CHAPTER 28

The street was quiet, lined with parked cars on both sides. The youths were running down the middle, apparently oblivious to the existence of the pavements. Ellie spoke.

     ‘I hope you’re not thinking of doing anything stupid.’

     ‘Certainly not,’ I answered, ‘I just want to get to our hotel as soon as…’

     The youths had stopped and were looking back at us. One of them reached inside his long leather coat and brought out an evil-looking machete. Fair enough, I thought, as I never go anywhere without my knife, but a confrontation was far from welcome at that moment. I had no illusions that I could make a contest of it. The young West Indian’s face was contorted into a mask of total hatred. He and his white companion had positioned themselves so as to leave barely enough room to slip between them.

     And it was evident that, if I attempted to do so, I would receive rather more than a playful tap on the head from the machete.

     There was no possibility of avoiding them by mounting the pavement – they would have been upon us long before I could make the intricate manoeuvre between the closely-parked vehicles. I pulled in the clutch and dropped down a couple of gears, revving the engine menacingly. May as well give them a warning. It was ignored. They began to advance on us.

     ‘Hold on,’ I said to Ellie, before jerking the throttle wide open, then letting go the clutch.

     The Kawasaki leapt forward, the engine screaming and the front end rearing up violently. Over the handlebars I caught a glimpse of a surprised black face, an instant before it was obscured by the wheel. There was a sickening crunch as his nose shattered under the impact. I’d expected to hit him anywhere between the knees and chest, hopefully knocking the breath out of him so we could make our escape. Causing major damage to that hate-crazed face was far more satisfying. The youth went down, blood gushing from what was left of his nose, the machete falling to the ground with a clatter.

     My front wheel resumed contact with the tarmac and I was back in control, but the white lad was making a lunge in our direction. Ellie’s scream was unnervingly loud in the helmet speaker. I braked instantly. I hadn’t seen where the weapon had landed, but if that animal could reach it after dragging her off the bike…