She's Out (50 page)

The lead police patrol car pulled into the station forecourt, and an attendant switched on the exterior lights. The platform was lit up in readiness as the train approached,
the level-crossing gates clanging shut. The rear police patrol car remained just behind the security van as the guards waited for the go-ahead to begin moving the money bags on to the train. The
rain was bucketing down. Two officers had not got their raincoats with them so they took shelter under the platform awning.

Jim, his hut lit up, watched the train hiss to a halt. He gave the thumbs-up to the driver who waved from the train cabin. He did not get out, simply waited in his cabin for the signal to move
on.

The guards opened the central carriage, carrying clipboards and documents. Two guards from the security wagon approached and checked their documents with the other guards and as the police
formed a protective line either side of them, they opened the wagon and began to carry the bags aboard the train. They moved fast, expertly, calling the identity number as each bag went aboard. It
took no more than ten minutes for the train to be loaded. As the carriage gates closed, the security guards returned to their empty wagon and the police didn’t hang about either. They waited
only for the signal from the signal box, and the engine hissed and began to move down the tracks, across the closed level crossing and on to the bridge.

Dolly saw the security wagon move back the way it had come and then the two patrol cars draw away from the station. She was willing them to move off, out of sight, one hand on the electric power
switch for the signal box, the other clenched around the hatchet for the alarm wires. She knew exactly which ones they were because this moment, like the entire raid, had been rehearsed. The mains
box opened and closed four times. Even so, when that power went out in the box, the moment of panic for Jim was only going to last a second or two before he hit that separate linked alarm switch.
If that went off, the two cop cars could turn back within minutes and they’d have major problems. She had to pull the main switch and slash the wires within seconds of each other.

The train passed, one carriage, second carriage, mail carriage, last carriage, and she said to herself, ‘Now, now, now.’

The lights switched from red to off, perfect. The signal box went completely dark. Jim didn’t panic, went towards the emergency generator but, as he was about to switch it on, he heard
something from beneath him. He could not ascertain what it was, his eyes still unaccustomed to the dark.

Dolly slashed down the hatchet. The wires strained and two or three remained intact. She slashed again and then pocketed the hatchet before clipping at the cables. One sprang away, then the
second. She had four more to go as Jim began to panic. His delay in getting worried gave Dolly the valuable time she needed to put the live wires against the generator sides. If Jim tried to switch
on up in the box he’d get quite a shock – not enough to kill him but enough to stop him trying it again in a hurry.

Dolly ran under the fence, and was almost at her horse when she froze. Jim was hurtling down the signal box steps, having almost been thrown across the signal box when he tried
the emergency generator. He leaped down the steps, still semi-shocked, and fell to the ground. He moaned, clutching his ankle, rolling in the grit of the signal-box forecourt. He couldn’t
hear Dolly, let alone see her, as she mounted and headed towards the bridge, the train moving slowly up ahead. But her horse was nowhere near as well trained as Julia’s so it was a much
slower ride. He was nervous and skittish and no matter how much she pressed him forward, he refused to go at speed.

The guards aboard the mail carriage had no idea anything was wrong at the station. They were moving and would soon pick up speed as usual, the bridge crossing always being
slow. The windows of the carriage were all blacked-out; they saw nothing, heard nothing.

The train driver didn’t look back. He was used to the bridge crossing and could do it blindfolded. In fact, he looked over to the lake a moment before the flashlight
swung from side to side twenty yards up ahead of him. He put his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright light as it swung, indicating for him to stop. He began to brake in plenty of time,
moving almost at a snail’s pace as he leaned out of his cab. All he could see was a police officer standing sideways across the track.

‘You fucking crazy?’ he screamed. Now he rammed on the brakes but they were still travelling so slowly, it didn’t jolt or jar the rear carriages. The train just slowly trickled
to a halt. He presumed something had fallen across the tracks, waiting as the interphone rang from the centre carriage. He picked it up. ‘There’s a problem on the line, let me get back
to you.’

