He had just received a transmission on his PR from MP regarding the terror suspect Patrick O’Rourke and had immediately clocked O’Rourke across the road from him, he spoke into his Personal radio, “Alpha Delta 869 to MP, I have a visual on O’Rourke walking along Victoria Embankment towards Westminster, over.”
“Received 869, he is armed and dangerous, do not approach him 869, just watch him and keep us updated, MP over.”
“Copy that MP, 869 out.”
O’Rourke had discreetly been watching the Policeman, and could tell the officer was watching him; the officer had been alerted to him, but how?
He quickened his pace down Victoria Embankment he was now coming up to Westminster Bridge and could see the signs for the underground tube station, he was also acutely aware of the distant sounds of sirens.
As he reached the bridge, he looked up at Big Ben noting the time as four seventeen PM. He turned and observed the Police officer had now crossed the road behind him; he turned right into Bridge Street and quickly ran the short distance pushing his way through the crowds to the tube entrance and clambered down the stairs into the underground station.
PC Bebbington had watched O’Rourke turn into Bridge Street and as soon as O’Rourke had disappeared from his sight, he ran turning into Bridge Street and was immediately faced with the usual masses of sightseers; he began pushing through them but could not see O’Rourke anywhere.
He was quickly surrounded by several oriental sightseers all trying to have a picture taken with him; he moved away from them and moved near to the kerbside and scanned the area but could not see O’Rourke. He quickly moved his gaze to the nearby entrance to Westminster tube station and ran to the top of the staircase peering down and spoke into his PR, “Alpha Delta 869 to MP I have lost suspect in Bridge Street and I believe he may have gone down into Westminster tube station, over.”
The last part of his message was drowned out as two Police vehicles sirens wailing arrived in Bridge Street pulling up near to him.
“MP to Alpha Delta 869, please repeat you last transmission over?”
“Alpha Delta 869 to MP I have lost suspect in Bridge Street and I believe he may have gone down into Westminster tube station, over.”
“Received 869, do not go down there, you should have an ARV with you, over.”
The two Police vehicles that had just pulled up were Alpha-1 the ARV and Victor Tango-3.
O’Rourke had made his way swiftly down the staircases and had found the platform for the Circle line just as a train was coming in, two minutes later the train was heading west with O’Rourke on board.
Three minutes later the train pulled into St James Park tube station and O’Rourke alighted from the train and made his way up the stairs to street level, coming out into Broadway his target a two hundred yards away.
50
St James Park
Tube station
Broadway, London
Lat = 51 degrees, 29.9 minutes North
Long = 0 degrees, 8.0 minutes West
Tuesday 19th September 1989 (same day)
Sixteen thirty four hours BST
GAIL had been monitoring the CCTV systems and had seen O’Rourke going down into Westminster underground station; however, the limited coverage meant she lost him as he went down the stairs.
She picked him up again ten minutes later coming out of St James Park tube station onto street level.
GAIL broke into the chatter from the Metropolitan Polices command centre, “MP this is ICIS, I have eyes on O’Rourke, and he has just exited St James Park tube station and is walking along Broadway, over.”
Chief Superintendent Attlee was in the Special Operations Room in Lambeth, in command of the MetOps system monitoring the Comms when he heard GAIL’s very distinctive female artificial voice, Chief Superintendent Attlee’s mind had already made the connection just as GAIL’s voice said, “My threat assessment is he is going for New Scotland yard, over.”
Chief Superintendent Attlee replied, “GAIL, Chief Superintendent Attlee here, I concur with your threat assessment, I am directing units there now, over.”
O’Rourke was now walking up to the main doors of New Scotland Yard, he quickly placed both holdalls to the floor and reached into each one and operated a switch.
Each device came to life and O’Rourke set the timer for twenty-five seconds, he quickly picked both bags up and ran to the doors, he opened the doors and drew a grenade from his pocket pulled the pin and tossed it into the foyer rapidly followed by both holdalls.
He turned and ran with the grenade exploding showering the pavement area with glass and debris, however this was nothing compared to the two following explosions from the C-4 in the holdalls.
The explosions coupled to the confined area caused devastating carnage, several people in the reception area that had been injured by the grenade were now dead and the force of the explosions had taken out some of the supportive structural integrity causing the upper floors of the building to begin failing.
The whole building was rocked by the detonations with the occupants on the several floors including the Commissionaire Sir Robert Dawson office feeling the forces emanating through the building.
As everyone was in a state of panic a calm electronic female audible voice came over the buildings intercom, “Please evacuate the building immediately, this is not a drill! Go directly to the nearest escape route and use the stairs, do not stop for personal belongings.”
There was several seconds pause before the message was repeated.
People began running to the emergency exits on each floor, as a result many fell adding to the turmoil.
Down in the street O’Rourke had stopped a couple of hundred yards away turning to admire his work and he was smiling even though his ears had been temporarily deafened from the massive sound of the explosion, when he felt a down draught hitting him from above along with dust swirling around him, he immediately turned around and looked up.
