The Jaguar car drew up outside the park entrance. "Where’re we gonna park Phil?" asked Brendan.

"I’ll pull in over the other side of the road, we can then watch the front entrance and the car park without anyone seeing us." He swung into the chosen spot and turned off the engine. "Shouldn’t be too long before things start hotting up," he remarked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

***

The old battered Ford chugged along the road at an easy pace - Rob didn’t want to draw attention to himself. "It’s just around this bend now," he told Joe.

"Okay. We’ll park in the lot and observe from there, it’s going to be at least fifteen minutes before Frank and Helen arrive, so hopefully, no one will suspect anything - we’ll have to keep our heads down though."

They entered the parking lot and decided to park in a quiet, tree branch-overhung corner, which was successful in mostly obscuring the car from view. So intent were they in their mission that they failed to notice the Jag on the other side of the road, which was occupied by two men who were showing a large amount of interest in them.

***

Frank Hardy was at the wheel of the BMW. Under normal circumstances he would have enjoyed the opportunity to drive such a powerful machine, but not today, today he had work to do. Sitting next to him was his new friend Helen, and she looked nervous. He glanced across at her. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yes, let’s just get this over with," she replied, twirling the fake ring nervously on her finger.

"It’s just a quick in and out, don’t worry, the other four are already there, they’ll keep an eye on us."

"That’s not what’s bothering me, it’s the thought of finally meeting those people who killed my husband."

"Chances are we won’t see anything - they’re not going to show their faces to us, they’re cowards." He spotted the road sign pointing to the entrance. "We’ve arrived, and there’s Rob’s Ford."

***

Phil and Brendan watched the BMW entering. "These must be the people who are dropping off the ring." He consulted his watch. "They’re punctual - 9.00 am on the dot," observed Phil.

They watched as a young woman and dark haired man exited the car and walked out of view behind the hedge, which obscured the scene. "Damn, can’t see what’s going on!" he murmured, frustrated.

His eyes swiveled back to the Ford. "So, Mike’s sent his little friends to collect the ring, instead of doing it himself," he said, disgusted.

"We always knew he was chicken," agreed Brendan.

***

The other four were all slouched down in their seats, their eyes pinned to the rear view mirrors.

"Here comes Frank and Helen, make sure your heads are well down, we don’t want to alert anyone to our presence," muttered Joe

They watched as Frank and Helen left the car and headed away from them towards the gnarled, old oak tree. Helen bent down and Frank took her hand before they backed off, calmly got back into the car, pulled away and were gone.

"Now we shall see what we shall see," said Kiwi under his breath.

They waited with baited breath for two minutes. Suddenly, Mark caught site of a movement in the foliage directly behind the tree. "Did you see that?" he asked.

They all nodded. A sandy haired man stepped out of the bushes and immediately came around the side of the tree and bent down. They couldn’t quite see whether he had picked up the ring or not. He strode away across the wooden bridge into the main part of the park, passing the old mill.

Kiwi scrunched his eyes up, the man looked familiar, but he couldn’t place where he’d seen him before. "Probably my imagination," he decided to himself.

"I’m not happy with this," said Joe. "I couldn’t tell for certain whether he actually took the bait, he could have just been an opportunist. I’m gonna check and then follow him."

"I’m coming with you," said Rob, preparing to leave the car.

"No, I need you as driver, besides, chances he’ll know who you guys are, seems it was you three and Alex who bought the ring. He’d be least likely to know me."

"What do you want us to do in the meantime?" asked Mark.

Joe opened the door and half swung out of the car. "Drive around to the other side of the park and wait for me there, I have a hunch that’s where our friend is headed. He’s probably got a getaway car parked on the far road."

"Agreed."

Joe quickly hopped out and Rob started the engine.

***

Phil and Brendan observed as the man and woman re-entered their car and quickly left the scene. They turned their attention back to the Ford, which was still parked up and waiting. Inside they could just about make out the tops of four heads.

"I doubt we can take four at once," said Brendan.

