First Response

LAMBETH CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND CENTRE (1.30 p.m.)

Sergeant Lumley’s phone rang and he picked up the receiver. It was Inspector Richard Horton, Silver Commander at the Marble Arch scene. ‘We have some pictures of the inside of the coffee shop,’ said the inspector. ‘I can download them now if you want.’

‘Ready when you are, sir,’ said Lumley.

‘Let me have your email address and I’ll send you the link.’

The inspector stayed on the line until Lumley had the photographs on his left-hand screen. ‘The quality isn’t great, I know,’ said the inspector. ‘There’s glare off the window and everyone was standing well back.’

‘I can get our tech boys to tinker with them,’ said Lumley, but he knew that the inspector was right. The pictures were blurry and even the best of the bunch were half obscured by the newspaper.

The final photograph of the series was a close-up of an Asian face, bearded with glaring eyes, partly obscured by a hand holding a metal trigger. A piece of newspaper had been torn away, just enough to reveal part of the face.

‘This last one, the guy saw what was happening?’ asked the sergeant.

‘He went to the window and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer backed off immediately,’ said Inspector Horton. ‘How are things there?’

‘Hectic,’ said Lumley.

‘We’re still waiting for a negotiating team here,’ said Horton. ‘Can you tell Gold?’

‘He knows,’ said Lumley. ‘The problem is, even where we have negotiating teams on site, the bombers are refusing to talk to them. All communication is through social media at the moment.’

‘Four and a half hours left until their deadline,’ said the inspector. ‘Has a decision been taken on the Belmarsh prisoners yet?’

‘That’s all well above my pay grade, sir.’

‘Mine too, thankfully,’ said the inspector. ‘It’s not a decision I’d want to make. That guy in there looks perfectly prepared to blow himself up and take everyone in the shop with him, if he and the other bombers don’t get what they want.’