51
Twenty-nine minutes earlier
OSC operational base
Hesters Copse
Hampshire
England
Lat = 51 degrees, 12.8 minutes North
Long = 0 degrees, 57.1 minutes West
Tuesday 19th September 1989 (same day)
Sixteen thirteen hours BST
As soon as Strayker had been informed by ICIS of O’Rourke’s whereabouts he had called Colin Bishop eagle 5 at Hesters Copse who had immediately scrambled team five using a Lynx HAS.3 helicopter call sign Solex-4 from nearby RAF Odiham.
The Lynx is an extremely fast helicopter with a top speed of 201mph capable of carrying up to ten troops.
Colin Bishop had been listening into the Comms chatter and had directed the pilot to New Scotland Yard in Broadway.
The pilot had brought the helicopter in across St James Park and then banked hard to starboard over Birdcage Walk vectoring the helicopter towards the dust cloud stemming from the ground a quarter of a mile ahead.
He initiated a hover over Toothill Street and Broadway the rotors clearing the clouds of dust emanating from the crippled building.
Colin Bishop along with three of team five had abseiled down the ropes and were now touching down on the ground as O’Rourke turned towards them.
The four men quickly fanned out and assumed the kneeling position their HK-MP-5s trained on O’Rourke.
O’Rourke’s was looking at the armed men on the ground when his attention was immediately drawn upwards as his ears just made out the sound of a man’s voice from a hailing system.
“O’Rourke, place your hands behind your head and go down on your knees. Now!”
He looked at the men on the ground and their military uniforms and then above at the military helicopter, he muttered to himself, �
��army bastard scum.”
For many years, he had fought the British military machine in Northern Ireland and an uncontrollable rage grew inside of him, he reached with both hands into his jacket pockets and felt the familiar texture of the grenades.
If he had known whom his adversaries were, he may have made a different choice!
He began to run forward towards the armed men and for a millisecond; he felt several incredible forces pounding his body and his forward impetus immediately coming to stop.
In that, instant the living world expired for him.
As soon as O’Rourke had placed his hands in his pockets and began moving forward, Colin Bishop gave the order, “take him out!”
The rounds from each man’s weapon pummelled O’Rourke’s body ripping pieces from it.
They watched as O’Rourke’s body was thrown backwards several feet by the kinetic energy from the rounds, finally slamming down on the ground.
Colin Bishop spoke into his Comms, “cover me.”
He moved forward and prodded O’Rourke’s body with his weapon and noticed the massive wounds to his lifeless body, he knelt down and searched the body and found the two grenades in O’Rourke’s jacked pockets and the handgun.
He removed them, walked away, and spoke into his Comms, “this is Eagle -5, target neutralised, Solex-4 can you touch down here, over?”
The pilot replied, “Keep the area below clear eagle-5, I am coming down.”
Broadway was now beginning to fill up with emergency response vehicles; Colin Bishop looked down the road at the stricken building and instinctively knew this had been a hard hit on the British Police, there was going to be a lot families that would not be seeing their loved ones again.
As the helicopter touched down, they bagged O’Rourke’s body up and loaded it onto the helicopter.
The pilot checked around him and slowly pulled on the collective stick and applied pressure to the pedals, the helicopter lifted, the pilot raised the machine above the building line and spoke into his Comm’s, “Solex-4 to eagle -5 are we a go to RTB, over?”
Colin Bishop replied, “that’s affirmative, RTB, out.”
The pilot rotated the helicopter one-hundred and eighty degrees and then lowered the nose slightly using the control stick and this caused the helicopter to accelerate forward.
He spoke into his Comms, “ETA RAF Odiham, sixteen minutes.”
As the Lynx flew across St James Park Colin Bishop, spoke into his Comms, “eagle-5 to ICIS over.”
GAIL’s voice replied, “Go ahead eagle-5.”
Colin Bishop said, “Advise MP we have taken out O’Rourke and his body is with us on route back to RAF Odiham, over.”
Vince Edwards voice responded with, “I have satellite imagery coming in on New Scotland Yard, what’s it like down there eagle-5?”
Colin Bishop paused for a moment and replied with, “it’s a bloody mess Vince, there’s going to be a lot of heart ache over this one, I’ll give you and the Major a full SITREP when we get back to Hesters Copse, over.”
“Thank you eagle-5, I will advise Major Strayker, ICIS out.”
52
10 Downing Street
City of Westminster
London SW1
Lat = 51 degrees, 30.2 minutes North
Long = 0 degrees, 7.7 minutes West
Tuesday 19th September 1989 (same day)
Twenty-one hundred hours BST
The mood in the room was sombre with the Everest team all seated around the table, the door opened and Strayker along with Sir Robert stepped into the room.
Following the explosion Sir Robert had made his way down one of the stairway fire escapes, out onto the street where the full impact of the explosions became apparent.
He had initially assisted the emergency services with coordinating the rescue process before handing it over to one of his senior bomb squad officers.