"Oh, I think we could! But let’s just wait and see what happens," replied Phil quietly.

They had to wait a couple more minutes before a blond haired man stepped from the car and jogged in the direction the young couple had headed earlier. The Ford’s engine started noisily and they back out of the parking space, swung out of the parking lot and disappeared around the bend.

"What a junk heap," observed Phil. "Why are they leaving their pal behind?" he wondered out loud.

"Who cares! It makes our job easier. Let’s go." They left the Jaguar and advanced around the hedge. Standing on the corner they watched as the blond man bent down at an impressively huge oak tree and scuffed around. He stood up and jogged over the wooden bridge away from them.

"That’s it, he’s got the ring," said Phil. They took off after him in pursuit.

***

Joe ran across the wooden slatted bridge and followed the path that had been worn into the grass by thousands of trampling feet. He couldn’t immediately see the man who had collected the ring, but it didn’t worry him as he was fairly certain of where he was heading.

He ducked under a low hanging branch and came out into the open. He saw his quarry was not too far ahead of him, wandering unhurriedly along. He was (as Joe had suspected) heading straight across the deserted playing fields, towards the road on the other side of the park.

Suddenly Joe was aware of the noise of footsteps clattering across the bridge and moving up quickly behind him. Assuming it was a couple of enthusiastic joggers, he glanced back absent mindedly to check he’d allowed enough room for them to pass. By the time he saw the big fist swinging straight for his temple it was by far too late to duck - his brain only had time to register the phrase "Uh oh!" before the clenched hand connected with his head like a hammer, and he was sent spinning to the ground.

***

The trip around to the other side of the park had taken Rob less than a minute. He turned the engine off and allowed the car to glide silently down the slight incline, stopping slowly in front of a shallow, water-filled ford – just halting before front tires entered the wet.

They could see a red sports car a quarter of a mile ahead of them, parked illegally on a double yellow line, it’s back door hanging open. Two males could be seen inside the vehicle, their joint attentions focused on the rear entrance to the park.

The trios’ patience was rewarded three minutes later when the figure of the man who had picked up the ring emerged through the undergrowth and climbed quickly into the back of the getaway car.

"We haven’t got time to pick up Joe," Rob realized out loud, "not without giving ourselves away." He turned round in his chair and addressed his brother, "Mark, get out of the car, me and Kiwi’ll follow them. Find Joe and explain what’s happened. We’ll pick you up later at the front entrance."

Mark opened the back door and disappeared swiftly into the greenery, so as not to be spotted. He peered through the foliage as the red car pulled speedily away. His brother floored the accelerator and followed, with Kiwi awkwardly trying to squeeze his tall frame between the front seats to sit up front. Mark barely had time to jump clear before the Ford splashed straight though the huge puddle, sending sheets of drenching water up into the air.

Loitering until both cars where out of site, Mark stepped back onto the sidewalk. He had already figured he was not able to walk across the ford, so took the long route around the water, up onto the bridge and heading for the park’s back entrance. He fully expected Joe to be waiting there, and was very much surprised when he found the exit deserted.

"Maybe, he walked slowly and didn’t make it this far?" he considered to himself and began to back track across the grounds, fully expecting to run into Joe at some point. He assumed that once he had cleared the trees and had a view straight across the playing fields he would spot his friend. His optimism was replaced by pessimism by the time he’d broken through the trees and there was still no sign of him.

A man and dog came towards him from the direction Joe should have taken. The dog rushed up to Mark and sniffed his hand. Mark scratched the mutt behind the ear and drew the man into conversation, "I’ve become separated from my friend. He’s blond, about 6’ tall, broad build, heartbreaker - you haven’t seen him have you?"

"No," answered the man. "But I’ll tell you what I did see. There was a handsome, young, fair haired man back there with two friends…" his mouth split into a wide grin, "they were helping him along the bridge. The poor lad was so drunk, they were having to practically carry him, and..."

Mark took off at a sprint.

