mi5 headquarters, thames house, london,
9:15 a.m. gmt
The Global 5000 made the trip in under fifty minutes and landed at London City Airport. A small fleet of Land Rovers were already waiting for them and whisked the group to Thames House in record time, as K had arranged for a police escort to clear their way through the morning rush-hour traffic. Upon arrival, they were whisked into the underground garage away from prying eyes and led straight to a conference room next to K’s office.
“Any news?” asked Terry. “How in the hell did this happen?”
“Nothing so far,” replied K. “It’s as if they had insider information.”
“You mean the fucking mole. I swear to God, I am going to take a great deal of pleasure killing that bastard. So what are we doing to try and find them, sir?”
“We have all the helicopter assets up that we can muster and every police officer in the Greater London area is out looking for them. The helicopters containing the American radiation detection units are en route. The people at the Met found the Jaguars on CCTV and have been reviewing footage as quickly as possible, so maybe we’ll get something from that.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath, sir. These guys aren’t stupid—they would have switched vehicles as quickly as possible and then most certainly changed them again. I think the best thing to do is keep looking for the bomb. The thing that I don’t understand is why they would make a play for them in broad daylight? The risk must have been incredible. There’s more to this than meets the eye, I just can’t figure out what.”
“I don’t know, and I completely agree it’s pretty irrational.” K turned to Huntington. “I’m sure you and your men are wiped out, but are you up for another job? I have a feeling you may be needed before the day is out.”
“Absolutely, sir. We wouldn’t have it any other way.” He walked outside the conference room and ordered his men to gear up. They scattered for their equipment.
“Good man, that,” said K. “Maybe he’d be interested in joining our mob.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it, sir, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he became prime minister one day.”
K raised an eyebrow. “Well, perhaps he could be an improvement.”
That brought a snigger from the other MI5 personnel in the room which was immediately silenced with a stern look from the head of MI5. Just then, C walked in the room.
“I heard what happened. Anything I can do?”
“We’re good for now, old man,” said K. Both men had served in the Guards Division and were firm friends but still jealously guarded their fiefdoms, but given the current situation, all competitiveness between them had been pushed aside.. “I think it would be helpful if you could put as many people on the street as possible. Also, if you wouldn’t mind getting back on with GCHQ and make sure they are doing what we talked about yesterday. If you have to get the prime minister to make the call, then do it.”
“That is going to get a lot of people’s knickers in a twist, old chap,” replied C.
“If we don’t do it, I’m sure they’re going to be even more upset.”
“Good point. You think today is the day?”
“Either today or tomorrow. I think the terrorists know we’re closing in on them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they grabbed the girls partly in retaliation for taking out their Manchester operation. Maybe as a way to force us to expend resources. I’m beginning to think Nolan was right. We need to forget about the two women and focus on the bomb.”
“So, the royals?” asked C.
“It’s time for them to go,” interjected Terry. “And the government. Get the lot of them either into shelters, or better yet, completely out of the city. The same goes for you lot. It’s time to start thinking about getting out of here.”
K nodded. “The lad has a point, at least as far as the government and the royal family are concerned. As for me, I’m way too old to be hiding in dusty old shelters. If you don’t mind, Terry, I’ll just stay exactly where I am.”
“But sir—”
“No buts. What sort of message would that send if I ran away like a damn coward? Sorry, but I’m staying.”
“Well put,” said C. “If you don’t mind, I’ll hang around as well.” He looked at Terry and shrugged. “He has a better single malt collection than I do.”
Terry was about to say something when Huntington returned with his team. They were all wearing black balaclavas and were armed to the teeth. Huntington was carrying a fifty-caliber AW50 festooned with an electronics package and a sight Nolan had never seen before.
“What the hell is that?” he asked.
“This,” replied Huntington, “is an AW50 fitted with a new sight we’ve been developing. You know how in movies you see them using a thermal sight to look inside buildings?”
“Yeah, and it’s complete crap,” replied Nolan.
