Siege

Ten

16.17

THEY LEFT THE warehouse in a white Transit van with Andrews Maintenance Services written on the side, beneath which was an out-of-service 0207 number. The van had been bought with cash at an auction in Kent two weeks earlier and it was completely clean. Fox was driving, with Wolf in the passenger seat next to him, while the other four were hidden away in the back behind a grimy curtain, along with the bulk of the weaponry.

As Fox turned on to the A40 heading eastbound he could see a pall of smoke over the buildings to the south-east, where the bomb had struck. By the time they reached East Acton and the Westway flyover a steady stream of emergency services vehicles – police, fire and ambulance – were approaching from the other direction. Fox counted seventeen of them altogether in the space of three minutes, and there’d be others coming from different directions as well, severely stretching their resources, as had been the plan.

They turned off the A40 just before the start of the flyover, heading south on the A3220, then taking a left on to Holland Park Avenue, where the traffic suddenly became more clogged. An ambulance drove down the middle of the road coming towards them, its blue lights flashing, and Fox was forced to mount the pavement to let it through.

The atmosphere in the van was tense, and Fox could hear the men shuffling about in the back. Everyone was jumpy. Not just because of what they were about to do but because all of them, except him, had snorted a generous line of speed before they’d left the warehouse. The drug would keep them awake and alert, and lower their inhibitions, making it easier for them to kill people when the time came. It would also dull their natural fear. But for Fox, who’d never taken illicit drugs in his life and wasn’t prepared to start now, two cups of strong coffee had had to suffice.

Wolf’s phone rang. He answered it, identified himself by code-name, then paused while he listened to the person on the other end of the phone. ‘You know what to do,’ he said at last, and ended the call, exchanging looks with Fox.

Fox tightened his fingers round the steering wheel. It was time to put the next stage of the plan into action.