other sound.
Wilt sat down and wondered what the hell was going to happen next.
Chapter 12
Much the same question was occupying Superintendent Misterson's mind.
'What's the hell's going on?' he demanded of the dishevelled Major who arrived with Professor Ball and the two pseudo-surveyors at the corner of Willington Road and Farringdon Avenue. 'I thought I told you nothing must be done until the children were safely out of the house.'
'Don't look at me,' said the Major. 'This old fool had to poke his fucking nose in.'
He fingered the back of his neck and eyed the Professor with loathing.
'And who might you be?' Professor Ball asked the Superintendent.
'A police officer.'
'Then kindly do your duty and arrest these bandits. Come down the road with a damned theodolite and handbags filled with guns and tell me they're from the Roads Department and indulge in gun battles...'
'Anti-Terrorist Squad, sir,' said the Superintendent and showed him his pass. Professor Ball regarded it bleakly.
'A likely story. First I'm assaulted by...'
'Oh, get the old bugger out of here,' snarled the Major. 'If he hadn't interfered we'd have '
'Interfered? Interfered indeed! I was exercising my right to make a citizen's arrest of these imposters when they start shooting into a perfectly ordinary house across the street and...' Two uniformed constables arrived to escort the Professor, still protesting angrily, to a waiting police car.
'You heard the damned man,' said the Major in response to the Superintendent's reiterated request for someone to please tell him what the hell had gone wrong. 'We were waiting for the children to come out when he arrives on the scene and blows the gaff. That's what happened. The next thing you know the sods were firing from the house, and by the sound of it using some damnably powerful weapons.'
'Right, so what you are saying is that the children are still in the house, Mr Wilt is still there, and so are a number of terrorists. Is that correct?'
'Yes,' said the Major.
'And all this in spite of your guarantee that you wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the lives of innocent civilians?'
'I didn't do a damned thing. I happened to be lying in the gutter when the balloon went up. And if you expect my men to sit quietly and let themselves be shot at by thugs using automatic weapons you're asking too much of human nature.'
'I suppose so,' the Superintendent conceded. 'Oh well, we'll just have to go into the usual siege routine. Any idea how many terrorists were in there?'
'Too bloody many for my liking,' said the Major looking to his men for confirmation.
'One of them was firing through the roof, sir,' said one of the privates. 'A burst of fire came through the tiles right at the beginning.'
'And I wouldn't say they were short of ammo. Not the way they were loosing off.'
'All right. First thing is to evacuate the street,' said the Superintendent. 'Don't want any more people involved than we can help.'
'Sounds as if someone else is already involved,' said the Major as the muffled burst of Wilt's second experiment with the machine gun echoed from Number 9. 'What the hell are they doing firing inside the house?'
'Probably started on the hostages,' said the Superintendent gloomily.
