one and locked the third into the MP5, set it to single shot and ran off down Brook Street towards Grovesnor Square.
Tony rolled across the floor ignoring the glass and lay on the floor dead centre of the shattered doorway, pointing his Sig at where the gunman had been, seeing nothing he got up, motioned Ellie to take the left and taking the right, stepping through the now empty revolving door frames they emerged onto the street, sweeping the clock with their Sig barrels.
“There he goes, down Brook Street. You take the left pavement I’ll take the right.” She was off running and Tony ran across to the left side of the road and began chasing.
It was early, but there were a few cars on Brook Street and being one way they were all heading towards the chase. Cobb was running down the middle of the road, dodging to the sides of traffic, sparse as it was, coming towards him. In his mind’s eye he looked at a map and knew that Hyde Park was at the bottom and Hyde Park Corner tube was on the other side of Park Lane, to the left.
There was a sharp bang and a round buzzed past him, whirring like an insect. He stopped a taxi, pointing the MP5 at the windscreen, ready to take a hostage, but Ellie saw it coming and had stopped, shouting to three pedestrians coming her way to hit the floor, which seeing her pistol they did. She stood in duellist stance and as Cobb made for the taxi door, without shouting a warning she sent off a round which sliced through his left ear and ricocheted off the taxi coach work. Cobb dropped turned, stung, but not stunned and set the Heckler Koch to automatic and loosed of a burst in the direction of the shot. Ellie made it to the shelter of a BMW, parked on her side of the road, which was then peppered with glinting, hot fizzing holes. The taxi accelerated and Cobb was briefly exposed for Tony, on the other side of the road, sheltering behind a parked car, to take a shot. The round missed Cobb by a millimetre and shattered the window on a parked Mini Cooper.
The MP5 in one hand, Cobb emptied the magazine in Tony’s direction and took off running. With cars swerving to avoid him Cobb kept running, knowing that if he stopped a car he’d risk being shot. He increased his pace heading for the park, trees, bushes, cover and his only chance of escape.
His MP5 clip was empty and he had one magazine left in his pocket. He was running and close to being out of time.
When he got to Park Lane Cobb ran across not looking and was lucky in that cars were too far away to hit him. He was across into Hyde Park and disappointed to find himself running across open ground along a long diagonal path, one of many criss-crossing that area. He saw that he was heading for the corner of the serpentine and Hyde Park Corner.
With a flat path beneath him and a steady pace, he unclipped the spent magazine and loaded the last one in. As it was open ground he knew that if he stopped rolled and turned he could open up on his pursuers.
Not daring to fully look behind in case he tripped he slowed, dived onto the grass, did a rolling turn and faced back up the path. There was no-one there. Cobb jumped up and looked around full circle. A jogger and a dog walker caught his eye briefly, but otherwise his pursuers were gone.
Watching Cobb crossing Park Lane Tony stopped Ellie following, got out his phone and breathlessly called in. DIC centre called for police helicopter surveillance and the nearest was a minute away. The instructions to the helicopter were to observe from as high up as possible.
“What now, you just going to let them take over?” Ellie was panting and angry.
“No, he won’t get away, we can shadow him from the line of trees along Park Lane, anyway, you’d have got shot on open ground and he’ll be heading for Hyde Park Corner tube stop I’ll bet.”
Ellie smiled. “Clever man, come on let’s go.
They sprinted for all they were worth, looking right as they ran, catching glimpses of Cobb in silhouette the shadowy gun giving him away. Cobb took the first diagonal to Speaker’s Corner and as he did so began thinking of how to get on the tube with a sub machine gun. He knew he’d have to wrap it in his coat and carry it. As he got to the exit he slowed and took off his coat wrapping the weapon. The helicopter was just arriving and couldn’t see him. Armed response teams were at every exit of the park and teams were entering, all looking for an armed man.
Tony and Ellie had got to the Hyde Park Corner exit and stood either side of it. An armed response team screeched to halt as Cobb emerged. As the policemen got out of the car, Cobb desperately unwrapped the MP5 from his coat bundle, but Ellie and Tony fired.
The first shot from Ellie hit Cobb in the heart, then Tony’s shot hit him in the same place and then their next two each grouped around the centre of his chest. Cobb pitched forward dropping the coat and Tony and Ellie moved in weapons to the fore.
Cobb was spitting blood and rasping, eyes wild as he drowned in his own blood, which filled his punctured lungs. Blood leaked from his wounds staining the dusty ground. Tony and Ellie knelt down next to him holstering their weapons. Behind them armed police alerted to their presence joined the death scene.
Tony looked into the fear wide eyes. “You’re going to die now Cobb and then you’re going to fry in hell for the people you killed you murdering son of a bitch.”
“We’d better call an ambulance!” An armed office had squatted down by Tony and added, “That’s a callous thing to say to a dying man mate.”
“You know the guy who shot those cops at Gatwick, murdered those guys in Liverpool?”
“This him?”
“Yeah and that’s a police MP5 over there right?” Tony asked. “You call an ambulance when this bastard stops
