‘You’re taking the piss.’
Jenny sighed. ‘I’m not taking the piss. I really need to get home. So, come on, how much?’
The controller pointed out of the window towards the road leading down from Whitworth Street to the station. ‘Get a train, love.’
‘I can’t get a bloody train,’ Jenny snapped, ‘because the trains are not running for some reason.’
A customer who had been waiting in line behind Jenny stepped forward. ‘Yeah, I just discovered that too,’ he said leaning on the cab controller’s counter beside Jenny. ‘Apparently there was some terrorist threat received this morning. That’s the rumour I heard, some sort of bomb threat.’
Jenny turned back to the controller. ‘There, see? That’s why I need a flippin’ cab. Did you know the coaches are out too?’
‘And the airports,’ added the man standing next to her. ‘There’ve been security alerts everywhere, it seems. There were tanks rolling up outside Heathrow I heard.’
The controller shook his head again. ‘Well, whatever. We only do a local service, love.’
‘Okay,’ replied Jenny digging into her bag to produce her purse, ‘how much then? A couple of hundred?’
‘No, look sorry, sweetheart, we can’t take you down to London.’
‘Would five hundred cover it?’ said the other man.
The controller looked at him with a sceptical frown. ‘You’ll pay five hundred pounds?’
He nodded. ‘Yup, I’ve got a meeting this afternoon I can’t afford to miss. I’ll pay five hundred.’
The controller scratched his head. ‘O-o-okay, your money. I’ll see if we have a taker then,’ he muttered shaking his head with bemusement. He began talking over the radio.
Jenny turned to the man behind her. ‘Could we possibly share? I can pay half.’
The man, tall, slim, wearing a dark blue suit, the jacket carefully draped over one arm and the top button of his striped, office shirt unbuttoned, turned to look at her. She guessed he was in his mid-thirties, sensibly short dark hair, and glasses that looked as if they were at the cheaper end of the scale. Jenny thought he wouldn’t have looked out of place holding a mug of coffee and a doughnut in either a teachers’ common room, or standing, Magic Marker in hand, before a flip-pad in some ad agency’s creative mush-pit.
He pursed his lips as he considered the offer. ‘I need the cab to get me to Clapham. I’m not sure if—’
‘That’s fine,’ she replied quickly, ‘just as long as I can get to any tube station. I can get where I’m going from there.’
He tipped his head slightly, ‘Well I suppose so then, if you’re going to cover half.’
Jenny felt a small surge of relief. ‘Yes, I will. Thanks, I was beginning to wonder if I’d have to walk home,’ she added with a nervous chuckle.
‘You’re in a big hurry too?’
Jenny nodded. ‘I just . . . well, with things the way they are, I want to be home.’
He seemed confused by that. ‘The way what is?’
‘You know? The news. The riots.’
‘The riots? Do you mean that Middle East thing?’
She nodded.
‘Oh right. Yes, I suppose that’s a little worrying, especially if we’re now getting bomb threats over here. It’s really screwed up travelling today. But you know, hopefully it’ll all be back to normal again tomorrow, business as usual.’
The controller thanked the driver he’d been talking to and turned to them. ‘Yeah, all right I’ve got a driver who’ll do it later on this morning. But he wants the five hundred in cash, and wants to see it in your hand before he’ll take you.’
‘Oh God, thank you!’ Jenny sighed with relief. ‘Thank you.’
The controller shrugged. ‘It’s your money, love. Me, I’d spend the money on a nice hotel tonight and try my luck with the trains tomorrow.’
Trains tomorrow? Anything at all running tomorrow?
She wondered if she should just come out and say something like that. But then, she didn’t want to scare off the man standing beside her by sounding like some kind of nut.
‘I’m just in a really big hurry, all right?’ she said.
CHAPTER 24
9.45 a.m. GMT UEA, Norwich
He listened to the call connect, then a short electronic warbling as the digital encryption filter kicked in, then a voice, masked with a pitch filter answered.
‘Yes.’
‘I nearly had the target. But someone warned her at the last moment.’
‘Yes. We know this. She received a call from her father. He now suspects we may be after her.’
‘That makes things a little more difficult.’
‘Yes. The father gave her instructions to go to another location. He called it “Jill’s” place.’
‘Jill?’
‘Possibly a member of the family or