Elliott then showed Jane a small drawing. He pointed to the mobile hamburger van, then to the Rigg Approach offices of the Flying Squad, and then showed where his team would be working on the drainage manhole. Jane remained seated as the back doors were opened and, from beneath the van, a massive pump was hauled out as two men went into the roadway, removing a large manhole cover. It was now almost 7 a.m.

Elliott listened into his headphones. ‘No sign of our suspect yet.’

The waiting was beginning to get to Jane and it didn’t help that she couldn’t see what was happening outside the van, but had to have everything relayed to her via Elliott. She took a deep breath and felt herself relax.

Elliott turned to her and asked her to say a few words. ‘Just to make one hundred percent sure the microphone’s working perfectly.’

‘What is the distance from the burger van to you?’

‘It’s quite a distance, Jane. We couldn’t get any closer as the industrial estate is so empty. But what I’m going to give you is a code word. If you feel any kind of threat, use the word “mustard”.’

‘Mustard?’ Jane repeated. ‘Not “help”?’

He gave a soft chuckle, believing if she could make a joke now, she had the nerve to pull it off. ‘Dabs said you were a good ’un.’ He quickly turned his attention back to his headphones. ‘We have eyeballs on target.’

Pulling into the courtyard of Rigg Approach was a dark blue Vauxhall with Murphy at the wheel. He got out and held the car keys in his mouth as he reached over to pick up a duffle bag from the passenger seat and what looked like a file of papers. He then kicked the car door shut, took the keys from his mouth and locked it. On his way to the building he whistled to the burger van owner to get his attention and gave him a thumbs up. The man in the van waved back.

‘Looks like he’s placed his order and is now going into the building. Let’s wait and see how long before he comes out.’

Murphy was out more quickly than they had anticipated.

‘He must be hungry,’ Elliott chuckled. At the same time, an unexpected vehicle drove in. Elliott looked at Jane. ‘We have a male driver in a Ford Cortina.’

Jane nodded. ‘It’s one of the officers, nicknamed the Colonel.’

‘Shit,’ Elliott muttered.

He heard Murphy call across to the Colonel, asking if he wanted breakfast. He was relieved when he saw him shake his head, but then the tension went up a notch as Elliott saw Murphy pointing towards the obo van. The two men were looking directly at them and the open manhole. Then Murphy turned away and headed alone towards the burger van.