He still held the phone as Julia began to move closer, very slowly. He leaned even further out. ‘You’re taking one hell of a bloody risk – there are live cables under
you.’

Still she waited. Then she switched on the flashlight again, shining it at the driver’s face, as she eased the horse on to the narrow verge, moving away from the rail tracks, backing Helen
dangerously along the stone-flagged parapet. Again he yelled at her, asked what was going on, but she was edging further and further
away
from the train and to safety. If it started and
tried to pass her, there wouldn’t be room for the horse – it would swipe her belly.

‘What the hell is going on?’ the driver yelled again. The guards were now lifting up the blinds on the covered windows. The train had been stationary for one and a half minutes.

Julia was within six feet of safety when she turned the flashlight on once, twice, three times and Gloria pressed down the detonator. They were just a fraction off but the explosion ripped
through the second carriage instead of directly between it and the mail carriage. She swore as the carriages rocked and shuddered and the railway line buckled under the impact. Next she crawled to
the second device and thumped it down. This time it was almost right on its marker as the rear carriage broke loose. The explosion was terrifyingly loud, echoing across the water, glass and metal
splintering. There was hardly a window left intact. The guards sprawled across the floor lying face down. They didn’t know what was going on.

Gloria had used too much Semtex and there was a dangerous gap in the bridge itself. The tracks beneath the carriage had buckled towards the gap but in the frantic next stage they didn’t
realize the imminent danger as there was so much going on. Some of it was rehearsed or surmised by Dolly, and Julia didn’t waste time being impressed, but it was Dolly’s calm voice she
could hear in her mind, ‘Soon as you move from the track, you chuck this into the main front carriage, as close to the driver as possible. It’ll work on a long radius and scramble any
calls he tries to make from the train to the next station. It won’t give us long but it’ll be long enough.’ It was another of Ashley Brent’s toys.

Julia was clear and galloping to her next position. She now collected Dolly’s horse and began to drag it towards the others down below by the lake. Dolly was on foot and running towards
the centre of the bridge.

Ester rammed her shotgun through the broken window. The men inside still lay sprawled on the floor in terror as two more shotguns appeared through the broken windows from the
other side. Dolly was the only one to give the order and she screamed it. ‘Open the doors. Come out.’

Mike switched on the powerful beam of the positioned spotlight, twisting it a fraction to aim directly at the centre carriage. He had seen the train moving off and knew or hoped the
driver’s phone would be scrambled. Then he jumped into the speedboat and with the rowing boat trailing behind, headed at top speed for the bridge. He cut the engines as he came directly in
line with the spotlight. It covered the doors of the train and the path down to the rowing boat.

The dazed and terrified guards came out one by one. Dolly took up her position, screaming instructions as she pointed the shotgun towards them. ‘Lie down, face down.’

Suddenly she saw, to her horror, that the mail carriage was slowly moving to the gap in the bridge. It was going to go over the side as it creaked and groaned towards the gap.

The guards lay down beside the track, as, unaware of the danger, Connie and Gloria went aboard. Ester came round to the open doors. The sacks were passed out and dropped into the rowing boat,
easily seen by the spotlight. Inch by inch, the carriage kept moving closer to the hole as they worked frantically. Below, Mike stacked the bags, gesturing to the women without saying a word. They
all knew the danger but Dolly stood over the men, who didn’t move as they lay face down listening to the bags crashing down and the awful sound of the carriage as it ground towards the
gap.

The guards were helpless to do anything and, if they moved so much as a muscle, they felt a hard dig in the centre of their back. The women all wore ski masks, not one showing her face as they
worked on, lifting, passing, dropping the mailbags, the danger obvious, the carriage
still
on the move.

Jim had limped to the nearest house and called the police. He was incoherent but kept repeating police and train and bombs. It was confused but the police were moving out and
heading towards the railway station. They would be there in four minutes.

