mirror of
https://gitlab.silvrtree.co.uk/martind2000/booksnew.git
synced 2025-01-11 12:55:07 +00:00
496 lines
28 KiB
HTML
496 lines
28 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
|
|
<head>
|
|
|
|
<title>26</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css" />
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type=
|
|
"application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
|
|
"page-template.xpgt" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<div id="text">
|
|
<div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
|
|
<h1>26</h1>
|
|
|
|
<p>Despite the rigor mortis, Wiggy Foley was a very fidgety passenger. Neil had strapped him back against the
|
|
passenger seat and edged away from him, trying to avoid any contact with the clammy body. Every time the
|
|
tanker hit a rough patch or pot-hole, Foley slumped right or left, his dead head thumping against the glass,
|
|
wig flapping in tempo. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"This would give you the bloody heebie-jeebies," Neil asserted. "How come it has to be us who end up with the
|
|
zombie?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Ed's on his own. You could hardly expect him to drive about just himself and the stiff."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Another couple of inches and they could both have been stiffs."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Foley swung away from the window, lurched against Neil.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Get off," Neil grated, pushing him back in disgust. He turned to Jed. "I think his beard's still growing.
|
|
That stubble's longer than it was. Maybe he's not dead at all."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"That would make him the world's best mime artist. Or he's in the dead gorilla sketch. Fix that wig, would
|
|
you, in case anybody gets suspicious."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Suspicious? We're driving around in a nicked tanker with the cover ripped off and a baldy corpse waving to
|
|
pedestrians and you worry about being suspicious?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Well, put like that, I suppose you can maybe forget the wig."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil turned and stared at him and suddenly both of them burst into whoops of laughter. Some of it sounded too
|
|
close to hysteria.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Ed had called and told them about the end of the chase, and that meant there was only one other patrol car in
|
|
this area. Here in the west, there are too many roads with wide empty spaces and farm tracks between them to
|
|
ensure they're all easily covered. They had the police band on low, just to monitor the position, knowing it
|
|
would only be a matter of time before they crossed the path of the other patrol who were heading north.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>They came along the Creggan Road which is five miles north of the Arden by-pass where Ed and Tam had put the
|
|
other pursuit out of commission. Here the road heads west to join the main route northwards and they
|
|
followed it for a while until they approached the junction. Jed eased down to a stop with a hundred yards to
|
|
go while Neil leant forward, past the unwanted guest, to view the southern approach.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Five or ten minutes," he said. The airwaves had been punctuated with urgent calls back and forth after the
|
|
first two had hit the side of the tanker and the normally precise operational coding had been abandoned for
|
|
a few minutes of incoherence and panic. Three patrols were racing up from the other side of Levenford and
|
|
would be here in less than half an hour, along with the fire tender and the emergency rescue unit, Angus
|
|
Baxter and his team of detectives and anybody else they could muster.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>It took only four minutes before Neil saw the approaching police car way down the straight and he nudged
|
|
Jed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Time to shift. Try not to kill us all."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> "I'm an <em>excellent</em> driver," Jed drawled.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> "Dustin Hoffman," Neil guessed. "Rain Man. Now pretend you're a real driver, get this heap in gear and keep
|
|
your mind on the job."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> "Fat man, you think you're uncle Jack Lorne." Jed stuck it in gear and eased out onto the main road, giving
|
|
himself plenty of time. He had to assume the cops were not entirely stupid and would notice the dairy logo
|
|
as they approached, though if they didn't, he could easily find a way of attracting their attention.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>There was a slight uphill pull, which allowed the approaching car to halve the distance by the time they
|
|
crested and then they were on the downslope and pulling hard left to get to the back road from Arden to
|
|
Creggan that cut from the hills to the high coastline overlooking the broad firth where Jack had sat with
|
|
Kate on a sunny night. From up here, distant water sparkled in the slanted rays. Jed checked the mirror just
|
|
before they disappeared from view.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"They're moving," he said. "They must be quick on the uptake."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"That makes a change. Just pray they're not heroes."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"When this baby hits eighty eight, you're gonna see some serious shit."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I told you, Bullitt. Save it for later. And if you put it above sixty on this dirt-track, I'm asking Stiffly
|
|
Formal here to drive."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Half a mile behind them, Derek Travers was drumming his fingers impatiently on the wheel as the patrol car
|
|
picked up speed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Should we call in?" Walter had his thumb in the radio.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Give it a minute," he said. He pointed at the tanker in the now closing distance. "Let's see which way they
|
|
head at the junction."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Two miles north, the road split right and left. The tanker flashed silver through the patches of trees and
|
|
hedges as the police car hurried up behind it. After a few minutes, the nearside indicator began to flash
|
|
and the truck slowed for a turn.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Derek Travers turned to his partner. "We got them now. Where can they go?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Walter thought about it. If it kept on this road, it would come to Creggan village at the end of the
|
|
peninsula overlooking the estuary. After that was the big submarine base round at Loch Long and the only way
|
|
out from there was on the high back road where a one-in-ten incline meant the big tanker would be gasping
|
|
uphill at walking speed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"If we call in now," Derek said, "everybody and his dog will be in on it, and we'll be back where we started.
