‘Fiona Simpson. She’s the landlady of the Crown public house on the High Road and corner of Aylmer. She lives on the premises and noticed the suspect vehicle parked up with its engine running and wipers on. The driver has left the vehicle and turned right into the High Road, out of sight of the informant. He’s wearing a grey cap, black donkey jacket and blue overalls.’

‘Number of other occupants in the Cortina?’ Kingston asked.

‘The informant can only see the nearside of the vehicle. One male in the front passenger seat and another male behind him, both wearing dark clothing.’

Kingston ran his hand through his hair.

‘There could be a robbery about to take place, MP. We and Central 887 are armed gunships. Our ETA is about four minutes, so tell uniform to hold back until we get there.’

‘Received and understood . . . we will advise you of any developments . . . MP, over.’

Jane felt uneasy. As it was her first day on the infamous ‘Sweeney’, she wasn’t sure what was expected of her, especially if DI Kingston was right in thinking an armed robbery was about to take place.

*

The driver of the Cortina returned to the car.

‘She’s coming,’ he said, as he got in the car and put on a full-face balaclava, which had a mouth and eye holes cut out.

The two men in the back also put on balaclavas, but the man in the front passenger seat pulled a light brown stocking over his head, which distorted the features of his face. Having adjusted the stocking so it was comfortable, he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a Second World War 9mm German Luger, then pulled back the toggle, which loaded a bullet from the magazine into the chamber.

The four men sat and watched as the blue Ford Transit Securicor van pulled up outside the bank. The driver remained in the van while his colleague went to the rear and looked up and down the High Road, before knocking three times, pausing and then knocking twice.

The passenger from the front of the Cortina and the two men from the back got out of the car and strode with purpose towards the bank. The men knew exactly what they had to do, as everything had been well planned thanks to the information they had received about the cash-in-transit delivery. They knew from experience that robbing the Securicor van should take no more than a minute. As the cash box appeared in the chute at the rear of the van, the three men pounced with military precision.

*

Jane was beginning to feel nauseous due to the speed Cam was driving and the way he was skidding the car around corners and roundabouts in the rain. She’d been in police pursuits before, but never encountered high-speed driving as dangerous as this.