Seconds later the door opened again and the Prime Minister walked into the room, took her chair, and said, “As you are all aware we have suffered another terrible atrocity this afternoon directed at New Scotland yard, Sir Robert if you could please give us your latest assessment on the incident?”
Sir Robert replied, “Ma’am, gentlemen, the latest figures are seventy-eight dead and one hundred and twelve injured, of which thirty-eight are serious, all relatives have been informed.”
He paused for a moment and the members waited for him to continue, “The building structure is unsafe and that has resulted in the immediate relocation of the Forces Comms to the Special Operations Room at Lambeth. The remaining services are being relocated to Cannon Row and Paddington police stations on a temporary basis, until we have an update on the buildings future viability.”
The PM said, “thank you Sir Robert, I will be making a personal public broadcast at ten o’clock this evening.”
The PM turned to Strayker and said, “Major your briefing please?”
Strayker replied, “Firstly I have to apologies for activating one of the OSC units without the groups specific authorisation on British soil and I am willing to take responsibility for this action and accept any consequences that may arise from it!”
The Prime Minister was quick to intervene, “Major there will be no consequences for you or you men to answer too, and you have my word on that,” she looked at the Everest members and said, “are we all in agreement gentlemen?”
The Everest members all gave a nod of consent.
“Please continue with your briefing Major?”
Strayker said, Thank you Ma’am gentlemen. O’Rourke the perpetrator for this unspeakable act and that of the Oxford Street bombing is dead; he was taken out by team five at the scene and his body his currently at RAF Odiham, that’s all.”
The PM said, “Has anyone any comments or observations?”
Sir Robert said, “Only that the man Shamus O’Malley that O’Rourke had shacked up with is in custody and will probably be charged with harbouring O’Rourke.”
“Thank you Sir Robert, I will let you go now as I am sure your family would like to see you.”
Sir Robert stood up nodded to the group and said, “Ma’am gentlemen.”
Once Sir Robert had left the room the PM said, “Whilst you are all here, I think it would be wise for an update on our operation in Virginia, Major if you would oblige?”
Strayker stood up and turned on the large Plasma screen and as it came to life he said, “I will let Vince at ICIS bring you up to speed with the latest developments.
As the screen came to life Vince and GAIL’s images appeared, Strayker said, “Vince, give us an update on the mission in Virginia?”
Vince replied, “The current time in Virginia is zero two hours and thirteen minutes eastern daylight time. We have a high probability heavily guarded target where we believe the Red Mercury is being stored. Max has a full briefing scheduled for zero six hundred hours local time, that is zero eleven hundred hours our time. Roy Smith has been tailing a vehicle from the warehouse, at present he has advised that a woman was dropped off at a hotel and the two men in the vehicle returned to the CIA offices in Virginia, that’s where we currently stand sir.”
“Thank you Vince, I want you to link me into Max’ briefing, I will come to ICIS for zero ten thirty hours tomorrow.
“We will be ready sir.”
The plasma screen faded as Strayker turned to the PM and the group and said, “you are all welcome to attend ICIS for Max’s update, I believe with the exception of you Ma’am, none of you have visited, it would be good for you to see the facility.”
The Prime Minister replied, “a good call Major,” she looked at the group of men seated around the table and said, “how does that fit in with your schedules gentlemen?”
The members of the Everest grou
p all confirmed they would be able to attend.
The PM said, “very well, I will see you all tomorrow at ICIS,” she looked at her watch and said, “now if you will excuse me, I have a public broadcast to make.”
53
‘ICIS’ Saltbox Hill
Biggin Hill, Kent
Lat = 51 degrees, 19.7 minutes North
Long = 0 degrees, 1.2 minutes East
Wednesday 20th September 1989 (next day)
Zero ten forty-five hours BST
And
Safe house
Stockton lane
Richmond, Virginia
USA
Lat = 37 degrees, 33.2 minutes North
Long = 77 degrees, 30.0 minutes West
Tuesday 19th September 1989
Zero five fifty-eight hours EDT
Having passed through the extensive security systems at ICIS the Everest team along with the Prime Minister were in the Intel room, also present were Major Strayker, Vince Edwards and GAIL.
All of the Everest team had previously seen GAIL’s image on the Plasma screen at Downing Street however, this was their first live encounter with GAIL.
Like everyone else before their first life encounter with GAIL was amazing, Vince addressed the group, “Ma’am, gentlemen I would like GAIL to explain to you her mission parameters,” he turned to GAIL and said, “over to you GAIL.”
“Good morning Prime Minister and gentlemen. My mission parameters are to supply Intel, to protect this country and its inhabitants, should I exceed these parameters, my systems will shut down permanently and then all electronic circuitry and components will go into melt down, in other words I will die.”
Sir Richard Evans head of the British army said, “GAIL, I am pleased to at last actually meet you, may I ask you a question?”
“Certainly Sir Richard, “replied GAIL.
“You just stated that if you were to breach your mission parameters you would die, my understanding of death is that it only relates to a living organism?”
Red Mercury Page 17