|
|
Let's give it a bit more."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>In the truck ahead, Neil called Jack.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Retro, looks like you're home clear."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Speak to me, Elvis."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"We've picked up the boy scouts earning merit badges. You'll have it all your on way from here on in. Just
|
|
don't crash and burn, good buddy."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"We'll try our hardest," Jack said. The relief in his voice was pretty clear, even over the phone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil pushed Foley to the side and watched in the mirror. The police car was closing the gap quickly now. Jed
|
|
breasted the hill and used the long downslope to gather his own momentum.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"They're sticking to us," he said. "Nothing yet on the squawk."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I don't think they could have called in," Neil guessed astutely. "I think we've got a pair of wannabe
|
|
heroes."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"All the better," Jed said. "Two against two is very good odds these days."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil slapped the solid body beside him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Two against three."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed laughed, nervous bravado. "And twelve wheels against four. Man, they have <em>no</em> hope."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>A quarter of a mile behind, Walter Crum was on the radio now, relaying their position and target to control.
|
|
Angus Baxter got the call within twenty seconds and was a patched right through.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You're sure it's the one we want?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Yessir." Walter read out the dairy legend on the back of the silver cylinder.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"And they're moving in the direction of Creggan?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"On the shore road, Sir. We are in pursuit, directly behind them."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Stick with them. Don't lose them. Try to get close and find out who they are."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Angus Baxter got clearance to summon the force helicopter down from Glasgow and every other patrol car,
|
|
fire-tender and rescue vehicle that had been heading to the first crash scene diverted north and west in a
|
|
fast-moving convoy, leaving the first patrol sitting by their wrecked car arguing over who's bodily
|
|
functions had the least control.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You heard the man," Walter said. "Let's be having them."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The tanker came hurtling down the hill at breakneck speed and Jed held the line steady on the bend, taking
|
|
the wheels right to the edge and giving the pedal just enough to get hard traction when they pulled out of
|
|
it. Wiggy Foley swung away from the window and Neil had to brace himself to shove him back.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Ahead of them was a straight stretch where the route widened just a couple of yards on the left as it
|
|
approached the cut-off to yet another small and lonely hamlet.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The pursuit sped up on the straight and Jed edged to the right, ensuring he couldn't be forced down the slip
|
|
and trapped on a single track. Behind them, the car jinked left. Jed pushed for more speed and the patrol
|
|
car more than matched them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"They're coming up on the inside," Neil said.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Just what I need," Jed told him. "Give them a wave."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Derek Travers ground out a curse when the tanker hogged the right. On this straight, they had the chance to
|
|
power ahead and block the road and that way they could have a leisurely wait for the back up posse, with the
|
|
suspects cuffed in the back of the car. All past failures would be forgiven and forgotten in one easy
|
|
move. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He pulled left just as the road widened and saw an opportunity develop. He gunned it hard.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Take it easy," Walter warned, checking his belt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I can take them," Derek boasted. He nosed up on the inside, past the tail lights. The road seemed to vibrate
|
|
with the truck's weight and the turbulence buffeted them hard and then they were pulling alongside, doing
|
|
nearly sixty.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The car held it steady, creeping up to the cab. Walter leant forward to peer up.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>A pale face swung towards him and a meaty hand waved through the glass.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"That's Wiggy Foley," he said excitedly, "one of Ferguson's minders. Cheeky sod. God, this is going to be
|
|
good."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Travers grinned. "We're in the money now."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He slammed down a gear to coax an extra burst just as Jed Cooper did the same in the high cab. They were
|
|
still on the downslope, which gave the big tanker a weight advantage. They were three hundred yards from the
|
|
turn off and now that the police car was still on the inside, Jed eased the tanker back to the left, forcing
|
|
the pursuit car closer to the edge.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Watch out, he's going to force us...."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Bastard," Derek mouthed. He got to sixty five, managed to get the nose past the front of the racing
|
|
juggernaut.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Wiggy Foley stared down at them, nose flattened against the glass.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Walter Crum got another glimpse, and something struck him as odd about the way Foley was sitting, but in the
|
|
heat of the moment, he had other things to think about. The two machines raced together, nose to nose.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed just held the line. The police driver might have had training on the skid-pan, but Jed Cooper had been
|
|
ramming round the stock circuit since he was sixteen. Derek Travers almost made it, and then, very abruptly,
|
|
the road disappeared..</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Derek....<em>Derek</em>...!" Walter panicked just a little.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>There was suddenly nowhere for them to go. Jed got that extra few yards out of the rig, timed it to the split
|
|
second and the gap closed too tightly for the car to swerve through and get ahead. The truck thundered along
|
|
on the straight and the police car was suddenly facing a thick tangle of briars and brambles dead ahead.
