Sure Fire by Jack Higgins

Author:Jack Higgins [Jack Higgins, Justin Richards]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780007279098
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2006-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

13

As soon as he heard the first car screech to a halt outside, Rich was on his feet. He grabbed Jade and bundled her ahead of him through the nearby door that led to the toilets at the back of the café.

“I thought the police weren’t interested,” Jade gasped.

“That was then,” Rich said. “This is now.”

As well as two doors into the toilets, there was a third door. It had a bar across it and a fire exit sign above. Rich shoved the bar and felt it give. The door was stiff through lack of use, but with Jade’s help he managed to heave it open.

“How did they find us?” she asked. “Ardman?”

“He doesn’t know where we are.”

“Sure?”

“Maybe they traced the call somehow,” Rich conceded. He was looking round, deciding where to go next.

They were in a courtyard area at the back of the café. There was another door back into the kitchens, and a gate that must open into the street beyond for deliveries. Large, round, industrial-sized metal waste bins stood grouped in a corner. Rich didn’t fancy trying to hide inside those.

He heaved open the gate and looked out into the road beyond. “It won’t take them long to guess where we went.”

“Assuming they know we were actually there,” Jade said.

There was a big key in the lock of the gate. Jade pulled it out, and when she closed the gate behind them, she locked it shut. It was solid wood, like a barn door, so you couldn’t see through.

“Should keep them guessing,” she said.

The street outside was a dead end, finishing at a wall. The other end of the street joined the main road at the front of the café, and they made their way cautiously towards the junction.

Behind them, Rich could hear the gates rattling as someone tried to open them from the other side. With luck they’d assume no one could have got out. They might go and ask for the key, but that would take time.

Rich and Jade emerged into the main street beyond the area blocked by the two sideways police cars. But further down the road, several policemen were setting up a barrier of plastic tape.

“We’re trapped,” Jade said. “Bet it’s the same the other end of the road.”

“They can’t just close the road for ever.”

“They won’t. They’ll close it off then search for us.”

“Side street,” Rich decided. “If we’re quick they won’t have cordoned them all off.”

There was a side street between the dead end they had come from and the cordon. They tried to look inconspicuous, hoping the police wouldn’t look down the street and see them as they hurried along the pavement. Luckily, the police at the barrier were busy answering questions and taking flack from people who wanted to come through.

Rich and Jade slipped into the side street. There were houses down one side of it. A brick wall ran along the other side – too high to climb. A row of tall, mature trees was planted along the side where the wall was, between the road and the pavement.

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