First Response

LAMBETH CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND CENTRE (7.25 p.m.)

Kamran put down his mobile phone. He was sitting at a large table in a meeting room opposite the special operations room, which was normally used for press briefings, with lines of red chairs facing a raised podium. The Gold Command suite had been too small for the briefing that was now needed. Chief Superintendent Gillard was standing at the middle of the long desk on the podium, flanked by Kamran and Waterman on his left, Thatcher and Murray on his right. Facing them were more than a dozen Silver Commanders from the special operations room and representatives from most of the pods. Lisa Elphick was sitting in the front row, a notepad on her lap, Tony Drury next to her. Kamran looked up at Gillard. ‘That was Silver Commander at Biggin Hill,’ he said. ‘All six of the prisoners are present and accounted for.’

‘Well, that’s a relief,’ said Gillard.

‘And the suicide vests are fake.’

Kamran’s revelation was met by a stunned silence.

‘I’m sorry, Mo, run that by us again,’ said Gillard.

‘The vests don’t contain explosives. Or a detonation system. They’re fake.’

‘I’m confused. What the hell have we been dealing with all day? What has this all been about?’

‘It was a scam, from the start,’ said Kamran.

‘But to what end?’ said Gillard. ‘The bombers have surrendered, the prisoners are still in custody, and we haven’t heard from Shahid since, what, twenty to five? Almost three hours ago. He’s been watching TV so he must know that the ISIS prisoners and his men are at the airport. Why hasn’t he called?’

Tony Drury’s mobile rang and he went to the far end of the room, talking into it with his hand over his mouth.

‘Perhaps he realised it was a trap,’ said Thatcher.

‘In which case why did his men surrender so easily? There was no negotiation. No demands. No contact, even.’

Thatcher shrugged. ‘Maybe the terrorists decided to take matters into their own hands once they realised they were trapped in the hangar.’

‘But right from the start they said they would kill everyone if they didn’t get what they wanted,’ said Gillard. ‘Okay, we now know that the vests weren’t a real threat, but at the time we thought they were. At the very least, you would have thought Shahid would have tried to negotiate. It makes no sense that he’d just walk away.’

‘Unless he already had what he wanted,’ said Kamran.

Gillard turned to him. ‘But what?’ he asked. ‘How is this in any way a victory for him?’

‘It could have been a test,’ said Waterman. ‘Testing to see how we would react, how much leeway we would give them. Now they know that the government will bow to their demands, next time they will ask for even more. And next time the vests could be real.’

Murray nodded. ‘We showed weakness,’ he said. ‘They’ll take advantage of that.’

Drury finished his call and walked back to his seat. ‘That was one of my guys,’ he said. ‘He confirms that the explosives weren’t real, and neither were the detonators. The triggers looked like the real thing but they wouldn’t have done anything if pressed. The vests were harmless. Totally harmless.’

Gillard was about to speak when the door opened. It was Sergeant Lumley. ‘It’s the prime minister, sir,’ said the sergeant. ‘On your direct line in the Gold Command suite so I can’t transfer it.’

Gillard stood up. ‘Mo, you’d better come with me.’ He looked around the room. ‘To be continued…’ he said, and headed for the door with Kamran in tow.