|
|
Derek Travers jerked on the wheel with a bare second left and the car shot down turn-off curve. Even over
|
|
the roar of the diesel, Jed and Neil heard the squeal as he hit the brake hard.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Back up, <em>back up</em>, they're getting away."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Walter managed to get the words past his heart which was now throbbing at the back of his throat. The fear of
|
|
a headlong crash into the undergrowth only beat the terror of career failure by a thin lip. His partner
|
|
slammed into reverse, wove at speed back along the curve and managed to get back onto the main road in
|
|
surprisingly quick time. The big rig was down the hill and round the bend and gone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Hurry, hurry. Come on man, he said don't lose them."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Bastard forced me off the road. Could have killed me." Travers's face was a complex mix of fury and
|
|
fright.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He got onto the main road again and hared after the tanker.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"That was too close," Neil said. "You could have killed them."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"No chance. Cops don't kill themselves, not on duty anyway. He was trying to get in front of us, and if he'd
|
|
done that, there's no way I was stopping for him. It was just as well I sent him the wrong way, rather than
|
|
skite him off."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil was peering in the mirror, expecting the flash of white any second.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I think we should have kept on the road north," he said. "I don't know why you took this road anyway. We're
|
|
heading straight for Creggan."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"So?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"We're going to run out of road. There's nothing between us and the firth of Clyde, and there's a whole posse
|
|
chasing us."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Plus Batman and Robin," Jed said, "if they haven't driven into a tree. Don't you worry, I can handle this
|
|
thing."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You better start handling it good. They're back in the picture again."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed took a backward glance, saw the patrol gaining once more. He thumped the horn, making it roar like a
|
|
beast. Neil gave a visible start.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Jesus, Jed. You scared the hell out of me."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>They were coming up fast, lights flashing. The car feinted left as before, then came up on the right, on a
|
|
fairly tight bend.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"He's trying to take us."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"On this road? He must have a death wish," Jed said. He changed down to get more muscle. The police car
|
|
pulled out, began to accelerate and then a little post van came bizzing round the corner in a flash of red
|
|
and a wail of alarm. The patrol yanked fast back in behind the tanker at the last split second.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> It tried again, risking it once more on a right bend and this time a slow-moving tractor was trundling close
|
|
to the hedge and the police car barely missed it in a screech of brakes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Definitely a hero," Jed said, watching as the pursuit tried again, nosing out on a little straight stretch.
|
|
He eased the tanker across the centre line, blocking its path. The policeman's face was just a pale shape,
|
|
but he knew he would be mouthing curses. It tried to squeeze through the cap and Jed pushed it almost into
|
|
the hedge. It braked sharply and its horn barked. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Can't see why Ed should have all the fun," Jed said. He grabbed the helmet from the floor and slung it on,
|
|
fixing the strap one-handed with ease of practise.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You get lidded up," he told Neil.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I won't hear the phone, or the radio."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Behind them, the police siren began to howl angrily, and a flicker of red and blue winked bright in the rear
|
|
view.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Doesn't matter. This loony fancies his chances. I'm going to try a few moves."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What kind of moves?" Neil was clasping the helmet on, looking worried.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The phone rang and he paused to answer.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Calling Elvis." Ed's voice.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Uh huh huh. You're a wunnerful audience."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Ed came on.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"A whole squad of them just passed me north of Arden. Angus Baxter, a couple of fast cars. And he's called
|
|
out the chopper. You're running out of time."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil relayed the message to Jed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"That's what we planned," Jed told him. "Now get that helmet on."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>They were coming down the long slope now, with the flashing lights right on their tail, sun heliographing
|
|
through the tall trees. Jed pushed the big rig to the limit, taking the corners in a fine tight line,
|
|
getting the speed just right. In other circumstances, Neil would have admired the skill.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Bullitt, we've only got a mile to Creggan and then we're done." He was sounding puzzled and worried.
