‘Move up front,’ a voice instructed. Sam shuffled along the metal floor and ended up with his back against the front seats. There were four SBS guys in the back with him now – Dolohov was clearly being transported in the other van. One of them slammed the door shut and the van screeched out into the road.
It had been a neat pick-up, Sam had to give them that. He watched as the guys pulled off their balaclavas. Sam had worked alongside the SBS any number of times, but he didn’t recognise these men with their dishevelled hair and, he couldn’t help thinking, smug faces. It would be the talk of the town at SBS HQ in Poole that they’d been sent in to lift a Regiment guy. Sam did his best not to think about that. He kept his mind calm and, almost by reflex, started to check what assets he had at his disposal. Each of the SBS men wore ops waistcoats with flashbangs and fragmentation grenades. Their weapons were lowered – it would be stupid to discharge them in the back of the vehicle unless absolutely necessary. Rounds could easily ricochet off the metallic sides of the van and mistakes could always happen in a moving vehicle. But all this was academic. With his hands cuffed behind his back he was as good as useless.
The van stopped and started through the streets of London. Behind him, fixed to the back of the chair against which he was pressed, there was something sticking upwards. He didn’t know what it was – a rivet of some kind, perhaps there to stop the front seats from sliding too far back on their runners.
‘Looks like the Firm want you off the street pretty bad,’ one of the guys piped up. ‘You must have been a very naughty boy.’
Sam sniffed. Keep them talking, he told himself. Keep them distracted. ‘I’ve had my moments,’ he said.
‘What did the Russki do? Shag your missus?’
‘Caught her giving him a rusty trombone,’ he said with a forced grin. ‘I told him he was lucky I didn’t cut his dick off.’ He looked around him. ‘So, where are we going? Don’t tell me: curry and a few beers followed by a strip club?’
‘All right, you lot,’ one of the SBS men announced. He had blonde hair and Sam thought he recognised the voice as being that of the unit commander. ‘Let’s all shut the fuck up. You’ll find out where we’re going when we get there.’
Sam smiled at him. It took all his effort. ‘Suppose there’s no chance of stopping for a slash, then.’
By now, Sam had deduced that the rivet behind him was just small enough to slide between his Plasticuffs and his wrists. He did it slowly, so nobody could see what was going on. And then they sat in silence.
The driver was skilled, Sam could tell that. SF trained. He weaved in and out of the traffic, causing plenty of horns to beep as he cut up angry commuters. It still took him a long time, though, to get up any kind of proper speed. Half an hour, maybe? Sam knew he had to bide his time, wait for his moment. He imagined they were on the outskirts of London by now.
He tried to work it all out. Damn it, he’d been careful not to pick up any trail. Maybe he’d been too preoccupied to take the right precautions; or maybe the Firm had put so many spooks on him that he didn’t stand a chance. He cursed himself, and as he did so the sallow features of Gabriel Bland rose in his mind. This was his gig, that much was clear. He wanted to get his hands on Jacob, and with Dolohov in his possession he now had the means to do it. Sam closed his eyes. He had given the Russian details of the RV. Now that was stupid. It meant that Bland and his goons would be there to welcome Jacob the moment he arrived at Piccadilly Circus; Sam wasn’t going to let that happen.
‘So we off to Poole?’ he asked. ‘I could do with a dip.’
His attempt to cajole information about their destination was met with silence. Where were they headed? SBS HQ? Hereford? Somewhere else? He did his best to stay calm. To look subdued. If he was going to get himself out of this mess, the first thing he needed to do was lull his guards into a false sense of security. Sam hung his head on his chest and closed his eyes. He wanted to look tired. Defeated. The Plasticuffs were still wrapped around the metal rivet. It would take a hell of a pull to split them. It might not even work. But he had to try. Wherever he was being taken was bound to be a hell of a sight more difficult to break out of than a moving van. He just had to wait for the right moment.
It took a while to come.
The van was moving steadily. Not too fast, but steadily. That was good. It would be better if he could see out of a window, check the surroundings. But that was not possible. He waited, breathing deeply, preparing himself for the manoeuvre that he had planned out in his head.
He waited.
‘Looks like someone had a late night,’ one of the unit said in mock-motherly tones. A couple of the others laughed.
He waited some more.
The van swerved, slowing down into a bend. The SBS men leant into the curve, their balance momentarily precarious. Now or fucking never, Sam told himself. He tugged his hands away from the attachment; the Plasticuffs dug into his skin. This was going to hurt. It didn’t matter. He had to do it.
Now.
He yanked his wrists with all his strength.
It was the plastic digging into his flesh that he felt first. Cutting it. He ignored the stinging sensation. The muscles in his arms burned as he continued to pull. And then, with a sudden snap, the Plasticuffs broke.
For a moment, no one seemed to know what was happening. Sam hurled himself towards the nearest guard and grabbed a flashbang from his ops waistcoat before throwing it to the back of the van. Confusion. He shut his eyes and – as he prepared for the noise – jumped to his feet, spinning round so he was facing forward.
Impact. White light against the inside of his eyelids before he opened them again. He was deafened and slightly disorientated, but he reckoned he had the advantage. Ten seconds before the others were back to full capability. He had to work fast. With brute force he pressed the driver’s head flat against the steering wheel. The horn beeped loudly.
Shouting all around. With his free hand – bloodied from the deep cut on his wrist – he reached down and unclipped the seat belts of both front passengers. He grabbed the steering wheel; and only then did he check the road.
They were in a country lane. Long. Straight. Just them and an area of woodland on either side. He felt hands on his shoulders. ‘Get on the fucking floor!’ a voice shouted. ‘Get on the fucking floor, now!’
Sam ignored the instruction. He twisted the steering wheel sharply, towards the forest on the right-hand side. A tree fifteen metres away: he headed towards it. In the rear-view mirror he saw a jumble of bodies. The sudden change in the vehicle’s direction had knocked his guards off balance. The guy in the passenger seat put one hand in his face and grabbed his arms, trying to push him away from the driver. But Sam held firm. He continued to drive the van straight towards the forest, then braced himself firmly against the driver’s seat, waiting for impact.
When it came, it sent a vicious shockwave through his whole body. He jolted harshly and painfully. The hand came away from his face, but not willingly; it only moved because its owner had moved too.
The windscreen shattered. Blood and glass as his assailant’s head slammed into it. The four-man unit in the back lurched forwards in a confused mess. But they wouldn’t stay confused for long. Sam threw himself forwards, past the bloodied face of the guy in the passenger seat and headlong through the shattered windscreen. Shards of glass needled his skin, but he did what he could to ignore them as he slid down the steep, crumpled bonnet of the Transit and hit the ground to one side of the tree they’d crashed into.
Shouts behind him. Orders barked. He couldn’t hesitate for a single second. Sam powered himself up to his feet and ran. Hot blood from his cut-up face pumped into his eyes, half-blinding him. Still he ran with all the force in his body.