“I need instruction Robbie. I’ve never been involved this late in a campaign before…”
“Don’t use my fucking name, you moron…!”
The telephone line became eerily quiet although Morris could hear the rapid heavy breathing of Marward.
“Graham, listen to me carefully. You’re on your own. How you play it now is your business. I would suggest you attempt to destroy the vehicle and evidence. I think you better destroy the cellphone too…”
The phone call was ended. Morris needed to ring Busby. He needed to know whether the remaining three devices were still viable or if the authorities were now just a little too close for comfort… He dialled the number…
“You know the time Martin? I assume there is another problem to add to the growing list of problems that have beset us from the start…?”
“Yes, it’s MEENY. Plan A is no longer viable, I believe poor construction to be the issue. Rix has been cut loose; there is no realistic way of recovery…”
“So we lose the diversion due to amateurs… We lose MINY and MOE due to amateurs and now we lose an important aspect of MEENY due to botched construction. More fucking amateurs…!”
“There is an argument to the sheer scale of the campaign and the unknown’s involved concerning outside contracting…”
“You are of course referring to the Griffiths garages and the use of McQueen… Incidentally, what of her…? She seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, as has Garvie…”
“I have a couple of assets looking although I believe Garvie to be banged up…”
“Or floating in the English Channel…” “Yes maybe…”
“Newton is to be released this morning along with Charlton, we are expecting them to call in within the next twelve hours… They will be of help I’m sure…”
“Yes… We are becoming a little thin on the ground and this late in the game we don’t really need further assets involved…”
“Agreed… I need to make a call… It’s still only late afternoon, early evening there… Wait for my call… Thirty minutes…”
Morris ended the call and as before switched the cellphone off, he set his chronograph for twenty nine minutes.
Marward visited the male rest rooms to collect himself. His makeshift plan involved a rolled up newspaper his T shirt and a box of matches. If he could get close enough before the hardware came down on him he was hoping the diesel and ammonium nitrate pooling on the carpark tarmac would ignite; a rudimentary trigger but one that had worked in the past although that had included a barrel. He began tearing the T shirt into strips…
He was taking the same circuitous route as before, inserting cloth strips between the newspaper pages and rolling it as he walked… He hadn’t noticed the black Ford Transit now parked opposite, nor had it registered on him that the security officer was no longer there…
It was Doyle who clocked him first using a monocular night sight…
“Sir… I’ve got one I.C.1 male approaching the target vehicle from the service buildings east exit… I have a good clear facial image… He also appears to be holding something…”
“Roger that…”
Turning his attention to the bank of monitors fixed to the rear wall of the van he said…
“Williams I want to see his face on here now…” “Sir… Bringing the image up now…”
“Right, who have we got here then?”
DC Adani had been flicking through photographs of known POI’s especially the ones associated with Chiswick…
“Sir, it’s Marward…!”
“Confirm it’s Patrick Marward.”
This time DC Bryn Evans answered…
“Sir, I confirm it’s Patrick Marward.”
“Very well, Doyle what’s he upto…?”
“He’s walking toward the target vehicle… He appears to be constructing something in his hands: a newspaper, he’s rolling a newspaper…”
“Shit…! He’s planning to attempt detonation by ignition…! Evans, Adani apprehend him now…! Evans released both dogs from their cages and opened the rear doors of the Transit… Both officers unslung their SA80 bull pup rifles as they followed.
“Williams get on your rifle and cover… Delta package, take him if compromised…”
Williams slid open a side window and aimed his rifle with the aid of the mounted night scope, his SA80 was also suppressed.
Marward saw the rear doors of the van open and instantly knew what it meant… He immediately began to jog to the leaking cargo truck… He hadn’t noticed the dogs, the first to reach him, Oscar instantly attached himself to Marward’s left ankle, the second, the smaller Sabre, caught up and was trying for his right arm… The terrorist reached behind for his Beretta and fired, the animal locked on his ankle let out a yelp and let go.
Williams took care aiming… He then shot Marward in the head… “Threat supressed…”
“Roger Williams… Samiya tend to your dog son…”
*****
The PIRA elder known as Busby dialled the number with a little trepidation… When he had been initially approached he had painted a picture of success, he had also been enthusiastic in regard to the confusion Britain faced in Whitehall with the ceasefire due to political manoeuvrings in certain quarters, this he had said would aid the campaign…
“Nergal…”
“Mr Busby… I believe we had agreed that contact would be made by me or my colleague at times suited to us…?
“You’re right, we did, however there are further issues…” “Which are…?”
“We have lost half of the MEENY assets due to poor construction in quite a high profile manner…”
“I see… EENY is still strong is it not…?”
