The blur of her fingers whipping over the key pad halted and she looked at him as if to say, ‘say what you want mister, but you’re in trouble anyway.’

‘Sometimes adults say things that they shouldn’t. They don’t mean to upset anybody. You see Chloe, it’s not just children, or even young ladies like you. Mums and Dads, and even people like me who are supposed to be very tough get a bit scared too and speak out before considering what they say. We all get a bit frightened now and then.’

Mark could see her frown softening as she looked at him quizzically. She opened her mouth as though about to speak or to fire another question at him. Her fingers were motionless on the phones keypad. Before she could say another word or quiz him further, and noticing her left hand holding the side of the headrest, he quickly leaned forward and took it gently into his own hand, softly kissed the back of it and in his most charming and sickly sweet manner said, ‘so, may I say young lady, you have been absolutely fantastic in helping me. If it hadn’t been for you in the first place, your dad might not have seen me. I think you are the most wonderful little girl I have ever known and I wouldn’t upset you for the world.’

Chloe beamed at her new found friend, flicked her hair back in the way that only a young woman of a certain age can do, plonked the phone back in the bag and shrugged, ‘Oh I’m not upset, my big brother says shit and fuck all the time when Mum’s not there.’

She suddenly realised what she had said. Her beaming smile suddenly faded and her expression turned to one of horror. She put both hands up to her face as she began to splutter, ‘Oh my God, sorry, sorry Dad, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to say!’

Her Dad cut across her speaking, ‘Chloe Jones, wash your mouth out with soap. Wait ‘till I tell your mother.’ He emphasised the ‘I’ as his face broke into a grin. Chloe grinned, weakly at first until she realised that she was not in serious trouble, Mark let go of her hand, fell back into the seat and they all began to fall into fits of laughter.

Fred saw a gap in the traffic behind and pulled onto the hard shoulder a few metres behind the Range Rover and Mark leapt out of Chloe’s car and ran to the rear nearside passenger door of the police vehicle. As he opened the door to get in, he pulled off his balaclava, rubbed his hands through his short blond hair and turned to look back at Chloe.

Chloe smiled at him. She hadn’t seen his face up to now and she liked what she saw. She felt slightly ashamed of herself when she recalled her first impressions and she made a mental note to herself. She determined that in future, she would wait until she knew the whole circumstances of the particular thing before she made up her mind. She decided he was a very nice man after all.

She’s going to break a few hearts in the future thought Mark as he smiled back at her. She might be only nine years old, but she was bright as a button. She had taken quite a big step along the road of maturity in enduring and accepting today’s events and he had no doubt that Chloe Jones was going to grow up into a questioning and thoughtful teenager. The lads will have their hands full with you he thought as he waved and blew her a kiss.

The Range Rovers powerful engine pressed him back into his seat as the three litre V8 Turbo Diesel gunned them up the hard shoulder towards the motorway slip road.

Chloe sat back in her seat and folded her arms, not in anger this time, as she looked across at her Dad. She had a twinkle in her eyes and a very large smile across her face. ‘Wait till I see Mary Willis at school Dad, Have I got a story to tell her.’

‘You certainly have sweetheart, you most certainly have.’ said Dad as he picked up speed, indicated, and joined the flow of traffic back onto the Motorway.

As he watched the Range Rover disappear, whatever it is, thought Fred to himself, I hope it works out OK. He thought about all the people out there who put themselves in harms way for the benefit of others. For the most part, he would never know when that was happening and he let out a long sigh as he looked across at Chloe. She was busy looking out of the window deciding how she would tell the tale to all and sundry in about half an hour’s time. As for his boss, well, whatever her sarcasm when he got into work later, today, her words would mean nothing. He would smile at her pettiness, keep his head down and just get on with his work. It might be just another day to her of bullying behaviour and snide comments. No matter, today, he would rise above it all.

Today, something far more important was taking place and although Fred was not a particularly religious man, he knew a silent prayer would not go amiss.

Chapter 9

The powerful Range Rover gathered speed fully crewed once more with Superman Swift rubbing his battered and bruised thighs. All were aware by now that Dave Watkins was driving the wagon and that although no one knew how badly he was injured, he seemed OK. The two response vehicles and the control rooms had been listening to Dave’s conversation with the gunman since Swifty had attached the listening device to the back of the cab. Audio was being fed back to the Forward Command Post very clearly and there were no signal interruptions as the wagon continued its journey.

‘I don’t know if you were aware of any of this Mark,’ said Lee Evans. ‘But Dave Watkins saved your life out there a few minutes ago. Your legs were about half a second away from being dragged under the back wheels of the trailer. I can’t tell you how close you came to being flattened. If he hadn’t swerved the lorry, half of you would have ended up under the wagon and the rest of you would have been bouncing along the middle lane mate. He nearly took out the Armco barrier on the hard shoulder to try and give you as much room as possible.’

‘Nah, you’re just exaggerating boss. No problem. I’ve been practicing me swallow dive for weeks now.’

‘Needs a bit of work mate.’  Said the quiet voice sat alongside him in the other passenger seat. ‘I’d only give you five out of ten for technical ability. I think your technique could do with a little fine tuning; yep, there’s definitely room for some improvement in that area.

‘Now, if I was to mark you for entertainment value, I’d have to give you twelve out of ten. Your breaststroke impression, as your legs disappeared through that window, now, that was something else. Absolutely fucking hilarious buddy.’ With that, he started doing a frantic swimming motion and gesticulating with his lips like some type of balloon fish from a Disney cartoon.

The blacked out windows and soundproofing of the armour plated vehicle prevented other motorists from seeing or hearing what was going on but, inside, the four ‘highly professional’ officers, were roaring with laughter as Mark waved his ventilated boot in the air, the flapping sole slapping against the leather and the range Rover rocked from side to side.

The quiet man, Ged Duggan, was an absolute star and was well liked by all who came into contact with him. A gem of a lad to work with. He never said much. He didn’t need to. Sometimes his silence spoke volumes. But, when the shit was about to hit the fan, you had no doubt that he would be there when required.

Ged and Mark had been good mates ever since joining the force together and doing their basic training in what seemed a lifetime ago.

After basic, they had gone to different Divisions and for a few years their careers had developed in different directions. Mark had gone to the Criminal Investigation Department for a two year attachment and Ged had spent four years in the Drugs Squad. Now and then, their paths would cross professionally as there was sometimes an overlap of responsibilities.

What might have started out as a drugs job became a C.I.D. enquiry and vice versa. Lots of criminals would come to the attention of both departments and there was often an informal rivalry over whose job it was and which department took the credit for locking up the villain and sending him down. They always kept in touch. Respected each others professionalism and over the years became great friends.