Ultimatum

Fifteen

11.22

Tina called Mike Bolt from an empty interview room. She’d asked the warder if she could smoke since the prisoners seemed to do so with impunity, but was told she couldn’t, which pissed her off no end.

‘Jetmir Brozi,’ she said when he picked up. ‘Apparently he was involved in procuring the weaponry for the Stanhope siege, and Fox reckons he may well be involved in the attacks today too.’

She gave Bolt a brief rundown of the details of the interview.

‘He’s sure the attacks this morning are linked, and by the way, Mike, it would have really helped me if I’d known there’d been a second bomb before I spoke to him. I felt a right fool when he told me about the Bayswater attack.’

‘I called you as soon as I had the chance, but your phone was on silent.’ He sounded stressed and tired, which wasn’t like him at all.

‘How many casualties have there been so far?’

‘Nine dead from the first bomb. Five from the two in Bayswater. The Bayswater attack was designed to take out police officers attending a flat where they’d traced the phone used to claim responsibility for the first explosion.’

‘So it was a sophisticated attack, and similar to the bombs set off prior to the Stanhope siege.’

‘Very much so. But that doesn’t mean they’re connected. Our one suspect is a British national of Pakistani origin. The ID he was carrying says he’s Akhtar Mohammed, aged thirty-one and married with three children. He’s not on any watchlists, but then neither were the 7/7 bombers. But the point is, nothing links this man to any previous attacks. I’ll get our people to find out what they can about Jetmir Brozi, but I reckon it’s going to be a long job to gather any evidence against him.’

‘We’ve got to do it though, surely?’

‘We’ll do what we can, but right now everyone in the Met is focused on what’s going on in central London. The terrorists are threatening a much bigger attack, and if their track record so far’s anything to go by, God knows what they could be planning. I need more from Fox. If he’s serious about cooperating, we need the names of everyone involved in these attacks. And we need them now.’

‘He wants to be moved to a safehouse first.’

‘We can’t do that, Tina. He’s an extremely dangerous and high-profile remand prisoner.’

‘He says his life’s in danger.’

‘Do you believe him?’

Tina thought about this for a moment, remembering his injuries. ‘Yes, I do. And after what happened to John Cheney, it’s possible the people he worked for are trying to silence him. If it’s OK, I’m going to stay round here to interview the man who attacked Fox. See if I can find anything out that way.’

‘Good idea. Keep me posted. And thanks, Tina. You’re doing a good job.’

They ended the call, and Tina put the phone back in her pocket, a familiar excitement in her gut.