and he groped past the other police car that had stopped. The driver of this car also slowly getting to his feet. Dennis helped him then moved forward. Three police cars were burning and he shielded his face with his hand as he got closer. A sickening pall of black smoke rising. Then Dennis was running for the coach knowing it too would catch fire at any moment. The smell of burning flesh was nauseating and Dennis saw the burning policemen sitting upright in their car seats and he fought the urge to vomit. He swallowed the bitter tasting liquid that had found its way into his mouth.
A window on the coach exploded and he heard the screams of the passengers trapped inside. Dennis made his way round to the front. He could see the coach driver was dead. Then the vehicle began to burn and the screams intensified. Some of the passengers were scrabbling through the smashed window and they crawled along the side which was now the roof of the coach. One man was struggling and he fell back twice. Willing hands outside tried to pull him up and then suddenly the flames leapt and he was consumed. Those trying to help him scrambled to safety. Dennis ran around to the back of the coach knowing there would be an emergency exit, the back window. He could see there was no outside handle to open it. It required a special hammer to break it. The hammer was inside. The back window like all the other windows was tinted and he could see hands frantically thumping at it. Then he saw a child’s face appear at the glass and he began kicking the toughened glass. He kicked it repeatedly but it wouldn’t break. A policeman suddenly appeared alongside him and together they tried to break it. Still to no avail. Other faces appeared at the glass now, panicking. Then Dennis grabbed the policeman’s gun and he banged hard on the back window.
“Move back! I’m going to shoot the glass!” he shouted.
He knew he probably couldn’t be heard so he banged the gun on the window a few times then moved back and pointed it. The faces disappeared and he fired. The first three bullets travelling so fast just punched holes in the tinted glass. The fourth one shattered it into millions of cubes. Dennis knocked as much of the glass in as he could. Desperate hands reached out and Dennis grabbed the child and pulled her to safety as the policeman began pulling people from the wreckage. He carried her to the Lancia and opened the back door and placed her inside. She was crying and he bent down and brushed her long hair away from her face.
“Shh. Shh. You’re safe now,” he said.
A woman came hysterically running to the car. Dennis moved out of her way and she reached in and scooped the little girl up. She kissed the child repeatedly on the side of her head, the hug so intense.
“Grazi! Grazi! Signori!” the woman said, then, realising Dennis may be English she said, “Thank you for saving my little Rosa. Thank you.”
Dennis placed his hand gently on the woman’s shoulder and they exchanged a smile. The sound of another small explosion came across to him and he was running back to the coach. The policeman was still plucking people from the back window and Dennis rushed in and was helping to pull them out. Then his T-shirt was getting wet and he tasted the sweet water on his lips and he couldn’t understand how it could be raining when the sky had been clear all day. Then suddenly the firemen were there and kind hands grabbed Dennis and helped him back, to safety. He saw the hose that was held by two firefighters that was already dousing the flames that now hissed and he realised that this was his rain. The fireman who helped him was checking him over for injuries and Dennis shook his head.
“I’m all right.”
The fireman nodded and rushed off to help others. Dennis looked at the woman still cradling the small child her eyes never having once left him. He half smiled again and then a dark thought crossed his mind and he walked across the carriageway to see past the coach, to look for the Hummers. The road ahead was completely clear. The Hummers were gone.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Peter Dennis sat on the steps of the ambulance while he had his scratches and small