And that was why he felt almost faint with fear. The man he was about to go up against was a big fellow. Not that a chap needed to be a bodybuilder to overpower a seventy-eight-year-old man, but unless Albert had this all wrong, the chap’s intention was most likely to kill him as revenge for intervening last night. What else could he possibly want?
Telling himself to calm down and think straight, Albert paused just after the auto-shop. He could see the road sign pointing to the small industrial estate where he would find the lockup and that meant it was time to deploy what he hoped would prove to be a parachute. He made just one phone call, dialling 999 and reporting a break in at the industrial estate. He even gave them the number of the lockup Victor’s text told him to go to, then cut off the call abruptly when they starting to ask him for his details. Then he set up his phone, repeating what Colin, the bakery trainee, had shown him how to do, and tested it before covering the final twenty yards.
Rex had his nose in the air, as did Hans who had been mostly asleep as Rex’s human carried him along. Now they could both smell the man they wanted to find – the one who they had chased last night but failed to catch. Rex still wasn’t sure what this was all about, but it had something to do with getting Han’s human back and that was good enough for him.
He huffed and chuffed at his human, getting his attention. ‘He’s here,’ Rex whined, puffing out his jowls in excitement. ‘Just let me go. I’ll find him and bite him and you can call the police. I won’t let him get away twice and it’s been too long since I got to bite anyone.’ Rex liked biting people – bad people, of course, not just anyone, that would make him a bad dog. It had been his favourite part of police dog training; chasing and biting, although he got into trouble because he rarely bit the big padded arm he was offered, what was the fun in that?
Albert could see and hear the dogs when their interest changed. They were both alert, catching something on the wind that piqued their interest. ‘Steady now, boys,’ he soothed, patting Rex’s shoulders.
In his alcove, Francis was getting agitated; the old man should have appeared by now. Where was he? He wanted to run out to the street to check but knew doing so would expose him if the old man came around the corner. It was a good thing he did wait for the next second the dog’s head appeared. It was followed by the old man who was carrying the dachshund in his arms.
Francis held his breath and waited.
Albert wasn’t sure what to expect when he turned the corner. There was no one in sight, which was probably what he should have anticipated – the bad guy, whoever he was, wouldn’t be daft enough to expose himself. He had made it clear he wanted Albert to leave Rex behind with his line about the glass, but Albert could see something glittering on the concrete of the courtyard so maybe there was some truth to the lie.
Either way, he wasn’t taking Rex with him. He had a better plan.
Rex was eager to go, almost straining at his leash as the scent became stronger and he could pinpoint a direction. His human’s hands were behind his head; this was it; he was going to be told to sic ‘em! Vibrating with barely contained energy, Rex couldn’t believe it when his human stepped away.
‘What? What’s going on?’ he spun around to look, his eyes amazed to see that his lead was looped through some steel railing.
‘I’ll be back in a minute, boy,’ his human crouched a little to pat his head. ‘You too, Hans. You stay here.’
‘No!’ whined Rex, tugging at his lead to get free. ‘I can smell him. You need to let me get him before he gets you!’
With a final pat and check on the leads, Albert straightened himself and sucked in a deep breath through his nose. The lockup was ten yards away. He wanted to be sure the dogs saw which one he went into, which, if he had expressed his thoughts to Rex, would have made the dog despair because eyesight isn’t the sense of choice when trying to find someone.
Francis wanted to jump for joy. The old man had bought every word of his lies. The giant dog was tied up, and he was seconds away from grabbing his second target. In two minutes, he would have two men stuffed into the boot of his stolen taxi and be heading out of town. He would stick to the back roads and country lanes on his way back to the earl, but he was a man who could get the job done and about to be rich.
Albert could feel his heart thumping in his chest as he walked toward the lockup. His legs felt unsteady, or less steady than normal which could be a little unsteady at times. How would it happen? That was the question pressing at the front of his brain. He was about to get ambushed, but would it be violent? That was the one thing he couldn’t know. If the man hit him over
