John heard the slight buzz of his walkie-talkie and moved to the side of the National Gallery building to answer it. He gave Ed Milward his position, put the instrument away and shambled out into the street again. He noticed the man he was tailing put a quarto-sized envelope into the document case and realised that he must have been holding it against the case since the drop. ‘Document Case’ turned left into Irving Street and John Douglas paused at the corner before walking across the road. As he paused, ‘Trilby Hat’ quickened his pace. Behind him, Andy dropped his pose as a down-and-out and moved quickly after him, keeping close to the walls of buildings so that he couldn’t be seen easily by the man in front. “Document Case” didn’t continue along Irving Street as John had expected but turned left into Orange Street. Slipping into a doorway, John called up Ed Milward and told him to drive up Whitcomb Street and park near Orange Street. At the bend in Orange Street, ‘Document Case’ crossed the road and continued along Orange Street. John Douglas then moved out and tried to reduce the distance between himself and the person he was tailing. ‘Trilby Hat’ also quickened his pace. ‘Document Case’ turned right into Long’s Court — a narrow lane. At the corner, John Douglas paused and watched ‘Document Case’ hurry up the lane and turn left. He then moved out and up Long’s Court. When he was half-way up, ‘Document Case’ re-appeared and walked towards him. At that moment, ‘Trilby’ appeared at the entrance to Long’s Court. Under the cover of his raincoat he drew a handgun from his pocket and slid the raincoat over his hand. Andy Hill noticed this although it seemed to be done surreptitiously. As ‘Trilby Hat’ turned the corner, Andy recognised him and broke into a run and yelled out, “Enderby!” at the top of his voice. ‘Trilby Hat’ turned round at the shout and saw Andy Hill running towards him. John Douglas also heard the shout and turned to see ‘Trilby’ with the gun poking out from under the raincoat over his arm. He also saw the reaction of ‘Trilby Hat’ and pulled out his walkie-talkie and called up Ed Milward.
“Move up to Long’s Court and drive in. Quickly!” Ed Milward quickly pulled out onto the road and drove up to Long’s Court and turned right into it. He drove towards the bend on the Court and slowly turned at the bend. Meanwhile, ‘Document Case’ closed with John Douglas with the view to trapping him. He stopped about six feet from John Douglas and waited. ‘Trilby Hat’, alias Enderby, moved quickly into the lane, raised the handgun and fired at John Douglas. Douglas dropped to the ground and rolled sideways and the bullet missed him. It zipped past ‘Document Case’, who also flung himself sideways to avoid being hit. Andy came into Long’s Court at a run. He did a rugby tackle dive and caught Enderby around the calves and threw him off balance before he could fire again. The van nosed around the corner and saw the action taking place. Ed pulled up and kept the engine running. He radioed in and asked for back-up to block off the other end of Long’s Court. As he made his call, ‘Document Case’ was rising to his feet and drawing a gun. John Douglas spun on his hip and jumped to his feet, took a step forward and did a flying leap at ‘Document Case’. His feet caught the man squarely in his chest and he fell over backwards but still holding the gun.
Further down Long’s Court there was more action as both Enderby and Andy got to their feet. Before Enderby could bring the gun to bear, Andy spun round and did a high kick as he had been taught by Mr Lee. It caught Enderby’s gun hand and the handgun flew out of Enderby’s hand and landed in the gutter. Andy brought his leg down, pivoted and then kicked again at Enderby’s chest. The double move took only a few seconds. Enderby fell backwards but rebounded to his feet and threw a karate punch at Andy who blocked it. The two men moved around warily blocking each other’s moves, Enderby angling to get near the gun in the gutter and Andy trying to prevent it. While this was going on, the other action in the street continued. John Douglas rolled away from ‘Document Case’ and started to rise to his feet but the other man half-sat and raised his gun and pointed it at John Douglas. He used his other hand to brace his gun arm and as he squeezed the trigger his wrist suddenly blossomed blood and his gun arm swung away, the gun discharging and then falling to the ground. The bullet hit John Douglas in his shoulder instead of his chest and he fell back to the ground again. At the turn of Long’s Court Ed was standing with his gun arm braced against the open door of the van and smoke curling from the barrel of his service revolver. There had been no sound of a gunshot because the gun was fitted with a silencer. Ed switched off the ignition of the vehicle, removed the ignition key and walked towards the two men with his gun at the ready. ‘Document Case’, recovering from the shock of his shattered wrist, leaned over to pick up his gun with his other hand. Both Andy and Enderby were distracted by what had happened a few yards from them. As Andy turned and looked at the situation, Enderby leapt for his gun which was in the gutter. As his hand closed on the gun, a foot
