"Morning Guv. Thought you might need this." Mickey handed over a coffee-filled Styrofoam cup to the DCI as he settled himself in the passenger seat of Jack's car.
"Thanks Mickey." Jack acknowledged, feeling the bite of the crisp early morning breeze as the door was pulled shut. "How can it still be dipping below zero so far into Spring?" Jack commented, not really requiring an answer, more needing to fill the silence that had settled between the two men. He was keyed up, nervous about the reasons behind Hugh's sudden transfer and the late hour at which they had been informed of the plan. "Did Sandford say what time the transport leaves exactly?"
"6am, before the other prisoners are up and about to minimise the possibility of trouble kicking off," Mickey informed his superior blowing on his own coffee to cool it before sipping the dark liquid. "How did Superintendent Okaro take the news?" The DC asked as Jack's mobile rang.
"I guess we're about to find out." Jack muttered as he read the display on his phone's tiny flashing screen. "DCI Meadows."
"Jack, tell me you're not really sitting outside Longmarsh prison with only Mickey Webb for backup, waiting for Hugh Wallis to be transferred to another prison on the off chance he's planning to make a run for it?" Adam's voice was terse on the other end of the line.
"I can't do that Sir." Jack admitted.
"I want you back at the station now!" Adam barked.
"I can't do that either Sir. There's something going on here, this has all been too neat, too quick and too quiet for it to be above board. Governor Sandford knew that by leaving it until late last night, there was no way we could arrange a suitable obbo in time for the transfer this morning…" Jack began to argue.
"I hope you're not implying that Governor Sandford has any part in this conspiracy theory of yours Jack?"
"With all due respect Adam, this is about Hugh Wallis. We all know how convincing he can be, how persuasive – he took all of us in when he kidnapped Abigail Nixon. He gets off on winding Sam up and if I know Wallis, there's no way he'll be able to resist such a prime opportunity to pop a dig at her now. Somehow, he's managed to plan something without us detecting it, which means he's had help from channels we haven't been monitoring. Mickey came across some very interesting rumours about a prison officer, Robert McAdam, being involved with Jack Mitchell who just happens to be a good friend of Hugh's – if the rumours are true and Mitchell has provided Hugh with evidence, it could prove very useful as blackmail material. And guess who is on escort duty this morning to take Wallis to his new home?"
"As fascinating as all that sounds Jack, it is based on a slanderous, flimsy rumour for which there is no evidence. I am giving you a direct order, return to the station and come straight to my office, you and DC Webb. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action, action which DC Webb can ill afford and which will look none too good on your own record if you ever hope to progress up the ladder. Do I make myself clear?" Adam asked coldly.
"Yes Sir." Jack answered before ending the call.
"Well?" Mickey twisted in his seat to look at Jack expectantly.
"He wants us back at the station… now." Jack told his constable, grim-faced as he tussled between sticking with his instincts and obeying Adam's order.
"But Guv, what about Wallis? We can't just let him do a runner. We both know there's something not right about this setup. If we let him go we might never catch up with him and Jo, Sam, Abi and Joey will all be at risk as long as he's out there." Mickey ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair, exasperated at the possibility of letting Hugh slip through their fingers.
"If we don't go back, Superintendent Okaro has made it clear that we would be jeopardising our careers. I can't ask you to do that." Jack informed the younger man.
"No but I can volunteer. I'm not letting him get away Guv, Sam and Jo have always been good to me, I won't risk their lives because Okaro's worried about politics. Besides, what's the worst that can happen? You get a slap on the wrist and I get bounced back to uniform for a while 'til I've learnt my lesson." Mickey retorted, ever the optimist.
"You could be bounced off the force Mickey, permanently."
"Not if we're right. It's now or never Guv, are you staying or going?" Mickey asked as the gates started to open to allow the prison van transporting Hugh to pass through. Jack never answered Mickey verbally, instead choosing to fire up the engine and prepare to follow the van on it's journey.
"Anyone seen DCI Meadows this morning?" Sam asked as she poked her head out of her office. "Come to think of it, where's DC Webb?" Phil shrugged looking to the others in the department to see if they could shed any light on their colleagues' whereabouts.
"I overheard Superintendent Okaro talking to DCI Meadows earlier this morning, he said something about being at the prison with Mickey for backup but I've not heard of anything going down," Ramani supplied.
"Thanks, Ramani, I'll see if the Super can shed any more light on the matter." Sam called as she disappeared through the swing doors leading to the corridor where Adam's office was situated. Knocking on the door after checking through the window to see if he was in, Sam paused until she was bade to enter before skirting through the door and closing it behind her.
"What can I do for you DI Nixon?" Adam's tone was more clipped than usual, his stare direct and unnerving.
"Well I hope Superintendent Okaro is as forgiving as you make him out to be Mickey because if he isn't you and I will be down at the job centre tomorrow morning." Jack commented idly as he followed at a discrete distance behind the prison van, the absence of much other traffic making them more liable to stand out if they got too close.
"Guv, there's a van doing some serious speed along the road running parallel to this one, I can see it from here. There's a junction ahead where the two roads intersect one another, looks like we might have ourselves a likely candidate." Mickey commented, more concerned with the immediate action than with the possible consequences of disobeying the Super's order.
"If the driver's clocked it, he's taking no evasive action yet." The DCI observed, swiftly glancing to his left to see the van to which Mickey was referring.
"Maybe he's in on the scam," the DC suggested feeling a surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins. "If something does go down, are we going to nick Wallis?"
