the bikes, then Kyle and James turned the metal ramp on to its edge and shoved it noisily back inside. Jo pointed her gun at Cobb and ordered him to walk towards a blue van parked twenty metres away.
James checked nobody was within earshot before whispering to Kyle, Tre got Markt gun. Do you reckon we can take them down??
Sot a chance,?Kyle said, shaking his head. Lot got a gun, sot Adelaide. Theret another guy with a gun in the van around the corner. Tomt up on the roof keeping lookout.?
Ehit,?James muttered. Even if we could pull that off, itr be a bloodbath.?
A police helicopter blasted overhead. Everyone looked up in shock, but it was flying high and fast, probably heading towards Tyneside Studios.
Mark was walking towards the boys. Neart missed a beat there,?he grinned, as Kyle slammed the van doors.
Are you driving this one, Kyle??James asked.
Kyle nodded, before pulling James into a hug. Eee you,
dude.?
Keep safe,?James said, as he felt Kyle slip a piece of paper into his pocket.
A blue van with Jo at the wheel and Nick Cobb handcuffed in the back roared past, with spray shooting off its back wheels.
Mark jangled a set of car keys in front of James. Better shift,?he said. Adelaidet changed already. We need to get to the safe house.?
As Kyle stepped into the drivert seat of the van with the motorbikes in the back, James and Mark strode briskly towards a small Renault parked around the corner. Adelaide gave a quick wave as she skimmed past in a Mini. Tom had jumped off the roof as soon as her seen the hostage leave and Kyle drove away with him a few seconds later.
Mark opened the back door of the Renault. He kicked off his shoes and began a quick change into a tracksuit and white canvas pumps. James stripped off his punk gear, revealing a white Nike tennis shirt with blue shorts underneath, then took a pair of white trainers out of a bag containing rackets and balls on the back seat of the car.
The clothes, shoes and sunglasses theyr used in the raid were all stuffed into a black bin liner that would be incinerated later. Mark told James to zip the handgun inside a plastic case covering a tennis racket.
James glanced at his watch again as they pulled out of the dockyard: 12:07. Thirteen minutes earlier they were masked punks waving guns around in a TV studio. Now they had different wheels and looked like a father and son heading off for a knockabout on the local courts.
32. HUMMINGBIRD
James, Mark and Adelaidet role in the kidnapping was over, but Jo had laid down strict rules for their conduct. Theyr worn disguises, but there was a chance that someone might have recognised them on TV and she wanted the trio out of the limelight until the operation was complete. Sher ordered them to hole up together in a safe house where they could keep an eye on each other. They weren't supposed to go outside, or make any attempt to communicate with friends or family.
The Mini and the Renault arrived a few minutes apart, parking outside a terraced house in the coastal town of Whitley Bay. Each floor was a small, furnished flat. James raced upstairs to the top flat and dumped his overnight pack before rushing towards the toilet. Unfortunately the door was bolted.
Ehan't be a minute,?Adelaide yelled.
Mark deadlocked the door at the bottom of the stairs before striding through to the living-room and flipping on News 24.
Te're the top story,?he yelled happily.
James was torn between needing to pee and wanting to watch the news, but Adelaide was already coming out. She flicked water off her hands before grabbing James and surprising him with a hug.
Tou were bloody great, kid,?she said, as her lips smacked his cheek. Bloody great.?
Thanks ?you weren't bad yourself,?James grinned, as he bolted the bathroom door.
There were towels on the rail and a grubby sliver of soap on the sink. So they were clearly borrowing someonet home, and it wasn't a palace.
James grabbed the piece of paper out of his pocket. Her been driven out of the farm in the back of a van and still had no clue where it was, but Kyle was driving so he had to know where he was going. The were just four words in Kylet immaculate handwriting: Hummingbird Farm near Rothbury.
It was the information James had hoped for, but getting it to the outside world wasn't going to be