With an abrupt clank of electric bolts retracting, the door opened. A single irate figure bursting through it, careless of any risk. A big man. Physically confident. Shouting at the dirty old bastard to fuck off. Raising a hand to take the tramp by the throat. Only to receive a face full of warm, steaming piss. The last of the bottle, sprayed straight into his eyes.

And then, while he was still blinking, Shaw whipped the fighting knife held in his other hand up into the hapless guard’s throat.

58

‘What the fuck?’

Eddie stared at the screen in horror. Instantly making the connection. The men camped out in the middle arch had their own screen. No controls, but a clear view of what the operator was seeing. And some idiot had decided to intervene in the tramp’s urinary exploits. Looking to give him a kicking for pissing under the external door. Instead of which he had been expertly knifed. Swift, cold and professional. Then pushed aside, dead or dying. The knife handle protruding from his jaw. The tramp threw off his coat to reveal what looked like a machine gun strapped to his back.

He stared, aghast, as a group of what looked like heavily equipped soldiers stormed through the open front door. Someone opened fire in the central arch. Single shots. The shooting reduced to distant pops by the thick brickwork. Eddie, no fool, knew what had to be coming next. Threw himself at the connecting door between the two arches. Hitting the lock button just as the solid sheet steel reverberated as if it had been kicked by an elephant.

59

Shaw’s team moved fast. Running down the front of the arches, weapons held ready. Their plan entirely dependent on getting into action inside the central arch quickly. Before the occupants had time to muster and bring their weapons to bear.

If the camera was still manned, then whoever was watching it would be staring in disbelief at the screen. And then shouting a warning at the men behind the inner door.

Shaw pushed the doorman’s crumpling body aside and shrugged off the coat. Grabbing a grenade from his harness. Pushing the exterior door wide and striding forward into the walled lobby. With the team crowding in behind him, weapons ready.

He turned the inner door’s handle. Finding it mercifully unlocked. Opened it wide enough to post the flash bang through it. Then pulled the door shut and ducked away from its flimsy protection.

‘Flash bang!’

The exterior door clanged closed behind the team, bolts re-engaging with a loud clack. Someone inside the central arch started shooting, a series of holes punched through the wooden inner door. Shaw shot a knowing glance at his teammates. The fire aimless. And effectively pointless. Even if it felt like some sort of counter-attack to the men on the other side of the door.