"That'll depend on who he has for company… and how tooled up they are." The intersection was rapidly approaching with the two vans still on a collision course, neither showing any signs of slowing. "If we've got right of way on this road, either the driver of that van has a death wish or we're about to witness a hijack. There's no way he's going to stop, going at that speed." Jack muttered easing off the gas so and pulling onto the muddy verge far enough so as not to be obviously visible whilst still maintaining a good view. The white van on the approaching road skidded into the path of the prison truck forcing it to swerve violently, it's angle making a getaway impossible. Two balaclava clad figures poured from the van brandishing firearms malevolently, gesturing for the driver and his front seat passenger, Robert McAdam, to alight from the vehicle.
"I'll radio for backup Guv." Mickey jabbered, partly excited at having been proved right, partly petrified in case their car was spotted
"No point, they'll be long gone by the time anyone can get here. We're in the middle of nowhere and even with no traffic around SO19 couldn't get here before that van is just a distant memory. We're on our own Mickey, we'll have to make the best of it. No matter what happens, stick with Hugh Wallis." Jack reached behind him for the camera he had brought along, immediately snapping away grabbing photos of the gunmen busily springing Hugh from his cell inside the prison truck. A shot being fired focused both men's attention on the situation developing on the road ahead of them, the driver of the prison transport slumping to the ground from the kneeling position he had been forced into. Glancing at Jack, Mickey watched as the older man adjusted the zoom lens continuing to capture the carnage developing little more than 50 yards in front of them.
The witness watched, through the view finder of the digital camera, the fine mist of blood explode from the first guard's head as one of the masked raiders fired a bullet at point blank range into the back of his skull, the camera zoomed in as close as he could get it from his excellent vantage point. Tiring of the depravity before him, he scanned further down the road to the unmarked car occupied by two men, who even in plain clothes would never be mistaken for anything other than police officers. He'd watched as they pulled off the road earlier, hiding in a lay-by moments before the white non-descript van had intercepted the prison truck. He watched the younger one's jaw working overtime, as the situation unfolded. Lining them both up in his sights he took a shot for good measure, never knowing when it might come in handy.
Hugh emerged from the van stretching luxuriously, a smug grin adorning his face as Robert McAdam was forced to kneel in front of him.
"Perfect timing boys. Nice work Robert. You do understand I have to make this look authentic? You wouldn't want it to look obvious that you helped with this would you?" Hugh accepted a handgun from one of the masked men, bouncing it up and down in his hand as if testing the weight of the weapon before cocking the hammer and taking aim at the squirming officer who had facilitated his release. Hugh lowered his arm at the last moment as he squeezed the trigger, blasting a painful hole in the Scotsman's groin. "Maybe that will remind you to think with your head rather than your dick, you pathetic, disgusting piece of crap." Spitting on the writhing, prone figure as he stepped over him, Hugh snarled, "and that's for every meal you and your mates gobbed on while I was inside. Don't die too quickly." As Hugh clambered into the back of the van his rescuers had arrived in, Jack was still busy snapping away with the camera. Only once the accomplices were ensconced in the front of the vehicle did Jack turn his attention back to Mickey ordering frantically for him to give chase as he himself clambered out of the car, mobile phone already out and dialling for backup.
"Just follow them, no heroics, Mickey. First sign they've clocked you pull out, I don't want you getting shot otherwise Okaro will have my balls on a plate." The DCI called to his subordinate.
Returning his attention and the focus of the camera to the job he was being paid to do, the man took a few more photographs of Hugh Wallis before watching him clamber into the back of the van. Pulling out his mobile phone, he dialled a number he knew off by heart. "The van's on the move, tracking system's online but he's got a tail. Vehicle Index Number Papa Uniform five one Tango, Romeo, Echo, driven by a sandy haired little runt. Make sure he gets separated from the van as soon as." Rapidly packing his camera up and having a quick scout round to make sure nothing was left behind to tie him to the scene, the witness raced to his motorbike and set off in pursuit of the van.
"I was wondering where DCI Meadows and DC Webb had got to this morning? Ramani mentioned you spoke to them earlier. Is there something going on at the prison?" Sam forced herself to stand still, the need to fidget under her superior's unflinching gaze almost irresistible.
"Nothing is going on at the prison other than DCI Meadows vanquishing some personal vendetta against Governor Sandford and his employees. The notion that they have orchestrated this prisoner transfer to provide Hugh Wallis with the chance to abscond from custody is nothing short of absurd."
"Hugh's being transferred? Since when? When was this arranged?" Sam jumped on the news, furious that Jack had not informed her himself.
"Apparently Governor Sandford passed the information onto DC Webb late last night. He and Jack have taken it upon themselves to follow the van so they will be on site in the unlikely event of Hugh making a bid for freedom." Adam scoffed. "I ordered them to return to the station as soon as I became aware of the plan, it would appear they have chosen, unwisely, to ignore that order." A knock on the door forestalled any response from Sam, a sheepish looking Smithy poking his head round the doorjamb as Adam barked out for the intruder to enter.
"Sir, Guv, I thought you'd want to know. We've had a report from DCI Meadows of an incident involving the prison van transporting Hugh Wallis from Longmarsh prison. The van was hijacked, both of the guards shot and left for dead. Two patrol cars and an ambulance are on their way to the scene now. Wallis was bundled into the back of another truck and driven off, Mickey Webb went after it but lost them when a lorry pulled across the road to back into a warehouse in front of him." Smithy reported hurriedly casting a worried glance in Sam's direction.