First Strike

“If the birds have flown, they will try for the Football.” Ralph took a rasping breath of air. “That is what they are planning,” he gasped.

Then he slumped back, and his eyes closed.

The heart monitor bleeped forlornly as Ralph slept and Rich wondered what he could have meant.

With its back doors still banging and blue lights flashing as it raced through the evening traffic, the ambulance was easy to follow. Until Colonel Shu realised she was being chased and turned off the emergency lights.

Traffic was moving slowly through the busy town centre. As soon as the ambulance lights went off, Chance put his hand on the horn and his foot on the accelerator. He swung the powerful BMW on to the pavement, sending people scattering. Half on the road, half on the pavement, the car roared towards the ambulance making slow progress further ahead.

But before they reached it, the ambulance lights came on again. The siren cut through the evening, and traffic pulled over to let the ambulance through.

The BMW followed in its wake—cutting through the gaps in the traffic before the vehicles had time to move back into the middle of the road.

Jade closed her eyes as they sped through a red light. A car that had braked hard for the ambulance had to do so again. The car behind it slammed into the rear and both cars slewed across the junction. Chance swerved round them, and carried on as if nothing had happened. From behind came the sound of more breaking glass.

Then the sound of more sirens.

“Police,” said Chance, glancing in the rear-view mirror. “Just what we don’t need.”

He slammed the car down a gear to get more power as they raced uphill, along a narrow side street. In front of them the ambulance was spilling equipment and supplies out of its back doors. A car coming the other way caught a glancing blow and spun off on to the pavement, then scraped down the wall of an office block.

The ambulance turned out of the street on to another main road—a dual carriageway. Without hesitation, Chance followed.

“Wrong way!” Jade yelled as the traffic veered off in all directions like the current of a river flowing round a rock.

A huge container lorry was sounding its horn. The ambulance sirens were wailing. The lorry swung across into another lane as it headed towards the ambulance. But the ambulance moved the same way as Colonel Shu tried to avoid the lorry.

The two vehicles collided head-on. The front of the lorry shot up into the air, then crashed down. It landed half across the font of the ambulance. The back of the lorry tilted, the weight of the container dragging it over on to its side.

Chance grabbed the handbrake and the BMW slid sideways, skidding to a halt right in front of the lorry now sliding sideways towards it.

Jade threw her hands up in front of her face.

Chance rammed the car into gear. The tyres spun, then gripped.

The BMW shot across the road, out of the way of the sliding lorry.

Even before it had stopped, Chance had the door open and was out, running for the half-crushed ambulance. Vehicles skidded to a halt. A police car screeched up beside the ambulance. Uniformed men leaped out and ran to intercept Chance, but he shook them off, and kept running.

By the time Jade got to the ambulance, Chance was waving his identity card at the police and shouting at them to organise a search and close off the area.

The ambulance was empty. Colonel Shu had escaped.

“The local police are not terribly happy,” Ardman said.

John Chance and the twins were sitting in Ardman’s London office the next morning.

“What are they complaining about?” Rich asked.

Ardman raised an eyebrow. “Well, there’s the fact that someone was shot in a restaurant by a renegade Chinese war criminal.”

“Oh, right.”

“And one of their men was later knocked unconscious by the same renegade war criminal.”

“I get the point,” said Rich quickly.

But Ardman hadn’t finished. He checked a sheet of paper in front of him. “Fourteen cars damaged. A container lorry written off and its cargo destroyed. Television sets apparently. Out of 412 TVs, three survived the crash. Then there’s the ambulance. And the hospital equipment Colonel Shu sabotaged. Various driving offences we have told them to drop—including speeding, and going the wrong way down a major dual carriageway. Damage to crash barriers. An old lady who saw the collision had a suspected heart attack, though they do admit that turned out to be indigestion.” He paused to peer at the bottom of the sheet. “Oh, and a hospital cleaner sustained a minor bruise on his arm and is threatening to sue.”

“Sorry I asked,” Rich muttered.

“Having said that,” Ardman told them, “I’m more concerned that you let Colonel Shu escape.”

“We hardly let her escape,” Jade told him.

Ardman ignored her. “The second attempt on Ralph’s life confirms that his cryptic warning is to be taken seriously. From what his note said, we have to assume there’s a nuclear angle.”

“He mentioned football as well,” said Rich. He’d told the others Ralph’s cryptic message—if the birds have flown, they’ll try for the Football.

Ardman glared. “Yes, and I don’t think he was warning us there might be trouble at the European cup final.”

“But you do think he’s discovered a nuclear threat?” Chance asked quickly before either of his children could respond.

“I do. And there is obviously a connection with the trouble in Wiengwei.”

“Do they have nukes?” Rich wondered.

“Not officially. The rebels certainly don’t. But as I told you, the Chinese army used to have a nuclear base in the province. It was decommissioned as part of the wider Strategic Arms Limitation agreements over twenty years ago. But there may be a link.”

“Worth checking,” said Chance. “We need to send someone to Wiengwei to find out whether there’s any chance the rebels have acquired a nuclear capability.”

Ardman leaned back in his chair and for the first time in the meeting, he smiled. “Just what I thought. In fact, I’ve decided to send my best man. Right away.”

There was silence for a moment.

“But, that’s Dad.” Jade pointed out.

“We’re off to the White House in a couple of days,” Rich added.

“To see the President,” Jade continued. “You promised. And Dad promised.”

Ardman held up his hands for silence. “We have an excellent contact in Wiengwei. A friend of Ralph’s in fact, so he’s keen to help. And apparently Ralph was there recently organising some deal or other, so that’s another connection. One that might explain how he found out whatever it is that he found out. All you need to do,” he told Chance, “is check in with this man on the way. The flights are arranged.”

“Flights?” said Chance.

“It’s on the way to Washington. Sort of. Well, given your schedule, it’ll have to be. It also gets all three of you well away from Colonel Shu. She may know who you are now, and Goddard’s team can track her down while you’re well out of the way.”

“Wait a minute,” said Rich. “What do you mean, all three? You don’t expect me and Jade to go to Wiengwei as well, do you?”