She glanced up the underpass to see how far Shirley had got. It wasn’t far and she was now dragging her injured leg behind her, while Linda and Bella were nowhere to be seen. Behind Dolly, the guards in the front of the security wagon were opening their doors to get out. She still had one live cartridge left in the double-barreled shotgun and as she leapt into the back of the laundry van she fired it above the roof of the security wagon. The two guards ducked and ran back down the underpass toward the end they’d entered.
Linda and Bella had made it to the parked getaway van with the fake GLC logos on the side, but there was still no sign of Shirley coming out of the underpass. They threw their rucksacks in the back of the van and Bella climbed in after them while Linda jumped in the driver’s seat and started the engine. At first Bella thought Linda was driving off without Shirley, but then she shouted: ‘Hold on tight!’ and screeched across the front of the oncoming traffic. Cars swerved, mounted pavements and hit each other as Linda bounced over the central reservation and headed back toward the underpass. As Shirley hobbled out into the daylight, Linda pulled the handbrake on hard and the van skidded into a 180-degree turn so that the back was now facing Shirley. Bella flung open the rear door and, with her arms outstretched, grabbed hold of Shirley and hauled her in. Linda, with gears grinding and tires spinning, burning rubber, accelerated away.
Dolly had been right on Shirley’s heels in the laundry van and had been about to pick her up when she saw her leap into Bella’s arms... they were safe! Dolly floored the van and drove off in the same direction as Linda, swerving onto the pavement to avoid the chaos Linda had left behind.
In the distance, Dolly could hear the sound of police sirens and knew she could be in trouble. The speed of her getaway had been curtailed because of Shirley. It was now or never. Slowing as she reached a side alley, Dolly grabbed her small holdall, slid open the van door and jumped, already running in the air before her feet hit the ground.
The laundry van swerved across the pavement and hurtled straight into a shop window. The glass shattered inward and two women shoppers ran for their lives. Dolly ran down the side alley, ripping off her gas mask and gloves and throwing them into a bin. As she neared the end of the alley, she slowed to a walk in the hope that she’d have got her breath back by the time she emerged and mingled with the commuters. She rolled her balaclava back up so it looked like a woolly hat again, stepped out into the crowds and headed toward the Victorian underground toilets near the Transport Museum in Covent Garden.
Linda had driven up Kingsway and then taken a left into the back streets off the Strand, toward the multi-story car park. She pulled up in Floral Street near Covent Garden market, where it was reasonably quiet. Linda and Shirley handed Bella their balaclavas and she put them in a black bin bag along with hers. Bella jumped out of the back of the van and, checking no one was watching, Bella ripped the magnetic GLC signs from the Escort van and snapped them in half before putting them in the bin bag as well. Next, she removed the two false plates, exposing the real number plates underneath. The false plates were the final things to go into the bin bag, before Bella tied it up and threw it onto a pile of rubbish awaiting collection. There were only a few people about, and none of them seemed to take any notice. Thank God you’re all engrossed in your own lives, Bella thought to herself as she jumped back in the passenger seat next to Linda.
Shirley was lying in the back of the van surrounded by the rucksacks, sobbing her heart out. Bella turned in her seat and, reaching over, took hold of Shirley’s hand and squeezed it tight. ‘We did it Shirley, we did it. We did it!’
Dolly was gasping for breath by the time she reached the toilets. She gripped the metal safety rail for support as she hurried down the steps, straight into a cubicle and sat down on the toilet seat. She was sweating like mad and felt as if she was about to have a heart attack. As her breathing calmed, she felt so dizzy that she had to brace her hands against the cubicle wall to stop herself from fainting. Dolly closed her eyes and focused on breathing normally. As her body started to calm, her mind was screaming: I did it! Dear God, Harry. HARRY, I DID IT!
Dolly took a number of deep breaths, exhaling slowly and, when her pulse rate had subsided enough, she stood up and removed her balaclava, overalls and plimsolls. She already had on a dark sweater and trousers under the overalls and, opening the holdall, she removed some shoes, a thin waist-length jacket and a scarf. When she had put everything on, she took out her handbag and put it over her shoulder. Checking her watch, she hoped and prayed that the others had made it safely to the multi-story car park. She was tempted to go straight there as it was so near, but she had to stick to the plan.
Linda drove the van into the three-story car park, nervously wondering if Dolly had managed to make a safe getaway. Bella saw the look of concern on her face.
‘Don’t you waste time worrying about Dolly. She’s a tough old cow.’
Linda smiled. Bella was a real smart-arse mind-reader at times.
Dropping Shirley by her Mini Estate on level one, Linda parked near Dolly’s Mercedes on the upper level and she and Bella loaded the rucksacks full of money into the boot before going over to Linda’s Ford Capri. Both women took one last look at their money, all piled up in the boot of Dolly’s Merc.
‘We gave her such a hard time, Bella,’ Linda said. ‘But here we are with all the money. We could just as easily put it in my boot as in hers. She never questioned us once and I just feel—’
Bella slammed the boot of the Merc. ‘She knows.’
Opening the boot of Linda’s Capri, they took some clothes from their suitcases and went down the stairwell to the ladies’ toilet on the ground floor to change. There was no sign of Shirley, so they both assumed that she had disposed of her overall and gone straight off in the clothes she had on underneath.
Having regained her composure, Dolly left the toilets. As luck would have it, a rubbish truck was held up in traffic, so as she walked casually by the rear of it she threw her holdall into the back. Crossing the market square, she headed up James Street to Covent Garden tube station, which was by now bustling with commuters on their way to work. She bought a day travel card and headed slowly down the long flight of stairs to the platform. She could hear the rumble of the trains down below. It felt good to have finally stopped running.
Linda was changed and ready to leave in no time, though her hand was shaking so badly that she’d smudged her lipstick over her cheek and had to redo it twice. Bella and Linda gave each other a big hug before going their separate ways. Bella, now wearing a smart coat and matching chic hat, walked from the car park carrying her suitcase and hailed a taxi on the main road. ‘Luton Airport, darlin’,’ she said as she got in the cab.
The taxi driver couldn’t believe his luck. ‘Glad to get out of the city, miss,’ he said. ‘I’ve had a hell of a morning! Something was up in the Strand underpass first thing. There’s been massive traffic jams...’
Dolly got off the tube two stops along at Piccadilly Circus, crossed the platform and took the next tube back to Covent Garden. She stood at the bottom of the deep stairwell and looked up briefly before deciding the lift was a better option: she’d had enough exercise for one day. Once out in the street, she walked casually toward the car park, taking a moment here and there to do some window-shopping. Police cars were patrolling slowly up and down Long Acre, but elsewhere traffic had come to a standstill. It didn’t worry her. She’d no need to make a fast getaway now. She was just another woman out on a shopping trip.