“Well, my friend,” Huntington said with a smile, “this turns the make-believe into reality. It combines thermal with an ultrasound pulse technology to generate a picture of the inside of a building. I tried to get the prototype before the Manchester op, but they were working out a couple of kinks. Anyway, when I found out about the girls, I had them rush it over from BAE Systems. They managed to iron out nearly everything, but it still takes about three minutes to build up a solid image on the sight.”
“Three minutes? I’ll take it,” said Terry.
“My feelings exactly, boss.”
Terry’s satellite phone rang. The number was blocked. He looked at K and shrugged his shoulders as to who it could be. He answered and was greeted by a robotic female voice, obviously someone using a voice manipulation device.
“How’s your day going, Nolan? Sweating it over the ladies, I should imagine, yeah?”
“Who is this?” he asked. He snapped his fingers for a pen and paper. One of each was slid across the conference table in his direction. i think it’s her, he scribbled.
“Oh, come on, Nolan, you can’t be that stupid.”
“Just thought I’d check,” he replied. “What’s your name? What should I call you?”
“How about we save the introductions for later, yeah? Now, are you up for a little exercise, Nolan?”
get that tracking device, now, he scrawled. One of K’s assistants ran from the room.
“It depends how much, I’m a little out of shape.”
The woman laughed. “That’s not what I’ve heard. Shame about the ribs.”
“Comes with the territory,” he replied coldly. “Why take the girls? They can’t mean anything to you.”
“All in good time, Nolan. Now, are you ready to go for a little jog?”
“To be honest, I don’t see the point. Seems to me you’re going to set this damn dirty bomb off whether I show up or not.”
The woman really started laughing now. “Oh, Nolan. How wrong you are. I’ve saved the best for last. This one isn’t a dirty bomb. It’s a nuke. An honest-to-goodness nuke.”
Nolan was writing frantically now. In large letters he wrote, not dirty bomb, fucking nuke!!!
“Shit,” said C, and he ran out the door looking for a secure landline.
“I tell you what, Nolan. If you don’t follow my instructions, I’ll blow the thing right now. If you do, I’ll give your masters forty-eight hours to get as many people out of the city as they can. Your choice, Nolan. What will it be?”
“I need a minute to think about this. What about Kristen and Shae, do you promise to let them go if I do what you ask?”
The assistant returned with the tracking device and was about to shove the needle into his upper arm to inject it under the skin when Nolan stopped him. He lifted up his shirt and ripped off the dressing covering the bullet wound over his ribs and pointed to the stitches.
“I give you my word that no harm will come to them if you follow my instructions. You deviate from them in any way—they are both dead. Now what are you going to do? Ten seconds, Nolan.” The voice started to count down from ten.
The man hesitated and grabbed the pen. this will hurt, he wrote. Nolan looked at him angrily and pointed at the wound again. Then he thought about it and wrote passive? The assistant wrote back, no, we turn on and off remotely. Nolan nodded and gritted his teeth as the assistant slowly pushed the needle between the stitches.
“I guess I’m going for a jog,” he replied. He looked at Huntington and wrote chopper now on the pad. not here, building watched.
Huntington nodded and pulled K to one side.
“Good decision, Nolan. The first thing you are going to do before you leave that building is ditch that phone, understand? If one of my people see you using it, then all bets are off.”
“Okay, I can do that.” He wrote: get me really small earpiece.
“Good. Now you have ten minutes to get to Cannon Street Station. There is a newspaper kiosk there. Look under the stack of the Financial Times, you’ll find a burner phone. Answer it when it rings. Got that, Nolan?”
Another assistant appeared with a small earpiece and handed it to him. He shoved it in his ear as far as possible.
“Yes,” he answered. “Cannon Street Station. Newspaper kiosk. FT stack. Burner phone. Got it. But what happens if I don’t make it?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.” She hung up.
Nolan checked his Walther and made sure there was a round in the chamber. He turned to K. “I need a really small .22 handgun. Have someone meet me downstairs with it. I have ten minutes to get to Cannon Street Station.” He started running for the stairs.
“What do we do in the meantime?” yelled K after him as he left.
“Pray that I’m not out of shape!”