at the last moment as two police motorcycles blew past him and closed on the Hummers and Dennis watched in horror as men holding machine guns leaned out of the windows and sprayed the motorcycles with bullets. The first rider was killed instantly and fell from his BMW which slid on its side for a short distance before stopping, motorists frantically swerving to avoid it. The other one exploded when the fuel tank was hit and the rider was thrown clear. Dennis turned his head and closed his eyes for a moment as the body of the policeman went under the wheels of an articulated lorry. He opened them in time to see the back axles of the vehicle bouncing as they crushed the man.
“Jesus,” Dennis muttered.
He had to brake hard and swerve as motorway users performed emergency action to avoid the carnage and now the traffic was slowing ahead. Two police cars raced past headlights and blue lights ablaze. Dennis switched on his siren and blue light again and changed lanes until he was on the hard shoulder. He raced the Lancia’s engine through the gears and hammered down the middle lane now the road in front clear as far as the Hummers. The two police cars were keeping a safe distance. Dennis could hear their conversation with control over the Lancia’s radio.
The Hummer’s were back in traffic now. They raced past the junctions for the Fumicino airport. The traffic here slowing into two lanes. The telephone on the passenger seat began ringing again.
“We’ve got you on the scanner,” Sonnenburg began, “We’re setting up a road block. As you pass each junction more police cars will join. The idea is to box them in and slow them down, eventually stopping them.”
“You’d better tell them not to get too close,” Dennis replied, “They’ve got machine guns and they’ve already killed two of your motorcyclists….”
Dennis read the road sign ahead.
“Civitavecchia,” he said, “Is that the port where the big cruise ships dock?”
“It is. Tarquinia is just beyond it and if you maintain the speed you’re doing you’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Sonnenburg was right Dennis was thinking as he and the police cars tailing the Hummers raced past the exit for the port. Above, the helicopter kept a distance from any potential gunfire. Dennis was at the back of the carabinieri cars which were keeping a formation to stop any vehicles from behind in overtaking. Then ahead in the distance in the fading light Dennis saw the unmistakeable bulk of a transporter plane flying low. The flashing lights on the aircraft drawing his attention. Even from this distance Dennis recognised it as a C130 Lockheed Hercules. Dennis was going to dismiss the aircraft but it suddenly occurred to him that it might be heading for the airfield bought by Von Werner. What was it called? Tarquinia?
Then Dennis saw the sign for Tarquinia and he knew that must be where the transporter was heading. He picked up the phone to ring Sonnenburg to warn him when the unthinkable happened. Almost as if in slow motion Dennis saw the Hummers pass a coach full of tourists. As the last Hummer passed a man leaned out of the back window, aimed his gun and fired a burst of bullets at the front wheel which exploded in large lumps of rubber. Dennis imagined the driver fighting for control and then suddenly it was swerving across the lanes without slowing. The twelve ton coach ploughed into the central reservation, destroying a few metres of it before the vehicle mounted it. The front end of the coach rose into the air, the chassis clearly visible, before it came crashing back down on its side in a shower of sparks and broken glass. The coach slid along the carriageway for a short distance and then completely stopped. The first two police cars were unable to stop in time and they ploughed straight into the wreckage. The third lost control and slammed into the central reservation. Another police car slammed into the two already embedded into the coach. The last was able to stop. Dennis in the Lancia was also able to stop, the Lancia’s tyres squealing black smoke. Then Dennis was throwing open the driver’s door and he was out running to the scene.
He got halfway when one of the police cars exploded, picking him up and throwing him through the air. Dennis landed in the road, his ears ringing. Then slowly he was able to get up