Assassin

79

Assistant Commissioner Peter Manners, commanding officer of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, S015, cleared his throat, the way a man does when he's about to state a position and wants the world to know it. 'No disrespect, Dame Agatha, but I have to say I take the same view as Tord Bahr. I've got a lot of time for the man, he's bloody good at what he does, and I can assure you that we have been working with his people to ensure that there are no loopholes, no weak spots, no opportunities for anyone to make an attempt on the President's life. It's a responsibility we all take very, very seriously.'

'I know you do,' said Dame Agatha Bewley in a conciliatory tone that was almost maternal, as if she were settling a fight between argumentative children. 'But I must say I'm surprised Bahr refused to pay any attention to what Mr Carver told him. After all, it doesn't hurt to take precautions, no matter how implausible a threat might be.'

'It's a personal thing,' said Carver. 'We had a run-in recently. I made him look stupid in front of his boss. He'll never admit I could be right again.'

'His boss… really?' asked Dame Agatha, her eyebrows arching as she leaned forward on her desk and looked at Carver over the top of her reading glasses. 'Might one ask…?'

'Afraid not,' said Carver. 'Confidential. But you can take it that I'm personally familiar with the President's security arrangements. And I want to keep him alive. That's also personal.'

'I try not to get personal myself,' said Manners. 'I look at this professionally, and I'd ask a simple question: suppose Bahr believed you, Carver, how would that change anything? He's already done everything he can. Unless he has specific information to go on, what else is there?'

'He could keep an eye out for Damon Tyzack.'

'Don't worry, we'll be doing that. Crowd control and observation is a police responsibility and I've already entered every available picture of Tyzack into the facial-recognition software we'll be using for the event. If he's there, we'll spot him. You seem amused, Carver, why's that?'

'I'm not a big believer in facial-recognition programs. They're too unreliable, too many ways to throw them off, particularly when you're working in real time. In the lab, after the event, yes, then you might get something you can use. But live, well, I'd back myself to get past any system that I know of, and Tyzack will too.'

'Maybe we have systems you don't know about.'

'Try me.'

'That's enough!' Dame Agatha's voice cut through the verbal wrist-wrestling match. Mother was losing her patience. 'I find this pointless male need to compete deeply, deeply tedious. It is my judgement, which is shared by the Home Secretary, that we need to consider Mr Carver's information seriously. And I would add that both I and Mr Grantham have reason to respect Mr Carver's professional abilities, if not always his tact. Let us assume, for now, that we are facing a threat from a former member of the special forces whose personality is amoral, cunning and utterly ruthless. Let us also suppose that he may be making some form of airborne attack. So, Assistant Commissioner, perhaps you would be good enough to talk us through the existing precautions, before we move on to anything else?'

'Certainly,' said Manners, getting to his feet. A 50-inch screen was fixed to the wall at one end of the room, linked to a laptop. Manners bent over the keyboard and aerial images of south-west England, followed by central Bristol, appeared on the screen. Just as Tyzack had done when talking to Arjan Visar, he described the journey that would bring Lincoln Roberts on Air Force One to RAF Fairford and then on by helicopter to College Green. Then he turned his attention to the presidential motorcade.

'Basically it's a combination of British and US vehicles and personnel,' he began. 'In the lead we have armed motorcycle outriders from the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department. They're followed by three cars containing our officers from S015, running in front of and to either side of Cadillac Two, which is one of the presidential limousines. The Chief of Staff will ride in that, along with the Emergency Satchel. Inside the satchel is everything the President needs to order the launch of a nuclear war, so we try to keep it safe.'

'So I should hope,' muttered Jack Grantham, who had remained silent during Manners's argument with Carver, preferring to enjoy it as a form of spectator sport.

Manners chose to take the remark as a joke and gave a forced chuckle. 'Absolutely! Wouldn't want to lose that. So… There then follow several more escort vehicles, split between SO15 and the US Secret Service. Their occupants are very heavily armed, and trained in close-quarters combat. With the greatest of respect to Mr Carver and Mr Tyzack, they are capable of taking down any conceivable ground-attack short of a full-scale military assault. Anyway, these escorts drive fore and aft of Cadillac One, in which Mr Roberts will be riding. There will also be a number of minibuses filled with White House staff and members of the press, all vetted in advance, of course.

'I have to say that the only form of attack that I can envisage having any sort of success against this motorcade would be some kind of guided missile, though it would have to be very powerful indeed. Cadillac One is as well armoured as a Challenger battle tank. Serious question, Carver: does Tyzack have access to that kind of ordnance?'

'I doubt it,' said Carver. 'And I don't see him going for a missile, even if he could get one. Whatever he does, he'll want to be there. This is about him as much as the President.' Carver gave a wry chuckle. 'With Damon Tyzack it's always personal.'

This time Manners's smile was genuine. 'Well, in that case, he'll be looking for an opportunity at the speech itself.'

He put another image up on the screen. 'This is Broad Quay. They're putting the stage at the waterside, here, facing inland, with the President's back to the water. As you can see, there are a number of newly completed or renovated towers along the right-hand, eastern side of the quay. These contain offices, hotels or residential properties. All will be repeatedly searched in the run-up to the speech. All rooms with windows giving a clear line of sight to the stage will be emptied and secured. All roofs will be occupied by our people and/or US Secret Service. Aside from that, the site comprises an open expanse where the crowd will gather, with wide roads on either side, running back several hundred metres, wider by the stage, but narrowing the further it gets inland. On the west side of the quay, that's the left as you look at it, there's nothing but low buildings all the way back, very few of which have flat roofs. So there are virtually no potential shooting positions, even if any would-be assassin could get in those buildings in the first place. And we will be making sure that he can't.'

'How about underground access to the site?' asked Carver.

'All checked, rechecked, guarded and sealed,' said Manners. 'Every sewer, every drain. The rats must be wondering what hit them. So, to continue… Once the President arrives, all the close guarding work will be handled by his Secret Service personnel. Our efforts will be concentrated on the crowd. We're planning body, bag and shoe searches, very much like airport security, with walk-through scanners, explosives dogs and extensive video monitoring of the crowd. And don't worry, Mr Carver. We'll be relying on good old-fashioned human observation as well as fancy technology, and we'll be watching out for troublemakers, known terrorists, anyone who even scratches their arse in a suspicious manner. And just in case anyone does get a gun past security, and makes it somewhere near the stage, the President's autocue will be a reinforced, bullet-proof shield. As I say, we're taking this very seriously indeed.'