Siege

Fifty-one

20.20

THIS WAS THE dead time. The time in the middle of the operation when they were simply waiting around and guarding the hostages, counting down the hours until they were ready to make their next move.

In the ballroom, Fox was back on guard duty with Bear. They’d both just eaten some pot noodles in the satellite kitchen, during which time Bear had complained more than once about Cat’s volatility. The whole room had heard her scream when she was told what had happened to her brother, and since then the rage had been coming off her in waves, and she’d hardly spoken a word. Fox had told Bear not to worry, that as long as she didn’t go off on a one-woman hunt for the man responsible and get herself killed, everything would be OK. Bear had calmed down, but he still seemed spooked, as he had been ever since he’d found out about what happened to Leopard and Panther. Fox was more sanguine. The man responsible for their deaths was certainly dangerous but the chances were that he was hiding out in one of the rooms and would stay out of their way.

Fox was more worried about the atmosphere in the ballroom, which was tense. He could see that some of the hostages were agitated, while others seemed to be looking around for ways to escape. Clearly they were beginning to forget what had happened to some of their fellow hostages earlier when they’d made their bids for freedom.

He and Bear were sitting on chairs twenty feet apart, and well back from the hostages. Bear’s foot rested on the detonation pedal for the bomb that sat in the middle of the hostages, and Fox hoped that none of them would work out that there was no way he or Bear would detonate it, given that they were sat right in the path of any shrapnel. In fact, the bomb, like all but two of the others, was set to timer and would explode at 23.00 hours, not before. Both the pedal and the det cords were there for show only.

One of the more troublesome-looking hostages, a young stocky guy dressed like an American high school jock, caught Fox’s eye, and started to stand up.

Fox shouted at him to sit down.

The guy went down on one knee. ‘I need the toilet, badly,’ he said, his accent public school.

‘I don’t care.’

‘Come on. Cut me some slack. Please.’ There was a confidence to his voice that made some of the hostages take notice.

Fox knew a show of weakness or indecision here would be fatal. He took his time getting to his feet, then took two steps forward and very slowly put the AK-47 to his shoulder, pointing it at the young man’s head. When he spoke, his words cut across the room like a knife. ‘I’ve already shot two people downstairs. Do you think it’ll bother me if I shoot a third? Your life means absolutely nothing to me. If it means anything to you, then keep still and shut up. Understand?’

The hostage nodded, every ounce of confidence now gone.

‘Good. That goes for the rest of you too. Stay silent and you stay alive.’

As Fox sat down, Bear gave him a supportive nod. Bear had always looked to Fox for leadership, ever since he’d served under him in the army. Not for the first time, Fox wondered whether Bear ever resented the fact that he’d been disfigured for life while Fox – who should, by rights, have been blown to pieces – had escaped the IED largely unscathed. If he did, then he hid it very well.

Fox took a brief look over his shoulder towards the kitchen where Wolf and Cat were. God knows what they were doing in there, but as long as it wasn’t anything stupid, like starting a hunt for their fugitive, he didn’t mind. In the meantime, he had something else he had to do.

Still keeping a firm grip on his rifle, he slid the pack from his back and, as casually as possible, removed his laptop. He wanted to check that the individual he’d left a message for earlier in the drafts section of the hotmail account had received it and responded with a message of his own.

But when he tried to go online, the computer didn’t respond. He tried again, keeping his face impassive, but it definitely wasn’t working.

The bastards had cut them off.

This was a real problem. He wasn’t so worried about his own private message. He knew it was there, so a response was less important. However, one of the key components of their plan was knowing where and when the security forces would launch their attack. This information was also going to be provided through the drafts section of a separate hotmail account so that it couldn’t be read by the authorities. But if they didn’t have an internet connection, they wouldn’t get it, and they’d lose a key advantage.

He tried one more time, got the same result, and replaced the laptop in the backpack as he got to his feet.

Bear gave him a questioning look. ‘Is there a problem?’ he whispered as Fox crouched down next to him.

Fox knew there was no point spooking him further. ‘I just need to see Wolf quickly. I’ll be back in a minute.’ And then louder, so the hostages could hear, he said: ‘Anyone moves, put a hole in them.’

He turned and walked quickly towards the kitchen, knowing that they had to get the internet back on, and fast.

Even if it meant killing a hostage in front of the world’s cameras to make the authorities act.