Ultimatum

Fifty-one

19.41

Gina Burnham-Jones felt like she was on top of the world as she stared through the huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows, more than thirty feet high, at the carpet of lights spread below her. She could see the arc of the Thames as it did a sweeping right turn past the Gherkin and the NatWest Tower, snaked under Tower Bridge, with the Tower of London just beyond it, and then alongside Canary Wharf, before its dark waters slipped away into the distance, towards the sea.

‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ she whispered, squeezing Matt’s hand.

He smiled. ‘So it was worth the surprise, then?’

She smiled back. ‘It was well worth it. A few hours ago I was washing Maddie’s clothes and cleaning the bathroom. And now here I am, drinking champagne and hobnobbing with the rich and famous.’

The observation deck of the Shard ran right round the building on three floors. Number 69, the central floor, where she and Matt now stood, was crowded with guests attending the opening-night party. Above their heads, and beyond the open-air observation deck on the seventy-second floor, Gina could see the shards of glass that made up the top of the tower as they disappeared into the night sky like icy, stretching fingers.

The whole thing was incredible. For the first time in her life, Gina really didn’t know where to look. She’d already recognized several TV personalities, a well-known businessman, and at least two gold medallists from London 2012, all milling about in groups as immaculately turned-out young waiters and waitresses moved among them dispensing a never-ending flow of expensive-looking canapes, and even more expensive-looking drinks. No one seemed to be talking about the bombs, which made Gina feel a little foolish for worrying so much. Thankfully, security coming into the building had been extremely tight. All the guests had passed through metal scanners and had had their bags searched before getting into the lifts, and she was pleased to see that everyone looked like they belonged.

She noticed a TV cameraman filming proceedings while a female reporter stalked the area with a mike in her hand, clearly prowling for someone to interview. Gina turned away quickly, having no desire to embarrass herself on TV.

‘No offence,’ she said, putting her arm through Matt’s and moving close to him, ‘but how did you get an invite to a swanky do like this?’

‘Because I’m handsome, debonair and popular,’ he answered.

Gina raised a sceptical eyebrow, and he lowered his eyes and gave a sheepish smile.

‘A few of us ordinary Joes got an invite if we’d done something for the community. I won a bravery award once. I guess it qualified me.’

‘You never told me about that.’

He shrugged. ‘You never asked.’

She loved Matt’s modesty, and the fact that he never felt the need to brag, and she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

He kissed her back, hard, and when they pulled away a second later he must have seen something in her expression because he held her tightly, looked into her eyes and said, ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you something.’

Gina smiled at him. She felt giddy, light-headed, and it wasn’t the alcohol. She suddenly felt good about her life for the first time in a long while.

At that moment there was a commotion over by the lifts, and Gina turned to see half a dozen uniformed security officials emerge, a sense of urgency about them. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid we’re going to have to bring the party to a temporary halt,’ the most senior of them announced, shouting to make himself heard above the noise of conversation, as the other officials fanned out into the room. ‘We need to evacuate the observation deck.’

There was a sudden silence, and then, almost as one, everyone moved rapidly towards the lifts, the noise level rising again as fear spread round the room. ‘Please don’t worry, this is purely precautionary,’ shouted the official. ‘If you can just form an orderly queue at the lifts, we can get everyone down far quicker.’ But there was an edge to his voice as he spoke, and Gina could see he was nervous. So was everyone else, as it rapidly became clear to them how exposed they were up there, almost a thousand feet above London. They crowded around the lift doors, everyone wanting to be on the first lift down.

Matt, though, remained perfectly calm. ‘Don’t worry, Gina, everything will be fine.’ He pulled out his warrant card, and stopped one of the officials. ‘I’m a police officer. Can you tell me what’s going on?’

‘We’ve had intelligence that there might be an attack on the building,’ said the official as quietly as possible.

‘What kind of attack?’

‘We don’t know, but we need to get everyone out as soon as possible.’

Matt nodded. ‘I’ll get up to the top deck and bring people down.’ He turned to Gina, giving her a reassuring smile as he took her firmly by the arm. ‘Go over to the lifts and try and stay as far away from the windows as possible. I’ll be with you in a minute.’

And before she had a chance to say another word to him, he turned and disappeared into the crowd.