Close Call

Chapter 59

At six o’clock they were in Pearson’s corner office, joined now by Lazarus and several of Pearson’s senior colleagues, called in to help plan what would be a major operation whatever was decided about cancelling the derby match. Outside it was still pitch-dark, and whenever Liz looked towards the windows she saw, reflected against the black sky, the dark-uniformed figures sitting round the conference table in the middle of the room.

Liz had rung the hospital from the car and learned that Peggy’s condition was stable, but that they would soon be operating on the arm to remove the shrapnel, which had fragmented into a number of small pieces. Confident there was nothing she could do for Peggy at the moment, Liz was focused on the decision Pearson was going to have to make.

Reports had been called for from all police divisions for any sightings of a group of men acting suspiciously, but in the absence of any descriptions, no one was surprised that no reports had been received. Liz’s colleagues in Thames House had been in touch with GCHQ, the DCRI in France and the UK Border Agency, but no new information was forthcoming. A4 and police surveillance teams were still out in the area – they all knew the urgency of the situation and would instantly have communicated news of any sightings.

From the speakerphone in the middle of the table an automated voice suddenly announced, ‘Your call is ready to begin. All participants are now signed in.’ Pearson took a deep breath and said, ‘Good morning, everyone, I apologise for the uncivilised hour but we have an urgent decision to take in connection with the Zara Operation on which I think you are all briefed. Will you all please introduce yourselves?’

With the preliminaries over, Pearson outlined the situation, calmly summarising the dramatic events of the ­previous few hours. He concluded, ‘We are confident that the target of this jihadi group is the derby match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford this afternoon. We will of course continue to question Zara, but so far we’ve got nothing out of him, and I don’t believe that will change. He’s already asking for a lawyer. We have interdicted the arms imported for use in that attack, but the whereabouts of the group other than Zara is unknown and we do not know if they are armed or have access to arms. So a risk exists that they may attempt to proceed with the attack and that there may be casualties – possibly many.’

The gravelly tones of DG came through now. ‘What security measures can you take at the ground that might help detect these people if they turn up? I’m assuming searching all the fans is impossible.’

‘Yes. It would take too long and we don’t have the manpower,’ agreed Pearson. ‘What I can do is double the number of officers patrolling the gates and the stands, and I can insert more plain-clothes officers into the crowd. Obviously we’ll be closely monitoring the CCTV cameras too, but we have no descriptions of these jihadis and it’s very likely we won’t spot them until they start something.’

‘The Home Secretary will wish to know what the law and order implications are if the match is cancelled at this short notice.’ It was the Head of Counter-Terrorism at the Home Office.

‘It won’t surprise you, or her, that cancelling the match at this late hour will create plenty of problems on the street. Even if we announce cancellation now there will still be hundreds arriving in a short space of time, and we may have some violence when they find out the match is cancelled. The later we leave it to announce cancellation, the worse it will be. That’s why need to decide now, I’m afraid.’

DG spoke again: ‘Liz, what’s your view of things? Do you have a recommendation?’

Liz was drawing in her breath to say that she thought the only safe option was to cancel the match, when ­Pearson’s office door opened and a young uniformed policeman came in, looking nervous. Without saying a word he handed Liz a slip of paper. It read, Most urgent call for you. She started to shake her head, but something in the young officer’s eyes made her change her mind.

‘Excuse me,’ she said, leaning towards the speakerphone. ‘I’ve just been told there’s a very urgent call for me. It may be relevant so I think I’d better take it.’

Liz was gone less than five minutes. When she came back into the room she walked straight up to the table and, still standing, leant towards the phone. ‘I apologise for the interruption,’ she said. ‘You were asking my view a moment ago and I was about to recommend cancellation. But as a result of the phone conversation I’ve just had, I can now confidently recommend that we should let the match go ahead.’

As she paused to catch her breath, Pearson broke in. ‘What’s happened?’

‘I’ve just been speaking to the lady who lives next door to Zara’s mother. Zara was at the house early last night, before he went to the warehouse to collect the weapons.’

‘Go on.’ It was DG’s voice.

‘The neighbour told me that Mrs Atiyah is away, but when Mrs Atiyah told her she’d be gone for a few days she didn’t say anything about anyone coming to stay. Yet the neighbour swears there are people in the house – she says she can hear them through the wall. And she actually saw one of them yesterday. It was a young man.’

Liz paused. No one spoke. ‘I think they’ve got to be the jihadis. And they’re still there now.’