Blonde Fury by Sean O'Kane Page A

stockinged feet with a full blonde mane of hair ; he even taller and broad shouldered.
    There was another reason too; when their money began to run out, she could call her parents’ lawyers in Geneva and access plenty more through other sources. But that would inevitably arouse Tom’s curiosity and she didn’t want to answer too many questions just now. She felt confused and frightened and needed time to herself. She didn’t want Tom taking risks but she suspected that even if she did protest , his mind was pretty well made up. There was another deeper and darker reason for her wanting to s p lit up – a nasty thought had been gnawing at her over the past thirty-six hours and it ran like this; if the ma n who had accosted her outside her house was from an arena, perhaps the police raid on her house wasn’t just the result of her politics? Suppose someone in government had also found out who she really was? And if that was true then Clive Mostyn himself must know who she was. And if that was the case, the further Tom got away from her, the better for him!
    “Well I was going to suggest we split up anyway . I think we’d stand a better chance that way. But do be careful! I just need some time and I’ll come back when things have quietened down. ” She put her hand over his and he smiled at her.
    “ Good! And I will be careful ,” he said.
    There was a sudden roar from further back in the long, narrow room and they turned to see what had caused it. All the men sitting on stools at the bar and the couples gathered round tables had seen that the TV was showing footage of the Demolition Derby that had been held a few days previously at the Tykes’ arena on Tyneside.
    The Derbies had grown from the old American sport of Roller Derby but the arenas had given it their own inimitable spin as well as providing bigger and faster tracks . Each arena fielded two teams on roller skates; one for offence and one for defence , ten girls in each team . The team playing offence had to get its receiver through the defence – usually by whipping, which meant her team mates holding a girl’s arms and physically hurling her forward on her skates. And as both teams skated fast in any case, the results were high-speed collision s and action as the team on the offense fought to get a few girls through to the front of the fast-moving melee. Once the receiver was in position then the pass maker would attempt to throw an oval ball to her and the defence would use any trick to stop her. After fifteen laps a siren would sound and the number of completed passes by the offence were put on the score board, then the teams would change and the previous defenders now became attackers and tried to exceed the number of passes completed in the last ‘jam’. Five sets were usually played in a matc h – a set consisting of two jams . The ferocity of the wrestling between the girls as they hurtled round the banked wooden track, dressed only in short kilt-type skirts and with no other protection apart from forearm guards , was the main source of the entertainment. The Demolition element came from the fact that neither team was allowed to substitute a player even if she had to retire, so the later jams in a match could be played out between reduced teams and each team did its level best to ensure that it was the opposition who was severely reduced.
    The café had a wall screen TV so even though men and women were standing and cheering on the teams, Tom and Sophie could see the giant figures quite clearly. In disapproving silence, but unable to ignore the thunderous volume and huge figures, Sophie watched as a tall girl with light brown hair tied back in a pony tail , was whipped forwards at breakneck speed on one of the straights. She squatted down low and managed to squeeze between two opponents who had linked arms to stop her. She burst upwards and broke their grip then swung her own arms backwards, hard, as she surged past them. The camera caught the