Ultimatum Read Free Page A

you reckon could have happened?’
    The smoke was showing no signs of abating as it poured skywards, forming a spreading black cloud. Whatever it was, it was bad.
    At that moment the radio crackled into life. ‘Attention all units,’ said the female operator breathlessly. ‘We have reports of an explosion at a coffee shop in Wilton Road, next to Victoria Station.’
    Almost immediately another voice came over the airwaves. ‘This is PCSO 2049. We’ve just seen an IC4 male running away from the scene of the explosion. He’s heading east on Bridge Place in the direction of Belgrave Road. We’re currently giving chase on foot.’ The PCSO sounded knackered and Tina wondered if it was the overweight guy she’d seen occasionally down at the station. If it was, it was unlikely he’d be keeping pace for long.
    The operator came back on the line. ‘Keep a visual, 2049, but do not apprehend. Repeat, do not apprehend. We are calling in armed back-up to make an arrest.’
    ‘Tango Four to base, we’re also giving mobile pursuit,’ said Owen into the radio. ‘We’re currently heading north on Tachbrook Street. ETA at Bridge Place, two minutes.’
    ‘Approach with extreme caution, Tango Four. Keep a visual but only intercept if you can confirm he appears unarmed.’
    This, thought Tina, was the kind of bullshit that policework had been reduced to. Everything was about health and safety and risk assessments these days. You couldn’t just catch the criminals. You had to make sure you jumped through a dozen hoops and filled in all the necessary forms before you could actually finally get round to feeling a collar. It wasn’t really any wonder they were losing the war on crime.
    ‘All right, turn right up here,’ Owen told her. ‘Bridge Place is only a couple of hundred yards away. And for Christ’s sake, let’s be careful. I know what you’re like, and if he’s got a gun, I know it’ll be me, not you, who ends up with a bullet.’
    Tina made a hard right, and found herself driving up a narrow residential road with an unbroken line of cars parked up on either side. She was feeling a real burst of excitement for the first time in months. To her this was what being a copper was all about. The chase; the adrenalin; the collar. If, like Owen, you weren’t willing to take a risk, then as far as she was concerned you should be working behind a desk.
    ‘There he is!’ Owen shouted, as an Asian man ran across the road in front of them fifty yards further on. He immediately grabbed the radio and reeled out an update on the suspect’s location to Control, while Tina accelerated towards the junction, not listening to the operator’s continued warnings to assess the situation before attempting an arrest.
    And then, when she was barely twenty yards from the junction, a four-by-four pulled out from the side of the road, forcing her to slam down hard on the brakes, and flinging both her and Owen forward in their seats.
    ‘Jesus, get back, get back!’ yelled Owen as the woman driver sat staring at them with a face like thunder, her oversized car blocking the road. He pulled out his warrant card and waved it out of the window. ‘Police!’ he screamed. ‘Get out of the fucking way!’
    The woman yelled back, clearly furious about something, and she wasn’t moving.
    Bollocks to this, thought Tina, and jumped out of the car, leaving the engine running. She took off up the road at a sprint, knowing she was breaking all the rules, but not caring. A man had run away from a building just after an explosion. She’d like to think the fact that he was Asian, and possibly Muslim, had no bearing on her reaction, but she couldn’t help thinking that this could well be terrorist-related, in which case there was no way she could let him escape.
    As she turned the corner, Tina saw him up ahead. He was a good forty yards away and running towards the Vauxhall Bridge Road, which struck Tina as odd, since it was roughly the direction he’d