Ester was first to leave. She ran down to the horses and loosened the reins of hers, dragging him towards the water. Julia was already waiting, looking with desperation towards
the bridge. Then the spotlight cut out, the batteries overloaded, leaving the bridge in darkness. ‘Jesus, God, they’re gonna go down with the bloody carriage. It’ll hit the rowing
boat.’ She wanted to scream out to them to get off the bridge but still the bags came over until the boat sat low in the water.

‘Get out, move it,’ muttered Ester.

Gloria was next to leave, and the carriage suddenly shot forward by three feet, so that it hung like a seesaw over the bridge. Mike started the speedboat. He didn’t care if they lost one
or two bags – he wasn’t going to risk being under the bridge any longer. He opened the throttle and headed back to the jetty. Next stage was hurling the bags out of the boat and into
the saddle-bags on the waiting horses. Mike began helping Ester and Julia. They turned as they saw masses of bricks and twisted metal crash from the bridge. Connie, still inside the carriage,
whipped round to see Dolly waving for her to get out, but she froze as the creaking grew louder and louder.

Dolly looked at the men, and back to Connie. She reached out and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her forward.

‘Jump.’

Connie pulled back, stiff with fear, but Dolly repeated, the delay taking vital minutes. They would never make the run back to the horses and she pushed at Connie again.
‘
Jump!
’

Dolly pulled Connie to the edge of the crumbling bridge, and half-holding, half-dragging her, they jumped the twenty-five feet to the water below. The shotgun flew from Dolly’s hand as she
hit the water.

Connie surfaced first, gasping and flailing in the water with her hands. ‘I can’t swim.’

Mike had hurled out the last bag. He had stacked two in the speed-boat and jumped aboard, heading across the lake towards the other side, unaware that both Dolly and Connie were in trouble in
the water. Connie was bringing Dolly down time and time again as she clawed and scratched at her in a desperate panic to stay afloat.

Julia lifted her filled bags off Helen and climbed back into the saddle. ‘Just keep moving as planned –
Ester, go on
! We’ll catch you up.’ She kicked the
horse’s ribs and set off into the lake, Helen not batting an eyelid as they waded deeper and deeper. Connie and Dolly remained dangerously close to the water underneath the rocking carriage.
Bricks and concrete slabs began to plummet into the water.

Julia waded deeper, and Connie clung to Dolly, who tried her best to keep the frightened woman afloat. They had no time to clutch at Julia’s hands so they just grabbed Helen’s tail
as Julia turned in the water and headed back to the shore. Gloria and Ester had gone, leaving the tethered horses standing loaded with mailbags.

As they reached the shore, Connie began to scream but Dolly slapped her face hard. ‘Get out of here! Get on your horse and get out!
Move it
!’

Connie, sobbing and soaked to the skin, stumbled to her horse. She could hardly mount but neither Julia nor Dolly paid her any attention as they heaved Julia’s bags on to Helen. They had a
long way to go before they were finished.

Mike left the boat, ran to his car. He remained calm, refusing to allow himself to put his foot flat to the car floor. If he was caught now, speeding or otherwise, he had two mailbags crammed
with money in the boot. He took the route away from the station and as far from the manor as possible. He had every road listed and directions at the ready. Dolly Rawlins hadn’t left anything
to chance. He hadn’t seen that she and Connie had almost drowned.

The police cars, four in all, were hampered by the closed level-crossing gates and lack of information, but by now the scream was on that the mail train had been hit and their radios blurted out
instructions for blocks to be set up on all major roads within the area. They had no information as to what getaway cars were being used by the bandits. Their instructions were that all vehicles
were to be stopped and searched.

No police car could get anywhere near the bridge. The guards were running down the sides of the track, their only exit from the bridge. The carriage remained balanced. Police vehicles began to
attempt to make their way down to the lakeside. There was pandemonium on all sides and as they tried to question Jim he broke down. He didn’t know anything, he could tell them nothing, he had
seen no one, no vehicles. He was still in a state of shock.

The three guards were in a similar state as, one by one, they were helped from the bridge. One man was bleeding badly from where the glass in the carriage window had slashed his cheek. An
ambulance was called.