23 Hours - The sixth hour

05.00. As we move nearer it is clear that the vehicle lights we have seen  ahead of us belong to the bus we have been chasing. We let the our driver overtake and move on toward Etlingham. The lights from his headlights catch the ‘Etlingham Village’ sign on the outskirts of the town or village or whatever it is. In addition to welcoming careful drivers it is twinned with Brancion in France. Now we are ahead of the bus we have a chance. We ask the driver to stop by what looks like a bus stop on the square, pay him off and watch one set of red lights leave the village as white headlights come towards us.

05.05. We wait in anticipation at the Bus Stop as the single decker bus pulls up, its racing green colour being revealed by the lighting from the pub signs. The door slides open and the driver looks at us wearily. Faith gets on and moves down the aisle signalling that I will buy the tickets but to where? I fumble with change to kill time but before I even have to speak she is back by my side. “He’s not on here,” she almost shouts in frustration.

05.10. We are off the bus. Faith’s urgency of questioning terrified the driver and revealed that a man with bags that had got on at the station had got off at the last stop. The bus driver tells us it will take between five to ten minutes to walk back there depending on how fast we walk. Why do people insist on stating the obvious, of course it will depend on how fast we walk. According to him there’s next to nothing near the last stop other than a couple of farms. We set off walking. I start to say something but Faith’s stare convinces me to keep silent.

05.15. It is almost pitch black with no street lights along the road. There is little sound other than an occasional car or lorry in the distance. Faith has put the torch on her phone to help us see. It makes me check mine and I see the battery has dropped to 8%. There is no phone signal and my 3g is switched off. I can’t believe I didn’t put the switch on at the socket.

05.20. In a home office on the outskirts of London a darkened room is lit by a feint blue flashing light from a computer screen. A half awake man walks back into the room carrying a freshly made cup of tea and sits at the computer. He takes a sip and looks up before splurting the hot remnants from his mouth over the display. “Oh Christ!” he exclaims and presses ‘dial 1’ on his phone.

05.25. The voice at the other end of the phone does not rise as the situation is explained but the tone changes and the young man begins to realise that he should have used the toilet before the call. It is a voice that can chill, a voice that’s very calmness threatens more than anyone shouting could ever do. “Why did it take you so long to notice?” it asks. “I just popped downstairs to make a cup of tea. It must have happened then. His eyes glance at the clock and he realises he must have fallen asleep. It was just gone 3 o’clock when he went downstairs. ‘Oh shit,’ he thinks now he’s really in trouble.

05.30. He enlarges the map on the screen to track the blue flashing light. As it gets larger the railway line soon drops off the screen as he knew it would but desperately didn’t want to happen. This is worse that he thought. The train would be getting to it’s destination about now but the location of the blue light can’t be much more than an hour into the journey. “Well?” the voice on the speaker phone asks “Where are they?” He tries to control his breathing as the screen enlarges again. "Nearest town is Etlingham,” he says clicking on the icon. “Etlingham?” says the voice. “Yes, twinned with Brancion in France,” he says totally unnecessarily.

05.35. “We will examine what went wrong later,” the voice says with a chill, “for now the priority is to get that package back. Do you understand. Get someone out there.” He pauses for a brief moment. “We already have someone else on the trip. I sent Agent Hope as a silent back up.” There is a longer pause and the man at the computer can’t work out whether the explosion he has feared all along is about to happen. Instead the voice is even quieter and more considered, “Two gone rogue? Two who didn’t know each other before today gone rogue? This doesn’t add up. Get support out there and quick.” The line goes dead.

05.40 Any residual tiredness has gone, driven away by the combination of adrenalin and fear pulsing through his body. He has made two calls with the briefest of instructions and already one car and one helicopter have been despatched. Finally he makes the calls he has been putting off for fear of hearing the truth. There is no reply on either of their mobiles and both go straight to answerphone. In his mind’s eye he can see the phones lying in a ditch or rubbish bin somewhere. He presses speed dial 1 again.

05.45 The have been walking around for half an hour trying to find some trace of where the man has gone. He obviously did get off here as the bin by the bus stop is filled with his plastic bags and the paper carrier bag that is their only clue. That shop won’t be open so they can’t call about the receipt yet. Finally Faith speaks again “Still no signal on my phone.” “Or mine,” he says glancing down. 7%. Faith is looking at her phone again, “Looking at my map there is only one other way worth exploring. Can we use your 3g for a while, my battery has dropped to 50%."

05.50. This is the second time at least she has stared at me with eyes that say ‘how could they have chosen a muppet like you for such an important task. “It wasn’t switched on at the wall,” I hear myself explaining much as child to a parent. We walk on in silence until we get to an opening. There is some light from the moon. I glance up to the top of a hill and there, in silhouette, is a man lighting a cigarette. I grab Faith’s arm and place my finger across my lips before pointing up to the feint light. She smiles, the parent has forgiven the child.

05.55. He has hung up. The news about the phones has not gone down well. It would appear that they have gone rogue. Rogue with a package that cannot at any price fall into the wrong hands. He now knows what he has to do. It’s what he gets paid a lot for and not a lot of jobs could let him live the lifestyle he has and work from home. He enlarges the map and looks at the screen. The blue flashing light has not moved. One red light is still miles away but one is getting very close. He presses speed dial 2 and issues the instructions.