metre taller than him and clearly knew his stuff.
But salvation came as twin headlamps roared out of the darkness. Tom had pulled out of a side turning in the security guardt Fiesta and ploughed into the giant at thirty miles an hour. He rolled up over the bonnet and smacked into the ground with a hollow thud that didn't bear thinking about. For a second, James and Kyle froze in shock.
Then, as the car pulled up sharply, Kyle grabbed James?arm to help him up.
Tou OK??Kyle asked.
Can't breathe,?James moaned, clutching his chest. My ribs are killing me.?
Kyle opened the back door and took some of James?weight as he staggered across and collapsed on to the rear seat.
Therer you disappear to??Kyle asked angrily, slamming the front passenger door as Tom roared away.
T was waiting for you in the car outside,?Tom explained. But that dude pulled up in the Rapid Trak van. He saw there was no one in the kiosk and he started coming towards me, so I pulled out and went for a drive around the block.?
Tdiot,?Kyle said, as he ripped off his Balaclava. Net smaller than you and you had surprise on your side. Why didn't you rush over and lay him out, instead of giving him a chance to call out the cavalry??
Didn't think,?Tom confessed, taking another left, then pulling up at the rear of the Rapid Trak depot.
Thy have you stopped??Kyle asked.
But Kyle realised before he heard Tomt answer. In the panic to get away, her forgotten what they were doing in the first place. He opened the electric window while grabbing two miniature whiskey bottles out of his top. Each bottle had shredded paper poking out of the top and extra thick globs of napalm filling the bottom third.
Keep your foot on that accelerator 抍os this is really gonna blow,?Kyle said.
He lit the paper shreds sticking out of the two miniature bottles and flung them high over the chain link fence. James and Kyle looked backwards as Tom downed the accelerator and shifted the car up through the gears.
But twenty seconds passed and nothing happened.
Ehall we go back??Tom asked, slowing the car.
That are the odds on that??Kyle said furiously. That whole place is soaked in fuel.?
慤nbelievable,?Tom gasped, hammering on the steering wheel as the car stopped moving.
Te can't turn back now,?Kyle said. The cops must be on their way. Itt too dan棐
The sky lit up before Kyle finished his sentence. The little Ford was several hundred metres clear of the depot, but the blast still made it wobble. Car alarms went off, windows in the surrounding buildings shattered and the blast of heat was so intense that James could feel it on his neck, magnified through the glass in the rear window.
The front tyres squealed as Tom floored the accelerator. They turned out of the industrial park and back on to the dual carriageway as a secondary explosion sent towers of flame fifty metres into the air. When the noise faded, they could hear police sirens in the distance.
27. GETAWAY
Twenty minutes later, James, Kyle and Tom arrived at a mock-Tudor house seven kilometres outside of Wrexham. The light came on in the garage as they pulled on to the driveway and by the time theyr stopped inside, a lanky man had run around the back of the car and pulled down the metal door.
So sign of a tail??he asked, as three car doors opened.
Sot as far as we can tell,?Tom said.
T'll Mark,?the beanpole said, as Kyle looked around and noticed that he wore disposable gloves and had a handgun tucked into the waistband of his shorts. Leave your maps, dirty gloves and everything else we gave you inside the car. IEl switch plates, take it across town and burn it out in a field before sunrise.?
James had to lean against the garage wall as he hobbled around the outside of the car.
Now you doing??Kyle asked.
Aot my wind back,?James nodded. But my anklet bloody agony.?
Tre been listening to a police scanner all night,?Mark said. By the sound of things you three pulled it off good. Theret over two million quidt worth of wheels in that depot and I doubt thereEl be a serviceable set left when the smoke clears.?
Tom looked at Mark. T ran a guy down with the car. Did you overhear anything about that??
Mnly that there was an ambulance called to the scene,?Mark said, as he produced three sets of disposable gloves from his shirt pocket. Come through to the house. Afraid youEl have to wear