The man cut his speech short and watched Mark go, with a look of consternation on his face. His dog barked with excitement and leapt up and down. The man looked down at the small, black mongrel and said, "well Fluffy, old boy! You know what they say - ‘there’s nowt so queer as folk’."

Leaving the man and his dog far behind, Mark reached the bridge and clattered across it at full speed. He slid to a halt on the car park, sending sharp pieces of gravel flying up into the air and looked around wildly trying to spot something…anything. Finally he heard the sound of a car engine around the other side of the hedge and made for the corner, he just rounded it in time to see and hear the Jaguar car screeching away.

Leaning forward with his hands on his knees to catch his breath, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and quickly dialed home. He was relieved when it was answered almost immediately. He was so breathless that Helen nearly hung up, thinking she’d got a heavy breather on the line. "Helen…[puff puff]…it’s me [puff] Mark…DON’T HANG UP".

"[Puff] Wait…[puff]…Give me a second…"

Helen stood in the hallway, tapping her foot impatiently, Frank was leaning on the lounge doorway, listening.

"Mark, talk to me!" she eventually commanded loudly. Frank watched as her face changed to a grimace of dread.

"Are you sure?" she asked him, after listening calmly for half a minute.

"YES!" Frank just about heard Mark yell. She pivoted slowly towards him and passed the receiver silently across.

***

Even with the Ford’s accelerator pressed to the floor, Rob found it impossible to keep up with the swift moving sports car. It took less than two miles for the car to disappear over the horizon in front of them. Ten minutes of hard driving later, they were forced to admit defeat. Kiwi had, however, managed to jot down the plate number. Taking a quick detour, they headed back to the park to pick up Mark and Joe.

Pulling into the car lot, they were surprised to see the BMW parked up. Disembarking they spied the other three a little way off, just pass the bridge. They were poking about in the bushes.

They caught up to them and Kiwi began to say, "We didn’t catch the car, but I did get the license number…" he paused when he caught the look on Frank’s face, "What you doing?" he asked. "Where’s your brother?"

"He’s gone."

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?" asked Rob, a little sharply.

"He never turned up to meet us at the pickup point," answered Mark. He quickly filled Rob and Kiwi in on the recent events. "We were hoping it wasn’t Joe with those two men, but we can’t find hide nor hair of him in the park."

"Except for these marks on the ground," corrected Frank, indicating to a flattened piece of grass. Kiwi and Rob stood over the area to see what he was talking about. "See," he continued, sweeping his arm along, "there appear to be drag marks just here, you can see where fresh clods of earth have been torn up."

"Something heavy was definitely dragged along," agreed Rob.

"But that’s nonsensical, why would they take him? We gave them the ring for goodness sake!" exclaimed Kiwi and pointed across the playing fields. "The guy who took the ring went off that-a-way, and got into a car." he swiveled and pointed in the opposite direction. "The guys Mark suspects of having taken Joe came from over there, and besides, they didn’t know us four were even here. If I were them, and needed to kidnap someone, I would have abducted Helen or Frank!"

"Now there a cheerful thought," commented Helen.

"It’s like the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand’s doing!" Kiwi finished.

Frank raised his hands in frustration, "I am totally stumped this time. Joe is obviously not here and I’d like to think he wouldn’t be stupid enough to just wander off. I vote we head home, and wait and see if we get a phone call. There’s always the remotest chance that my thick headed brother decided to go gallivanting off after a lead - he can be a bit hot-headed and impetuous at times." Although he sounded annoyed, the others could tell that this wasn’t what Frank was really feeling - that he was trying to bolster himself up.

As they headed back to the cars, Rob threw an arm about Frank’s shoulders and Helen held his hand and rubbed his forearm up and down.

"I’m sure he’s okay," remarked Kiwi.

"Yeah, he’s probably sitting on the front doorstep, blaspheming us for locking him out." remarked Mark.

"Thanks, guys," said Frank.

***

It was well passed 9.00 p.m. and dark outside when the phone finally rang. They hadn’t heard a word up until that point, and were on the verge of contacting Inspector Kyle for police intervention.