Widows

It took less than thirty seconds for Bella to make a cut big enough to peel the metal back. Shirley handed Bella her shotgun and she stuck it through the hole she’d cut. She waved the barrel of the gun toward the rear doors and the guard opened up.

As Bella stepped into the back of the security wagon, the terrified guard unlocked the money cabinet. She then forced him out of the van. Linda pointed her shotgun at him and indicated that he should lie on the ground. Shaking with fear, the guard did exactly as he was told.

Shirley climbed into the back of the security wagon and started to cut through the interior wire cage with her cutters. This was the slowest part of the process and, after a few seconds, Bella nudged Shirley out of the way, fired up the chainsaw again and, with one swipe, cut enough of the wire cage away to access the money bags. Shirley then began stuffing them into the open rucksack on Bella’s back and, as soon as it was full, she slapped Bella on the shoulder.

Terrified members of the public watched from the safety of their cars as Bella took over from Linda. Holding the shotgun up to keep the public and the guards at bay, Linda ran to the wagon so Shirley could fill her rucksack. Linda’s breath heaved, and her wet ski-mask dragged in and out of her mouth. As Shirley filled her rucksack, Linda could feel it getting heavier. Once it was full, she stuffed the rest of the money into Shirley’s rucksack.

As Linda and Shirley jumped out of the security wagon, Shirley caught her rucksack on the door latch and dangled there like a rag doll. Linda was already sprinting toward the exit of the underpass on the Strand side, but Bella was quickly at Shirley’s side. Once she was unhooked, they both followed Linda as fast as their legs could carry them under the cumbersome weight of a third of a million pounds each.

Dolly still stood in position in the rear of the laundry van, her heart beating like mad as first Linda and then Bella ran past her. She looked out of the van and saw two men running quickly behind Shirley. One of them dived forward and rugby-tackled her to the ground with a heavy thud. Her padding cushioned her fall, but she twisted her ankle.

Quick as a flash, Dolly leapt from the back of the laundry van and fired a shot into the air. Both have-a-go heroes hurled themselves flat on their stomachs with their hands covering their heads as shattered ceiling tiles from the underpass showered down on them. A shard of tile lodged itself into the neck of one of them and he started screaming that he’d been shot.

Shirley clambered to her feet and ran precariously toward the exit of the underpass. She only managed a few steps before she was in trouble and started to hobble from the pain and instant swelling in her ankle. But she carried on and didn’t look back.

Dolly looked at the carnage they were leaving behind and thanked God that they’d not seriously hurt anyone. She’d never been so scared in her entire life. Members of the public were lying down across the front seats of their cars; the guard from the back of the security wagon was face down on the ground, as were the have-a-go heroes. The power was exhilarating — but she had to get the hell out of there.

She glanced up the underpass to see how far Shirley had got. It wasn’t far and she was now dragging her injured leg behind her, while Linda and Bella were nowhere to be seen. Behind Dolly, the guards in the front of the security wagon were opening their doors to get out. She still had one live cartridge left in the double-barreled shotgun and as she leapt into the back of the laundry van she fired it above the roof of the security wagon. The two guards ducked and ran back down the underpass toward the end they’d entered.

Linda and Bella had made it to the parked getaway van with the fake GLC logos on the side, but there was still no sign of Shirley coming out of the underpass. They threw their rucksacks in the back of the van and Bella climbed in after them while Linda jumped in the driver’s seat and started the engine. At first Bella thought Linda was driving off without Shirley, but then she shouted: ‘Hold on tight!’ and screeched across the front of the oncoming traffic. Cars swerved, mounted pavements and hit each other as Linda bounced over the central reservation and headed back toward the underpass. As Shirley hobbled out into the daylight, Linda pulled the handbrake on hard and the van skidded into a 180-degree turn so that the back was now facing Shirley. Bella flung open the rear door and, with her arms outstretched, grabbed hold of Shirley and hauled her in. Linda, with gears grinding and tires spinning, burning rubber, accelerated away.

Dolly had been right on Shirley’s heels in the laundry van and had been about to pick her up when she saw her leap into Bella’s arms... they were safe! Dolly floored the van and drove off in the same direction as Linda, swerving onto the pavement to avoid the chaos Linda had left behind.