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followed.
    â€œWrong 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 slidsideways, 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.
    â€œThe local police are not terribly happy,” Ardman said.
    John Chance and the twins were sitting in Ardman’s London office the next morning.
    â€œWhat 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.”
    â€œOh, right.”
    â€œAnd one of their men was later knocked unconscious by the same renegade war criminal.”
    â€œI 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.”
    â€œSorry I asked,” Rich muttered.
    â€œHaving said that,” Ardman told them, “I’m more concerned that you let Colonel Shu escape.”
    â€œWe 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 takenseriously. From what his note said, we have to assume there’s a nuclear angle.”
    â€œHe 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.”
    â€œBut you do think he’s discovered a nuclear threat?” Chance asked quickly before either of his children could respond.
    â€œI do. And there is obviously a connection with the trouble in Wiengwei.”
    â€œDo they have nukes?” Rich wondered.
    â€œNot 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.”
    â€œWorth checking,” said Chance.