Andy McNab - Dark winter

'Get moving.' I could hear a lot of people talking in the background and phones ringing and getting answered around the Yes Man. 'I want that mobile, and the canisters.'

Suzy was silently mouthing to me, 'Immigration.'

I said, 'Are the plates blocked?' I wanted to know if we could speed without being chased by the police, if the registration number was on their computers as one to be left alone.

'Of course. Just get your foot down.'

'What about the Immigration people?'

'Fuck Immigration. A clean-up team will take care of them.'

There was more background chaos in my earpiece and a bleep from the fill before he closed down.

'London. We've got blocked plates.'

The engine revved and we started to fly out of King's Lynn.

I was shaking my head. 'That's the first time I've heard him swear. You?'

'Never. He must be flapping big-time.'

She went straight across a raised roundabout on the edge of town, showing off the fast-driving skills she'd probably learned in the Det. I checked traser. It was nearly eleven – just before six at Josh's.

The ops phone rang. It made me jump, but Suzy's eyes never left the road.

'Change of plan. Go to Fakenham racecourse – repeat, Fakenham racecourse. Call me when you get there. Have you got that?'

'Fakenham racecourse.'

'There'll be a heli arriving within thirty minutes. Hand the phone to the technician. I want you back in London and ready to move once we find out where these scum are. The situation has moved on now that the agent could already be aerosolized. If they are not found tonight we will have to go to government, and that must not happen. Do you understand?'

'Yes.'

The phone went dead and I turned round to drag the mapbook off the back seat. 'We have a heli pickup at Fakenham racecourse.'

'And where exactly is Fakenham, Norfolk boy?'

I turned my Maglite on and flicked over a few pages. 'Not the way we're going.'

She braked and threw the car into the side of the road.

'We need to get back towards King's Lynn. Fakenham is about forty Ks east of us, further into Norfolk. The racecourse is south of the town. Better get your foot down.'

She turned the wheel and spun the car round.

'Why does he always makes me feel as if we're the guilty party here?'

She changed straight from fifth to third before overtaking a line of three cars. 'We're not, I am. You were right about getting out of there early.'

'No drama. Anyway, he told me that a cleanup team will be on target tonight to sort out the Immigration boys. They'll be having breakfast with Simon for the next few days. I hope they thank us for the overtime.'

She laughed, a bit too much, but so did I.

She was back to normal now. 'Throw up, that's what you call a U-turn in North Det, isn't it?'

I navigated for her as we screamed along narrow B roads and through villages with no street-lights. The gearbox would be in shit state by the time we got there, but who cared? It was a big firm.

We hit a town called Swaffham and headed northish towards Fakenham. It was a much better road now, but I couldn't stop myself doing some phantom braking as Suzy threw the car into the bends. 'Stop doing that,' she snapped. 'Or drive yourself.'

I smiled, got out my cell and tapped in Josh's number. Suzy didn't say anything as I sat there with something to my ear that obviously wasn't a moan-phone.

Josh answered. I bent down into the footwell to try to find a quieter spot. 'It's me, it's Nick.'

It seemed he couldn't hear me too well over the noise of the high-revving engine. 'What? That you, Nick?'

'Yes, listen – she's coming back tomorrow.'

'Say again?'

'Tomorrow, she's coming back tomorrow.'

'Where are you, man? In a wind tunnel or something?'

'Call Carmen, will you? Find out her flight and pick her up. You'll need to pick her up. She is back tomorrow. You get that?'

Josh had, and was in orbit. 'What are you at, man? You're doing it again – you're butting out. What is it with you?'

'Just call Carmen – she's arranged everything.' I didn't add that I only hoped she had.

Suzy braked sharply and I looked up to see her flashing a VW to get out of the way. Its horn blasted as we overtook near a bend and Josh screamed at me down the cell.

'Fuck you, man, you're doing it again!' The Yes Man wasn't the only one tonight who'd changed his Christian ways. I must have the gift.

'Call her, call her.' I hit the end button. However pissed off he was with me, he'd be on the phone to Carmen right now. We'd just have to patch things up later.

Suzy's face was caught in the glow of the dashboard, still concentrating on the tunnel of light created by the headlamp beams and the high trees either side of the road. The rev counter was into the red. Without so much as a sideways flicker of the eyes, she smiled knowingly. 'Kelly going home?'

'Fucking right she is.' I gripped my seat as she took a bump and all four wheels left the road. 'Aren't you worried about anyone?'

'Nope. No one.'

A sign flashed by at 115 m.p.h. 'Fakenham 4'.

Another corner was coming up. She dipped the lights to double-check if any traffic was coming the other way, then switched back to full beam. She braked hard on the straight, block-changed from fifth to second, and accelerated hard through the apex on the wrong side of the road. An oncoming car two hundred metres away flashed us angrily.

I gave it a few more minutes and dialled Carmen.

'It's me, Nick. Did you change the flights?'

'Who?'

'Nick.'

'It's very late, you know.'

'Have you organized the flight for tomorrow?'

'It's so late and what with Josh just calling as well… he woke us up.'

'Have you sorted out the flights?'

'Yes, she's flying in the afternoon. We have to be there at one, so we'll leave at eleven – that's if we wake up in time. Now, if we pay as soon as the statement comes in you won't have to-'

'Is she awake?'

'Of course not – I imagine she's only just got back to sleep after talking to Josh. I can't wake her again.'

'Carmen, please? This is really important.'

'Nothing's as important to a girl her age as a good night's sleep. I'm not going to wake her.'

'OK.' I resisted the urge to yell my frustration at her. Maybe she was right. 'I'll call again in the morning. Look, I'm going into a tunnel, got to go.' I cut the phone's power.

We were hitting the outskirts of Fakenham and almost immediately the racecourse was sign-posted to the right. We took the turn, then another less than half a mile later. The roads were getting narrower each time. Suzy made few concessions. 'Now what?'

'Drive in and park up, I suppose.' I picked up the moan-phone and called the Yes Man. 'We're here.'

'You still have the mobile and the canisters?'

'Yes.' What the fuck did he think? That I'd popped them into a car-boot sale?

'The pickup should be there soon. Bring him in on Quebec.'

'OK, on Quebec. It'll be a Maglite.'

'I don't care what it is. Just bring him in and get on board.' The phone went dead.

The road became a narrow stretch of tarmac with white-painted posts either side, which soon became a long blur as Suzy forgot to relax her right foot. I was looking out for possible landing sites in case we couldn't get on to the racecourse itself. We passed tennis courts to the right, some buildings to the left, and arrived in a large gravelled parking area. Cars were clustered round the entrance to what looked like a sports club, with signposts pointing off to squash courts and all sorts. Light shone from the front windows and I could see a group of not-so-sporty figures inside, propping up the bar.

The racecourse was in front of us, fenced off by white-plastic rails. To our half-right was the shadow of the grandstand. Suzy parked and we took our cover docs from under the seats and stuffed our ready bags with all the empty military NBC wrappers. We didn't want the local police finding a car full of interest. They'd be happy with just a few new pairs of socks and my Next boxers.