‘What’s your money on?’ Diamond asked. ‘Another phone shop or something more ambitious?’
‘They’re after small stuff, that’s for sure,’ Halliwell said. ‘A jeweller’s, maybe.’
‘Turning right,’ Gilbert’s voice told them. ‘Still observing speed limits.’
‘Maybe the judge will take that into account,’ Halliwell murmured.
‘Passing the university campus. The road is straight here. I’m having to stay well back.’
‘Doesn’t matter,’ Halliwell told him. ‘The bug is working nicely. We can follow the route by radio if needed.’
The white van and the Range Rover took another short cut, down Prior Park Road, avoiding Widcombe Hill. Local knowledge.
‘Crunch time coming shortly,’ Diamond said. ‘Why don’t you radio the others and tell them to have their engines running?’
‘I can do that, but let’s see which way they come in.’
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? Under the viaduct and over Churchill Bridge.’
‘But then what?’
‘Fair enough. We’ll see.’ He hated chasing around in cars, and waiting to chase around was worse.
Paul Gilbert radioed that he was closing up on the Range Rover now. Then the unexpected happened. ‘Bloody hell. They’re not going into the centre. They’re heading up Wells Road.’
‘What’s up there?’ Halliwell said.
This was the south-west route out of Bath. Diamond knew it well. He’d lived on Wellsway for a time and done the drive every day. The suspects were dodging the trap. ‘Doesn’t matter what’s up there. We’re down here and we’ve got to move. Did you hear that, driver?’
He’d taken charge. Halliwell would have to make his protest later. He put out an instruction to the others to head the same way.
‘It’s mostly small shops,’ he said, answering Halliwell’s question as they accelerated to the end of Manvers Street and swung right in front of the railway station. ‘I can’t think of anything I’d want to rob.’
‘Do you think they spotted Gilbert tailing them?’
‘Must have.’ He was tight-lipped.
‘So do we want to chase them?’
‘We have to.’ He leaned forward to speak to the driver. ‘You’ve got a winker on your roof. Use it.’
They passed through a red traffic light, crossed Churchill Bridge and rounded the elongated island that stands under the railway. A left turn and they were racing up Wells Road.
‘Report your position, Sierra One.’
‘Just passing Bear Flat,’ Gilbert answered.
‘Leaving the shops behind?’
‘Pretty well.’
‘Are they both in sight still?’
‘Yes. Turning left on Milton. Shall I follow?’
Milton was one of several avenues named after poets. The developers had grand aspirations. When built around 1900, the area was known as Poets’ Corner. These days Shakespeare, Kipling, Milton and Longfellow were better known for bumper-to-bumper parking.
‘Yes. We reckon they spotted you anyway. Keep them in sight. Don’t do anything until the back-up arrives. We’re coming up Holloway, only three minutes behind you.’
‘Guv, they’ve stopped,’ Gilbert said. ‘Right in the middle of the road.’
‘Both vehicles?’
‘What do I do — nick them?’
‘No. See what happens.’
‘It’s very narrow where they are. Parked cars either side. Door’s opening. The guy’s got out. He’s left the Range Rover blocking the street and he’s running to the van. There’s no way I can get past. Oh Christ, they’re getting away.’
Diamond studied the map and told the driver, ‘There’s a street called Chaucer that crosses all the others. They’ll use that and double down Kipling or one of the others. If we pick the right one we can head them off.’
‘Which one, sir?’
Shakespeare, Kipling or Longfellow? He’d never had time for fancy writers.
‘Kipling.’
He radioed to the others to block the remaining avenues as soon as they arrived.
Gilbert came on again, saying the van had disappeared fast and he couldn’t see which turn it had taken on Chaucer Avenue. ‘I’m stuck behind the Range Rover. There’s no way I can get round it. Oh my God — it’s on fire! He’s torched it.’
This was turning into a nightmare. Diamond radioed for the fire service.
The car swung at speed into Kipling Avenue. They could see at once that they’d boobed. Nothing else was moving. There were just parked cars stretching to infinity.
Halliwell said, ‘Personally, I would have gone for Shakespeare.’
‘Sod off, Keith.’
There was still an outside chance that one of the other vehicles would intercept the van. But did it happen? This wasn’t Diamond’s night.
They waited ten minutes and drove round to Milton Avenue and watched the firemen dowse the flames. The Range Rover was exposed as a black, steaming wreck. The adjacent cars would be write-offs. ‘The end of Operation Fleece,’ he said.
It wasn’t quite.
While they were returning down Wellsway there was an all-units alert. ‘Break-in reported in Westgate Street. A four-by-four drove into the shopfront of Brackendale’s the jeweller’s. Repeat, Brackendale’s in Westgate Street. Two suspects have left the scene in another vehicle. No description yet.’
‘Suckered,’ Diamond said.
25
A select group assembled in Diamond’s office at eleven nextmorning. With little more than four hours’ sleep behindthem, they were a sorry bunch.
‘The good news is that Georgina is out all morning,’ Diamond told them. ‘A meeting at headquarters. The bad news is that she heard about the raid already. Wants me to phone her this afternoon with an explanation.’
‘Does she know about…’ Keith Halliwell shrank from speaking the words. They had a different resonance now.
‘Operation Fleece? I think not. But she will. There’s no concealing it from her.’
Young DC Gilbert said, ‘At least we were doing something.’
‘Get real, son. We were shafted.’
‘Hung out to dry,’ Halliwell said.
Diamond turned to look out of the window as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. ‘In all my years of service I can’t remember an op that was such a disaster. I take my share of the blame, of course.’
‘All of us fell for it,’ Halliwell said.
‘Yes, and Georgina will nail us to the wall. Are we agreed on what actually happened last night?’
Halliwell was desperate to get in first. ‘We were led to believe these guys were teenagers.’
‘They are,’ Gilbert said, some colour rising in his gaunt face.
‘Amateurs, then. Kids starting out, wet behind the ears.’
‘I only had Jackman’s word. He misjudged them.’
Diamond intervened. ‘Wait a bit, you two. There’s an assumption here that… What do they call themselves?’
‘Jacob and Romney.’
‘… that Jacob and Romney are the villains. Forget that. They were minor players. Their job was to set up the decoy, which they did. The Range Rover was never intended to be used for a ram raid. It was to draw us off limits while the real heist went ahead in Westgate Street. We fell for an elaborate con. My first question is: was Jackman a party to it, or was he conned as well?’
‘Trust me, he’s up and up,’ Gilbert said. ‘He was dead nervous. I could see it.’
‘Nervous of what?’ Halliwell said. ‘He could have been nervous we would rumble him.’
‘Either way, he was taking big risks,’ Diamond said. He turned to Gilbert. ‘You know what you’re going to do? Follow up with this guy. Get heavy with him. Find out who he was dealing with. Did he meet the big boys? Who was paying him? How was it bankrolled? They won’t use him again. They won’t protect him, so he’s easy meat.’
‘I’ll get onto it,’ Gilbert said, starting to rise, hoping he could walk out of the door.
Diamond pointed his finger to keep him in the hot seat.
‘Should we nick the two lads?’ John Leaman said. He could afford to make suggestions. He’d played no part in the planning, and he was only in attendance through seniority.