The Devil's Cave: A Bruno Courrèges Investigation (Bruno Chief of Police 5)

could, and to bring along some burly friends.
    Collecting Jules on the way, Bruno and J-J jogged to the stables and took the van down the track to the ford across the river. J-J sat in the back, phoning in turn the
Mobiles
, the Gouffre, Inspector Jofflin and finally the
Procureur
. Bruno drove and tried to explain to Sergeant Jules along the way. They reached the ford, where the water looked to be both fast and high.
    ‘She’ll make it,’ said Jules, with a confidence that Bruno didn’t feel as he engaged four-wheel drive.
    ‘You want to get some speed up,’ said J-J from the back.
    ‘We don’t want a bow wave,’ Bruno replied, remembering a long-ago driving course in the military. He went into the water slowly, telling Jules to open his door so water could come in and its weight help hold them down onto the river bed. He kept the revs high and slipped the clutch to keep the exhaust clear, using his brake to hold the speed down as they went through the deepest part of the ford, water splashing over the door sill but not quite high enough to flood in. The four-wheel drive gripped and they lurched through and up onto the far bank. They picked up Inspector Jofflin in his standard police Renault as they accelerated past the hotel and up the winding road to the chapel.
    ‘Call Isabelle and make sure that military chopper hovers up here and keeps watch on both ends of the tunnel,’ Bruno said, fighting the heavy vehicle around the corners. ‘If Foucher gets hold of a car we want to be able to follow it.’
    They saw the empty helicopter as they topped the rise, leaning slightly to one side on the sloping ground by the cemetery, its rotor blades drooping. Bruno braked hard and stopped at the ruined chapel, waiting impatiently as Jofflin came out of his car with a uniformed policeman beside him, apologizing that they had found nowhere to hide the police cars when the Count’s chopper had first appeared.
    ‘It doesn’t matter now,’ said J-J, telling him to stay at the tunnel entrance and coordinate from that end. He gave Jofflin his own phone, saying all the numbers he’d need were in thememory. He checked that Jofflin had a firearm and then ordered the uniformed policeman to give his own PAMAS semi-automatic to Bruno and to hand over the torch from his car.
    Bruno had already taken the torch from the Gendarmerie van and now he worked the action of the gun, remembering the manual de-cocking lever, the same as the military model he’d carried for years. He removed the magazine, squinted down the barrel with his thumbnail at the end to reflect some light in. The barrel was clean, the action smooth and there was a thin film of oil. He gave an approving nod of thanks to the cop from Bergerac. Then he remembered to warn Jofflin that he might have trouble getting a phone connection up here on the plateau, but if he went down the road he should pick up the signal that served the hotel.
    ‘Mine’s dead but the Commissaire’s phone has a single bar,’ Jofflin replied, looking down at the two mobiles. ‘I’ll manage.’
    Bruno turned to J-J. ‘I don’t think you should come in. You’d be more useful—’
    ‘Don’t even try to stop me,’ snapped J-J. ‘You know the way so you lead. I’ll go second, then Jules.’
    ‘Just a moment, sir,’ Jules said. ‘If Inspector Jofflin calls the Gendarmerie at Les Eyzies, they might be able to get some armed men to the Gouffre entrance before the
Mobiles
can get there.’
    ‘Good idea,’ said J-J. ‘Do it. And make sure you’ve got paramedics on standby at both ends, here and at the Gouffre.’
    Even as Jules made the suggestion, Bruno borrowed one of Jofflin’s phones to call Albert at the St Denis fire station to ask if he had a big fire engine free.
    ‘You do? Could you bring it up to the entrance to the Gouffre as soon as you possibly can? We’re in pursuit of a bad guy who’s probably armed and he may have a female hostage. Can you blast a high-pressure water jet at anyone who comes out who isn’t me or Sergeant Jules or J-J? You’ll also need your full paramedic team.’
    Then Bruno led the way into the far end of the chapel and saw that the stone beneath the altar had been closed again. Could the Count be fooling them, pretending to be using the tunnel when he was really looking for cover on the plateau? He dismissed the thought. The Count had no reason to think anyone else would know of this route. Keeping his body to one side in case he was met