The Resistance Man (Bruno Chief of Police 6)

it, who did? Give yourself up and come along with me and we can find out what really happened. You haven’t got much time. We know about the British credit card and we’re blocking it. You’ll have no more money. There’s a helicopter nearby with a team of
Gendarmes Mobiles
aboard. You know how they’re trained.They’ll take one look at that Sten and they’ll shoot first and ask questions later. Think about Yvonne, do you want them gunning her down alongside you?’
    ‘It needn’t be like that,’ Paul replied. ‘Thanks for the warning but this isn’t over.’
    ‘So what now?’
    Paul looked at Bruno thoughtfully. ‘It’s a pity there are no documents. That story needs to come out.’
    ‘Gilles from
Paris Match
is a good reporter. Once he gets his teeth into something, he keeps on chewing.’
    ‘You know him?’
    ‘We’ve been friends for a long time. We met in Sarajevo during the siege. He was a reporter. I was in the army.’
    ‘Interesting, Grandpa would have approved. Now since I don’t want to make more trouble by shooting you, I’d like you to put that phone down and take your shirt off. Leave the photo in the pocket.’
    ‘I’m wearing a flak vest and a wire.’
    ‘That’s what I expected, so take them off. I imagine you’ve got a cordon forming around this area while you engage me in friendly chit-chat.’
    Bruno complied, wincing as he ripped off the tape that held the transmitter to his back, and laid them on the ground in front of him. He opened the button on the shirt pocket and slightly withdrew the photo so Paul could see it.
    ‘Now, sit down on the ground. Keeping your hands well away from that ankle holster, take your shoes off. Use your feet to prise them off, that’s right. Now take off that ankle holster. If you try to open it I’ll shoot you. Don’t get up. Just raise your arms and put your hands on your head and keep them there.Now start shuffling back on your bum and call your dog to join you. Keep on backing away.’
    Bruno called Balzac from sniffing at his abandoned shoes and wriggled back down the slope. Paul kept the Sten gun aimed at him as he stepped off the bike and put Bruno’s shoes, phone and the transmitter into his rucksack. He left the gun in its holster. Finally he took the photo from Bruno’s shirt pocket and then remounted his bike.
    ‘Good luck, Bruno. Sorry your feet are going to get a bit torn up, but stay in touch with Gilles. I may have something to communicate and I’ll do it through him.’
    ‘Can you at least tell me who killed Francis?’ From far in the distance, Bruno could hear the first, faint chattering of a helicopter.
    ‘It wasn’t me. I was there, but I didn’t kill him. I couldn’t have, despite what he was doing to us.’ Paul cocked his head, hearing the rotor blades.
    ‘That’s the
Gendarmes Mobiles
,’ Bruno said. ‘For God’s sake, think of your sister. This doesn’t have to end with you both dead.’
    Paul shook his head, looked up the hill and whistled and after a moment his sister appeared. He stuffed his gun into his rucksack, shouldered it and rode off along the side of the hill, disappearing into the woods, his sister following close behind.
    Bruno lowered his arms at last, and they felt so light they seemed to want to rise again of their own accord. His body was sending waves of relief through his frame that the danger was over while his mind felt disappointment that he had failed to bring Paul in. He took a deep breath and stretched. The Gendarme chopper was still too far away to be seen.
    He went back for his shirt, flak vest and the ankle holster, wincing as the sharp pebbles bit into his stockinged feet. Feeling a curious mixture of elation and humiliation, he hobbled very carefully down the motocross circuit to the track that led back to where Jofflin’s car was waiting. When he saw it he waved and then heard the engine start up. He’d met Paul, given him the photograph with his grandfather, tried his best to persuade him to surrender and heard him say he didn’t kill Fullerton. He might not have brought him in, but he’d held the suspect in place for over twenty minutes, which should have been long enough for whatever plans J-J had prepared for an ambush. That wasn’t a bad afternoon’s work.

30
    J-J had not been happy. His car had got stuck on a trail in the woods far behind the motocross circuit and required a breakdown truck to come and tow it out. His phone couldn’t get a signal and the