|
|
"They'll have the local fuzz out with a barrier. Road blocks."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You think a road block can stop this beast?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Don't you dare. I'm not going down for murder."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Don't worry, Mr Elvis," Jed assured him. "We've got Wiggy here as a good luck charm." He bent to the left
|
|
and clapped the corpse on a meaty shoulder. "Touch wood."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Watch, <em>watch</em>!" The rig swung to the left, clipping very close to the hedge. They were hammering
|
|
down towards a very tight right turn and Jed was picking up speed. Neil's voice was rising, suddenly
|
|
panicked. "Jeez man, keep your eye on the fucking road."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The turn loomed, all too sudden and they were going all too fast.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Road?" Jed laughed crazily. "Where we're going, we don't <em>need</em> roads."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The engine was screaming and Jed's knuckles were white.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Jed man. Oh holy mother of..."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He was doing fifty, sixty, far to fast to take this curve.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You crazy pratt...." For a second Neil thought Jed was paralysed. His hands were gripped on the wheel, not
|
|
moving, just bracing it. He wasn't even making an attempt at the turn.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil saw the hedges loom. The tanker bulleted towards them, unstoppable now.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>It smacked them flat with a crack like gunfire. Neil let out a little squeal that was miraculous high for a
|
|
big baritone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The tanker rammed through the hawthorn hedge, scattered twigs and stumps like shrapnel and a confetti of
|
|
white flourish blasted out in a fluttering fountain. On the other side of the hedge a small field drain, a
|
|
couple of feet deep and three feet wide presented no obstacle at all. The speed and momentum carried the
|
|
front wheels over it and everything else followed, hurtling through the gap and into the field beyond,
|
|
bouncing crazily on the grass and carving great brown tracks through the turf. A herd of cross
|
|
jersey-friesians took off like chubby wildebeest, scattered in panic.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Derek Travers was thirty yards behind the tanker's tail lights, desperate to find a gap to shoot through and
|
|
halt them before the rest of the cavalry arrived. His need had made him reckless and he didn't even hear
|
|
Walter Crum's warning as they raced down the hill in pursuit.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He was so close to the rig that the corner was on him before he realised it and suddenly shrubbery and wood
|
|
was flying all over the place.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Walter Crum bawled another urgent warning and Travers hit the brake so hard the nose of the car dipped
|
|
towards the tarmac. Tyres howled on the dry road as he tried to hold the line and the patrol careered
|
|
forward, slowing as it went. The big tanker disappeared in a flurry of leaves and the road disappeared along
|
|
with it. Walter was still bawling incoherently as the back end began to swing round, even though the driver
|
|
had got it down from fifty to twenty. Travers over-compensated right on the point of the corner. Rubber
|
|
squealed and so did Walter. The car mounted the little verge, bounced nose upwards, shot through the raggedy
|
|
gap in the hedge and slammed down in to the small ditch, sending up a spray of mud, moss and tiny
|
|
frogs. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>For a moment, nothing moved. The siren was still wailing and the lights still flashing, and the windscreen
|
|
was completely blanked out by a skin of red muck.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Derek Travers groaned through the numbness in his nose where it had hit the wheel. He eased himself out of
|
|
the car and stepped straight into two feet of mud, cursed and hauled himself away from the steam jetting
|
|
from somewhere in the front. Walter Crum stumbled out the other side, lost a shoe to the glutinous sucking
|
|
mire, amazed that he was totally unhurt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Both of them looked at each other, faces pale and slack. Then, simultaneously, they turned.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The tanker was hammering on across the field, leaving parallel scars in the green, scattering the livestock
|
|
and a flustered flock of woodpigeons, rumbling like a runaway beast as it headed for the breast of the hill
|
|
beyond.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Where the hell do they think they're going?" Walter asked.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Nowhere for them to go," Derek said. "Come on. We've got them now."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Walter fished in the mud in the little runnel until he found his shoe, pulled it on and squelched to dry
|
|
ground. The pair of them set off in pursuit, leaving the patrol car nose down in the muck, but relatively,
|
|
miraculously, undamaged. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed stopped the rig on the brow of the little hill on the far side of the meadow, engine chugging exhaust as
|
|
if catching breath. It had been an exhilarating ride. Ahead of them, beyond the down-slope, the blue of the
|
|
Clyde firth scattered back spangled sunlight, below the precipice of the Creggan headland.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You scared the living <em>shite</em> out of me," Neil finally said, tight with emotion, most of it pure
|
|
