Buried (DC Jack Warr #1) - Lynda La Plante Page 0,103

rallied his team without even asking where Jack was. He’d stopped caring. So, Laura wasn’t exactly going against any orders by guiding Jack to their location via a series of text messages.

The terraced building had a shared stairwell, so the Armed Response Units had to be very careful to cut off all routes to the other properties. If Barry made it into a neighbouring flat, the shit would really hit the fan. So, one ARU would block his route upstairs and out the front, while a second unit headed round the back to block the rear. Barry would have nowhere to run.

What the police didn’t know was that the third floor flat was also occupied by soldiers on leave.

Barry’s mobile buzzed:

Armed cops out front. Back clear for now.

He grabbed the smaller of the two rucksacks and put it securely on his back. He then pulled two handguns from under the cushion on the chair where he sat, tucking the Webley Mk IV .38 calibre into his waistband at the small of his back; this gun had seen his dad safely through World War II and was now Barry’s lucky charm. Holding the street-bought Glock 9 mm, Barry walked quietly through the kitchen. The tortoiseshell cat looked up at him through sleepy eyes, while her three remaining kittens, now with full bellies, slept soundly.

In the backyard, Barry glanced up at the third floor, where a silhouetted figure signalled that five armed officers were approaching from the west. Barry signalled his thanks and headed east, towards the rural stretch of track running between Colchester and Hythe railway stations.

*

The ARUs entered Barry’s flat on a simultaneous command. They cleared each room they passed through and met in the middle. Nothing. In the lounge, a furious Ridley found the large rucksack down the side of the armchair, with the words ‘Pte Cooper’ sewn into the inner lining. The clothes inside were used as a scent reference for the second wave deployment: the Dog Unit.

*

Barry was making his way along the trackside, under Brook Street pedestrian bridge and on towards Hythe. Anik and Laura were moving in sync with the ARU up ahead, keeping the designated distance ‒ no more, no less. Ridley, on the other hand, was discovering that his brown patent leather brogues were not cut out for muddy terrain – he’d not actually chased anyone in years, and he hadn’t expected to be doing it today. He’d planned to have Barry Cooper handed to him on a plate, after which he’d give up the names of his crew in exchange for a lighter prison sentence. No such luck.

As the dogs dragged the lead ARU at a pace behind Barry, Ridley prayed that he didn’t divert up the embankment at any point and into populated areas. As Laura ran, she just managed to text Jack to give him an update. Jack immediately turned off the A134 and got on to a dirt road running parallel to and above the train tracks. As soon as he heard the police dogs, he pulled over, jumped out and followed the sound of the sniffer dog choking itself with excitement at the end of its own lead. Jack was a good fifteen feet above the tracks on a dirt road and he very quickly realised that there was no way down. The embankment was almost sheer, loosely fenced off with barbed wire tied to staggered fenceposts. He resigned himself. Ridley was probably going to boil over if Jack ended up watching events unfold from above.

*

Barry was tiring. He kept slipping in the deep layer of small stones that ran along the side of the railway track; each time he stumbled to his hands and knees, he’d take longer to get back up. He could feel the stones through the soles of his trainers, whereas the dog handlers were wearing boots. The dogs, with no protection for their feet, opted to run higher on the embankment in the wet and muddy grass, the steep gradient being no problem for them.

As Barry ran, he tried to remember what was ahead of him in order to plan an escape. He needed to think of a way to explain the five million pounds on his back, while also thinking of a way to explain his decision to set fire to Mike’s dead body. But he had no answers to anything.

*

Barry looked down at Mike’s body and watched the blood slowly stop pouring out of the gaping head wound. After a moment,