An hour earlier, Dredd had procured the services of Barnstable Wheems, Efil Drago San had been moved to a hi-security cell in the Hall of Justice and now they were waiting for the final component of the affair: the arrival of a contingent from Brit-Cit by way of intercontinental Strat-Bat. The Tactical Response squad with them was, ostensibly, an "honour guard", but in a far more real sense it was a failsafe, a protective measure, just to be sure. The Justice Department of Mega-City One, despite any failings it might have in the eyes of its critics, was not, in the end, a bunch of drokking idiots. The Judges had realised early on - though just slightly too late to prevent their funding of it - the true nature of Brit-Cit's so-called "Justice Department" and what was being done in their name. They had yanked that funding and support as soon as they had become aware of what it was being spent on, but by then the damage had been done. A visit by senior Brit-Cit Judges was basically the equivalent of a visit to the US in the twenty-first century by the President of an unrecognised, rogue South American state - a drugs baron who had clawed his way to the top of the heap, and was bringing along an entourage of the enforcers and hit men who had helped him to get there.
