Simpson kept his foot to the floor and overtook two cars before darting back into his lane, just before colliding with an oncoming white van. Simpson could see in his mirror that the BMW had not immediately followed but did so once the van was past.

Simpson was worried by the traffic coming to a halt up ahead for the red lights. He didn’t want to come to a stop and give the girl a chance to escape. He pulled out to overtake the queuing cars and let out a small prayer nothing would come towards him as he threw the car around the front of the queue in a left turn. The BMW was still right behind him. He could also hear multiple police sirens in the distance, which seemed to be coming from all directions. He knew he had to ditch the car and quickly.

Tom had almost lost control when he followed Simpson through the red lights and turned sharply left in front of the queuing traffic. His rear wheels spinning on a patch of ice. He had followed close behind Simpson without really thinking further ahead. He now realized he couldn’t do anything while Simpson had Melanie hostage.

He certainly couldn’t ram the Audi which had been one of his first thoughts. In fact he was worried that just by following so close behind, he could be putting her life in greater danger. On the other hand though, he couldn’t just do nothing so instead of chasing the car, he settled back to following it at a safer distance.

He suddenly remembered he had Miller’s mobile number in his phone and called him. He smiled at the thought he was breaking the law by driving and phoning.

Miller answered immediately. “Where the hell are you?” he asked.

“Following the Audi down …” Tom didn’t know where he was and tried to read the names of the side streets. “Just passed Midas Street on my left. Where the hell are the reinforcements?”

“On their way. I’m just five minutes behind you. Keep this line open and give me a commentary of your whereabouts. And don’t do anything foolish!”

Tom was driving well over the speed limit in a heavily built up area, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand holding the phone to his ear. He thought that in normal circumstances that would count as pretty foolish. He was glad he was used to driving BMWs.

Simpson knew he could do nothing to shake the BMW from his tail. He had to get out the car before backup arrived and trapped him. At the moment there was just that damn Ashdown behind him. There was only one thing to do. He braked fast and then as he skidded to a halt he leaned across Melanie to open the passenger door. He pushed her out the car before she knew what he was doing.

He accelerated away before she had even hit the pavement. Looking in his rear view mirror, he was pleased to see his dumping Melanie had had the desired effect and the BMW had pulled into the kerb, to no doubt check on her welfare.

He drove a further half a mile then dumped the car at the side of the road on double yellow lines, next to the entrance to the tube station. He threw open the door and once again belied his size with the speed he moved. He cast an anxious glance back down the road but there was no sign of any approaching police cars, only the sound of sirens. He didn’t like leaving such an obvious pointer to where he was headed but felt he had little choice.

He hurried down the steps hoping that a train would be along very shortly. He swiped his oyster card and joined the platform heading north. If the platform was suddenly swamped with police, he was trapped and stood willing a train to arrive. The platform quickly filled with a mixture of people, a number of them carrying shopping bags. Others were dressed for a night out on the town, which didn’t surprise him as the tube headed very much into the centre of the London night life scene.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief when after waiting what seemed an eternity but was less than five minutes, a train finally arrived. He had never been so happy to see the doors on the carriage close and the train pulled away into the tunnel.

Tom saw the Audi slow and Melanie deposited on the pavement. He braked so fast the car behind hooted vigorously and only just missed crashing into his rear. Tom was out the car in a flash and reached Melanie just as she regained her feet. He was thankful she looked dazed but unharmed.

“Are you ok?” he asked, reaching out to support her.

“Fine,” was the response as Melanie ran her hands through her hair, trying to improve her rather dishevelled appearance. “We need to get that son of a bitch!”

They both turned at the sound of the approaching police siren. The car pulled in to the side and Miller shouted through the open window, “Are you both all right?”

“We’re okay,” Tom replied. “Simpson is a couple of minutes ahead of you.”

Miller turned back to his driver and the car pulled away at speed with its back wheels struggling for grip.

“Come on,” Melanie said, hurrying to Tom’s car. “You can drive.”

“Where are we going?” Tom asked confused.

Melanie smiled. “Don’t you want to know if they catch him?”

Once seated beside Melanie he gave her a questioning look. “You sure about this?”

“We’re wasting time,” was her response.

Tom knew it wasn’t the sensible course of action but it didn’t stop him pushing the accelerator hard to the floor and speeding away in the same direction as Miller had gone.

They had only driven a short distance when they spotted both the police car and Simpson’s white Audi at the side of the road. Tom pulled over and as they emerged from the car, they

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