First Response

LAMBETH CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND CENTRE (5.23 p.m.)

‘Chief Superintendent Kamran?’ A pretty black girl with bright red lipstick was looking down at him. Kamran didn’t recognise her and didn’t recall seeing her in the special operations room before. She sensed his confusion and smiled. ‘Sorry, I’m Rose Taylor, with Transport for London.’

Kamran stood up. ‘It’s Superintendent Kamran,’ he said, ‘but please call me Mo.’

‘We were wondering, now that the situation has been resolved at Brixton and Wandsworth, are we okay to open the roads? The closures are causing chaos, what with it being rush-hour and all.’

‘We should be able to cancel the outer and inner perimeters straight away,’ he said. ‘The premises themselves will remain as crime scenes but I don’t think we need the roads blocked off.’

‘Who do I talk to about that? We’re being told that the roads have to stay closed.’

‘I’ll handle it, Rose.’

‘How soon after each bomber has gone can we open the other roads?’

‘Pretty much straight away,’ he said. ‘I’ll talk to the Silver Commanders of all the scenes.’

She frowned. ‘Silver Commanders?’

He smiled. ‘I’m sorry. The man in overall charge today is the Gold Commander, Chief Superintendent Gillard. At each scene there is a senior officer in charge and he’s called the Silver Commander. He has Bronze Commanders reporting to him.’

‘That sounds awfully complicated.’

‘Actually, it makes things much simpler. There’s no doubt who is in charge at any point, no matter what ranks or services are present.’

She laughed. ‘I think we could do with a system like that at TfL,’ she said. ‘Lots of chiefs there and no one who wants to do any real work.’

‘All bureaucracies are the same,’ said Kamran. ‘They grow to the point where they lose sight of what their purpose is. The Gold-Silver-Bronze system does help streamline things.’ He peered up at a screen showing a map of the coach’s progress through west London. It was about to arrive at the Fulham post office.