shock. He unstrapped the helmet and took it off, holding it in two shaking hands. Foley had slumped to the
|
|
side, his face smeared on the glass.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I thought you'd like it," Jed said.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Like it? You crazy schmuck. You could have killed us both."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Don't be daft. You never really thought I couldn't take that bend, did you?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Are you telling me you had this planned all along?" Neil's breath was fast and shallow. "And you never even
|
|
told me?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed grinned pure mischief.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Sure we did. There's half a dozen places we worked it out, just in case we had to. This was the best of the
|
|
lot."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"How come?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed pointed ahead. "Because of that."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil saw nothing. He was about to ask when Jed unclipped his own helmet and turned to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Let's unfasten our mystery guest." He looked in the mirror. "And we'd better make it snappy. We've got
|
|
company."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil started to unsnag the seat belt that hadn't quite restrained Foley. The dead man's wig was flopped to
|
|
the side now, as if it was crawling down to his collar. Neil scanned the rear view and saw the two policemen
|
|
running across the field, maybe a quarter of a mile behind, while the herd of cows ran in confused little
|
|
circles, hampering their progress.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed helped haul Foley across the bench seat, pulling on the stiff arms. He heaved until the body was behind
|
|
the wheel and then let the handbrake off a couple of notches. Ahead of them, a row of thin gorse bushes
|
|
formed an insubstantial barrier and below that, a steeper slope leading right down towards the lip of the
|
|
old sandstone cliffs that marked the edge of the highland boundary. The truck eased down from the crest
|
|
until only its back end showed. Jed clambered up to the back of the cab, to make sure the policemen were
|
|
still in pursuit.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What now?" Neil demanded.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed had to use a lot of force to get the stiff arms onto the wheel. He clamped the fingers around it, just
|
|
making sure. The truck wouldn't need any steering down this slope. Very quickly he pulled and hauled at the
|
|
dirty jeans until he got a dirty Doc Marten placed over the accelerator. He pressed down and the engine
|
|
roared.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"If you're going to do what I think, you're crazier than you look."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"How do you mean?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil pointed ahead. "That's the Creggan Cliffs. I don't care what kind of a driver you are, you'll never
|
|
survive that."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed pushed on the leg again, making the engine rev faster. Behind them, panting very heavily, came two
|
|
policemen, one of whom had lost his shoe again. They reached the crest and stood there, holding their
|
|
sides.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Open the pod bay doors, Hal."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jed revved, stuck the gear stick forward and sent the whole rig running down the hill. "Smokestack
|
|
lightning!"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Let me out," Neil bawled. " I can't swim?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Swim? The <em>fall's</em> going to kill you."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>They were through the gorse, flattening a swathe of it. Foley was stiffly propped behind the wheel, his rigid
|
|
leg just enough weight to keep the pedal pressed. Behind them the two policemen stood dumbstruck as the
|
|
truck went straight down the slope, past the gorse and disappeared from view on the lower slope, on a direct
|
|
line for the cliffs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Come on man," Jed said. "Let's hit the ground."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He opened the door, grabbed the helmet, and baled out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Neil bawled a string of curses, kicked open the other door and fell out onto a matt of jagged gorse, rolled
|
|
and skidded five yards, mainly on his face.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>From the crest of the hill, the policemen saw the tanker disappear over the lower ridge, too exhausted to
|
|
chase it any more. They stood with their hands on their knees, hauling hard.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Derek Travers pointed ahead of them and eased upright, pulling Walter Crum with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Look at that!"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The tanker suddenly appeared in view again, about half a mile away now, a big silver bullet trundling fast on
|
|
a straight line for the cliff edge.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Thelma and fucking Louise," Walter said.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The rig reached the edge, no pause, no slowing, its own momentum taking over. The sun glinted off its bright
|
|
curve as it took off into the air above the blue, turned in slow motion in a very graceful, ponderous twist,
|
|
plunged downwards and was gone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>By the time the patrolmen got down to the cliff edge, a tower of thick black smoke was billowing high into
|
|
the air, and the police helicopter was chugging inwards over the Clyde Firth.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|