Ultimatum

Thirty

16.25

Tina was still staring at the photo of the bomber when her mobile phone rang. It was Mike Bolt.

Briefly she explained to him what she’d found.

‘And are you absolutely sure it’s him?’ he asked when she’d finished.

‘I won’t forget his face as long as I live,’ Tina said, suddenly feeling vindicated. ‘So now we’ve got a direct link between Brozi and the bombers.’

‘That’s brilliant, Tina. Well done.’

‘You’re pleased with me now then, are you?’ she said, unable to resist having a dig.

He sighed down the other end of the phone. ‘It still doesn’t detract from the fact that your actions almost got us both killed, but it’s a great lead, there’s no question about that.’

‘We need to lean on Brozi fast.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘There’s only three and a half hours until the terrorists’ deadline, and I’d bet anything that he knows their identities.’

‘But we can’t. You know that. First of all, he’s going to deny the phone’s anything to do with him. We didn’t even see him drop it. And secondly, after what happened with him shooting at us, I’m not even allowed to see him in case it prejudices future proceedings. We’ve got a team from HQ coming over to interview him but they haven’t arrived yet, and nor has Brozi’s lawyer.’

‘So we’re just going to hang around until Brozi’s lawyer and the interview team decide to show their faces? Hoping that he might deign to cooperate with us?’

‘This isn’t 24, Tina. We can’t torture the information out of him. Just like we can’t torture it out of Fox either.’ He sighed. ‘Listen, it’s obvious from all this that Fox knows what’s going on. I need you to talk to him again.’

‘You’re not going to send me back to the prison, are you?’

She could hear the smile in Bolt’s voice as he answered. ‘It wouldn’t do any harm to have you out of the way, but no, I’m not. We’re going to set up a secure line at Islington and you can call him from there.’

‘I need to offer him something. Otherwise he’s got no incentive to help us.’

Bolt was silent as he thought about this. ‘Tell him we’re organizing moving him to a secure safehouse, but that it’s going to take another day or so to sort the paperwork.’

‘He won’t fall for that, Mike. He’s no fool. Let’s try to be a bit creative here. It’s clear from what’s happened that his info’s good. This isn’t a set-up.’

‘Right now, I haven’t got the authority to offer him anything else. I’ll speak to the commander but I doubt they’ll even contemplate moving him. It would be political suicide. Use your charm, Tina. You’ve got a name out of him already. See if you can get something else.’

Politics, thought Tina. Policework, like everything else, was all politics, and covering your arse. She sighed. ‘OK, I’m on my way.’