Chapter 30
The Astra wasn’t equipped with a Force Main-Set radio, so Tyler had to dial 999 and go through the emergency operator to call for help, which seemed to take an infuriatingly long time. Eventually, he found himself speaking to someone at Information Room, who put the request out over the working channel and got the ball rolling. While Jack provided a commentary that was relayed to the responding units by the very efficient woman he was now talking to, Dillon did his best to keep the red Rover 216 in sight without showing out.
“Can you believe this?” Dillon blurted out as they drove along Barking Road. “I really thought we’d blown our chances of ever finding them again.”
Jack couldn’t answer; he was too busy providing updates. “Yes, I’m certain it can only be stopped by Trojan units,” he was telling the IR operator.
The Rover pulled up outside a little parade of shops and a hooded figure jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran into a fast food outlet selling fried chicken.
“That must be Rodent,” Dillon said, pulling into a gap a few car lengths back. “How long till the Trojan units get here, Jack?”
“There are two of them running from Limehouse,” Jack informed him. “ETA three minutes.”
Dillon considered this. “With a bit of luck, they should arrive before Rodent comes out of there with his bucket of chicken.”
“I bloody well hope so,” Tyler said, although he wasn’t sure that carrying out an armed stop with a fast food shop packed full of customers serving as a backdrop was a good idea.
A thought occurred to Tyler. “Kelly, can you ring Reg and get him to check whether there’s any activity on either of the phones that the TIU are live monitoring for us.”
While Kelly made the call, he gave the operator at IR an update.
“Apparently, the ARVs are just coming into Barking Road from the A13,” Tyler told the other two a few seconds later. We should see their blue lights in a minute or so.”
The hooded figure emerged from the chicken shop carrying a large bag of food, which he passed through an open window to the front seat passenger before jogging around to the driver’s door and getting back in. Within seconds, the car pulled away, treating them to another wheelspin.
“Here we go again,” Dillon said, pulling out behind them at a more sedate pace. Thankfully, traffic was extremely light so it wasn’t hard to keep up.
Kelly’s phone rang. It was Parker, calling back with the update she had requested. “Reg said the phones are all still quiet,” she informed them.
“I’ve got little blue pinpricks in the distance,” Dillon announced after looking in his rear-view mirror.
Jack and Kelly glanced over their shoulders in concert.
The blue lights gained on them rapidly, and it became apparent that there were three police vehicles, not two. That was fine by Tyler; as far as he was concerned, with a man like Winston, it was a case of the more the merrier.
The operator told Jack that the lead Trojan car now had the target in its sights, and instructed him to stop following as soon as the marked units got behind the bandit vehicle. “Of course,” Jack said, intending to do no such thing.
Seconds later, three liveried Vauxhall Omegas whizzed by, leaving the Astra rocking in their wake. They took up station behind the Rover and the lead car flashed it to pull over. The Rover duly indicated left and started to drift towards the nearside kerb.
Brake lights came on as it slowed down.
“Well, I didn’t expect that,” Dillon said, almost sounding disappointed.
“Nor me,” Jack admitted.
The lead Omega followed it into the kerb, while the second and third cars held back, hugging the crown of the road. By now, the Rover had slowed to a sedentary crawl, although it still hadn’t quite come to a halt.
The second Omega started to accelerate past it, intending to cut in front and force it to stop. This turned out to be a big mistake as the Rover suddenly swerved directly into its path, causing the startled driver to pull onto the wrong side of the road and brake hard to avoid a collision. Luckily, nothing was coming the other way.
“Shit!” Jack said, tensing up. “Did he just try and ram the gunship?”
“It certainly looked like it,” Dillon said, wondering what was going to happen next.
What happened next was that the Rover took off like a rocket, spewing clouds of black fumes from its gurgling exhaust. In an instant, the three ARVs were back in formation and, sirens blaring, they set off in pursuit. Slipping the lumpy gearstick into second, Dillon floored the diesel in an effort to keep up.
Leaving them way behind, the bandit car hurtled along Barking Road, recklessly weaving in and out of traffic with the three Trojan units right on its tail.
“Don’t lose them,” Jack shouted above the roar of the engine.
“I’m doing my best,” Dillon promised, stamping his right foot to the floor.
Up ahead, the traffic lights controlling a busy four-way intersection turned red against the Rover.
“I don’t think he’s going to stop,” Tyler said, cringing as a stream of traffic started to cross in front of it.
At the last possible second, the Rover’s brake lights came on and car slewed sideways, with smoke billowing from its wheels. Miraculously, the driver somehow managed to straighten it up by coming off the brakes and steering into the skid.
With its horn blaring, the Rover tore through the junction at suicidal speed.
The three pursuit cars slowed down and negotiated the junction more carefully, which allowed Dillon to catch them up and follow through in their slipstream.
“I think this boy knows how to drive,” Dillon said as they cleared the junction.
Two drunks who had just staggered out of The Abbey public house watched on in amazement as the
