Siege

Eighty

22.13

‘HOW ON EARTH did you know that was going to happen, Arley?’ asked Major Standard.

‘I had good information,’ said Arley into the phone. ‘The point is, did it work? Did you pull your men out in time? It sounded like there was quite a firefight over there.’ From their position in the mobile incident room two hundred yards away, they were unable to see what was happening, and the Worth Street camera wasn’t showing them much, but they’d all heard the explosions interspersed with the automatic gunfire easily enough.

‘Yes. Every man’s been accounted for. We had to return fire to cover the retreat, but I don’t know if we hit any of the terrorists or not. I need to speak to your source urgently. I want to know how he knew about our movements, and what he can tell us about the terrorists inside the building. Do you have a name and number for him?’

‘No,’ lied Arley, improvising as she went along. ‘He called from a callbox.’

‘Then who is he? And why did he call you?’

‘He’s an informant through an MI5 source. He was put on to me because I’m the police commander on the scene. I’ll try to get through to him right now.’

‘Do that. It’s urgent I speak to him. We can’t make another move on the building until we’ve got some idea what we’re up against.’

‘I’ve still got our negotiator trying to get hold of Wolf,’ said Arley. ‘He hasn’t been answering. What do you want our man to say if he does?’

‘Get him to tell Wolf it was a mistake and there was no attack. And get me that contact now, Arley. That’s an order.’

‘Yes sir,’ she said, hanging up and repeating Standard’s instruction to Riz Mohammed.

It was just in time, because barely twenty seconds later the phone in the hotel’s satellite kitchen, which had been ringing off the hook for close to ten minutes, was finally picked up, and Wolf was on the line. ‘Stop the attack now!’ he was shouting, his voice filled with a volatile mix of fear and anger as it reverberated round the room. ‘If you don’t, we will detonate the bomb in the ballroom and kill all the hostages. You have one minute to comply. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, I do,’ answered Riz, who seemed as shocked as anybody that Wolf had actually answered his call. ‘But there’s been some mistake because there hasn’t been an attack.’

‘What are you talking about? What were the explosions and all the shooting, then?’

Riz raised his eyebrows at Arley. Whatever was happening in there, it was clear Wolf wasn’t at the cutting edge of it. ‘I don’t know, but my understanding is that two members of the SAS were watching the rear of the hotel when some of your operatives opened fire on them. They then immediately retreated.’

‘Bullshit. That can’t be right. They were attacking us.’ But there was the first hint of doubt in his voice.

‘It wasn’t an attack, Wolf,’ said Riz, the calmness in his own voice a clear contrast to the terrorist’s. ‘I can promise you that. We genuinely want to negotiate.’

‘Your men shouldn’t have been round the back of here anyway. What were they doing there?’

‘They were simply keeping an eye on things.’

‘Tell them to stay away. Do you understand that? If we see any more of them again, we kill ten hostages.’

The line went dead, and Riz Mohammed took a deep breath. ‘Bloody hell, that was close. He’s not happy.’

‘It could have been one hell of a lot worse,’ murmured Arley.

‘So, who’s this contact of yours?’ asked John Cheney, frowning as he posed the question everyone in the room wanted an answer to.

They all looked at her.

‘I can’t talk about it right now,’ she said dismissively. ‘It’s classified.’

‘That’s ridiculous,’ complained Cheney.

Arley gave him a look that cut him dead. ‘That’s the way it is. No more discussion.’

But even as she spoke the words, she knew she was on the verge of being found out.