First Response

LAMBETH CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND CENTRE (12.30 p.m.)

Lumley put down his phone and waved a hand to attract Kamran’s attention. ‘The Bomb Squad chief is here, sir,’ he said. ‘Tony Drury.’

The main door to the special operations room opened and a man in a grey suit stood there, looking around uncertainly as if not sure where to go. Lumley went over to him and brought him to Kamran’s workstation. Drury was in his forties, with short grey hair and piercing blue eyes. He walked with his back ramrod straight, the sign of a military background, and he had a firm handshake.

‘I’m going to drop you in at the deep end and ask you to give me a view on the vests these guys are wearing,’ said Kamran. One by one he brought up CCTV photographs of the jihadists.

Drury nodded thoughtfully as he studied the pictures. ‘How many are there?’ he asked.

‘Seven so far,’ said Kamran. ‘They’re the same, right? At least, they look the same.’

‘They’re the same design and seem to be using the same components,’ agreed Drury. ‘I’d say each has between ten and twenty-five pounds of explosive. The trigger is a push button so I’m assuming a simple circuit. Push the button and the vest explodes. From the look of it something has been wrapped around the explosive. I would guess ball bearings or nails, to create shrapnel.’

‘Similar to what was used on the London Tube?’

Drury shook his head. ‘No, the Tube bombs were in backpacks. I’d say these vests would be more lethal.’

‘How lethal?’ asked Kamran. ‘Suppose one went off in a shop.’

‘It’s difficult to say,’ said Drury. ‘A lot depends on how many people are nearby, how close they are. Bodies absorb shrapnel so if you have a few people close to the site of the explosion they would take the brunt of the blast.’

‘But people further away might survive?’

‘Sure. It all depends on the type of shrapnel, the velocity, and what’s there to absorb it. Plenty of people survived the London Tube bombings. There were some people in the carriage where the bombs detonated who were completely unscathed. They were the lucky ones, of course. What locations do we have so far?’

‘A coffee shop. A nursery. A post office. A bus. A church. A pub. A shop.’

‘So no pattern, then? Not like Seven/Seven when all four bombers went down the Tube.’

‘This is a different situation,’ said Kamran. ‘The Tube bombings were about causing maximum casualties and spreading terror. These men want something. The bombs are a negotiating technique.’

‘What do they want?’

‘Prisoners released from Belmarsh and a plane out of the country.’

‘I’m guessing they’re going to be disappointed,’ said Drury.

‘Is there any way of neutralising the vests at a distance?’

Drury shook his head. ‘No, you have to remove the detonators or cut the wiring. They’re actually very simple circuits.’ He grimaced. ‘Sorry not to be more helpful.’

‘I just need to know where we stand,’ said Kamran. ‘Now, do you think the trigger is significant?’

‘Push to detonate? That’s pretty standard.’

‘We were thinking that a dead man’s switch would have made more sense.’

‘It depends on the environment,’ said Drury. ‘A dead man’s switch means that you can’t take out the man without the bomb going off. But the downside is that the operator can set it off by mistake.’ He peered at one of the pictures. ‘Looks as if they’re using Velcro strips to keep the triggers in the palm.’

‘Have you seen that before?’

‘It’s a technique used in Israel, by Palestinian suicide bombers, especially the ones who board buses and coaches. It means if they’re rushed they won’t drop the trigger.’

‘If the hand was chopped off? At the wrist or the elbow?’

‘You’d be taking a chance,’ said Drury. ‘If the thumb was on the trigger you might get a muscle contraction that would close the circuit.’

‘And that would go for a head shot, too?’

Drury flashed him a tight smile. ‘The SFOs keen to have a go, are they?’

‘The SAS raised it as a possibility,’ said Kamran. ‘If they get the chance of a clear head shot, what’s the downside?’

‘The downside is that, despite what you see in the movies, death is rarely instantaneous,’ said Drury. ‘You might blow the brain apart but the heart will still pump and muscles can still contract. The headless-chicken thing. I wouldn’t like to bet that a bullet to the brain would stop the trigger being depressed.’

‘Do you have any suggestions?’

‘If you could cut the wires to the trigger, that might do it. I’m not seeing a secondary circuit. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one, of course. And there could be a remote trigger, too.’

‘How would that work?’ asked Kamran.

‘They use them in Iraq when they’re not sure how committed a jihadist is. They give him a trigger but they have a remote switch as well, triggered by a mobile phone. You make a call, the circuit closes and bang.’

Kamran sighed. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. ‘So what’s the SOP with a suicide bomber?’ he asked.

‘To be honest, most of our procedures are for after the event — dealing with the crime scene, making the area safe, procedures like that. In terms of dealing with bombers in situ, that’s generally left to the negotiators.’

‘What about minimising the damage if there is an explosion?’

‘We just make sure that everyone is kept well away.’

‘What about bomb-disposal officers wearing bomb suits?’

Drury shrugged. ‘The suits we have provide pretty good protection against a vest bomb,’ he said. ‘The top-of-the-range Kevlar, foam and plastic jobs weigh more than thirty-five kilos and would provide pretty good protection. Except for the hands and forearms, of course. They’re left unprotected so that the officer can use his hands to defuse the device.’

‘I was thinking of using them to disarm the men,’ said Kamran.

‘I don’t see that being possible,’ said Drury. ‘The suits inhibit movement and they’d be seen coming a mile off.’

‘Is there definitely no way that the vests can be disabled at a distance?’

‘I’m afraid not,’ said Drury. ‘That’s down to whoever’s going to be negotiating with them.’

Kamran rubbed the back of his neck. He was starting to get a headache. A bad one. ‘The way things are going, that will probably be me,’ he said.