“It is…They are moving along with the timetable positively…”
“Very well… We are, I hope, gathering intelligence on our enemies with regard to response levels, government bodies involved, their respective field and office personnel and how they coordinate…? This after all is the major component of this initial campaign…”
“Indeed we are… The Intelligence dossiers are being formulated… We have also collected the capital for phase two and are manipulating it as before…
“Good…! Now continue as planned, there is to be no change unless either I or Neti contact you…”
“Understood…”
The man codenamed Nergal was thirty five years old and Oxford educated. He was currently enjoying the beginning of sunset… Sweeping aside a white curtain, he walked out onto the vast terracotta tiled balcony which surrounded the property. He listened as the Imam called the people to prayer from the top of the minaret…
Standing against the balcony’s ornate railing he appeared in deep thought as he stirred his sweet tea. Tossing the lemon slice in the dark liquid, his gaze appeared distant as he looked across the city toward the sea…
Chapter Twenty Eight
“Chief…? Inspector Collins, line one…”
I pulled my eyes away from aerial images of the Severn tunnel entrances and reached for my telephone…
“Yes Inspector…?”
“Firstly Chief, the Delta Package was engaged… We had no choice…”
“That’s understood Jim… TACCOM is here as are two other colleagues; proceed when you’re ready…”
“From the beginning then… On arrival all was quiet, the security officer showed us the vehicle at which point the dogs started to create. That was enough for us; however, the odour made it a certainty… We retreated as discussed and waited…”
Robin had entered my office…
“A confirmed sighting of Marward approaching the target vehicle suggested he was planning to attempt detonation by ignition…”
“Explain Inspector…”
“The leaked fuel and ammonium nitrate pooling on the carpark floor was to be ignited to act as an initiator sir… He had been forming a type of torch using newspaper and a ripped cotton T shirt… We set the dogs
after him at whom he discharged a 9mm firearm killing one of the E.D. canines. He then proceeded to discharge his weapon at us… DC Williams under the Delta protocols subdued him with lethal force…”
“How’s it there now…?”
“We have more than enough officers from Somerset evacuating and sealing off the Service areas, I think we won’t have too much of a problem keeping the press at bay either, we’re already spreading a drummed up story about a fire… Finally a Sergeant Mortimer and one of his teams from EOD are near after finishing up at Wrington Hill…”
“Very well Inspector, a major result well done… Be advised, we are hoping of something positive on the small van, so be ready to move again…”
“Roger sir…”
Robin turned to the room…
“So one down, one to go… I need to brief the Secretaries and the PM…”
“Sir…?”
“Yes Chief…?”
“We are positive there is another ASU and we have zero idea of its location… I for one don’t want to be too hasty…”
“Very well Iain, I’ll be as low key as possible and stress the need to keep pushing… When did you sleep last…?”
“Er I don’t know… February I think…?”
“Well no time like the present, use my back office… Sleep, shave and shower, solid five or six hours for you… I would prefer you to still be alive in April…?”
“Yes sir…”
“Chris as 2IC I expect you to take better care of your boss… Make sure he isn’t disturbed…”
“Waye aye”
*****
I awoke at 0620 having slept soundly, I assumed the motion sensor fitted for security purposes had activated as Charlie knocked and entered within thirty seconds… He had brought fresh clothing, coffee and of course a couple of bacon rolls…
“Well laddie that’s much better, see you do this regular… Now a couple of things have moved on overnight so get yerself together an’ we’ll see you in your office in fifteen…?”
“Thanks Charlie…”
I walked into my office at 0640… “Ok where are we Charlie…?”
“Right laddie I’ve been speaking to a Railtrack maintenance manager whose responses weren’t altogether negative…”
He waited while I nodded in response, having a mouthful of bacon roll tends to make vocabulary difficult.
“There is planned medium term track and ballast plus signal work due to start tomorrow morning, Thursday… They’ve had speed restrictions in place since Monday from Caldicot station on the Welsh side and Pilning across the river…”
“That’s positive… If the tunnel is to be targeted, at least the trains may be travelling slow enough to stop rather than plough into debris…”
“That was his thoughts too… He also mentioned that a device placed on the Welsh side would cause a lot more collateral damage, the area the rail line passes through is built up whereas the Avonmouth entrance is as we suspected isolated…”
“Again a positive from our perspective…”
“Aye… Chris and I have been thinking and we have a theory for you…”
“They are to mingle with the maintenance crews on Thursday…?” “That’s the theory…”
“What else Charlie…? There is a puzzled look on that face of yours…”
“He also said that unless the device was placed within the tunnel itself, say 500 metres from the entrance, there would not be that much damage, he agreed that obviously the VBIED would be strewn across the track and cause blast upheaval damage to the ballast and track bed but not too much more…”
“What work are they doing…?”
“Well, that’s one of the puzzles… The crews are replacing track and ballast along the tunnel length, so what’s in place is being ripped out anyway…?”
“He doesn’t think the entrance itself can be damaged…?”
“No, he was quite certain of that… After the disaster in there both entrances were armoured, he’s of the opinion that nothing short of an airstrike would topple them…”
“When do the line closures start…?”
“After the last train through this evening…”
“So if they were to detonate today there is still a good chance of a passing train being caught in the blast…”
“There is, yes…”
“We need it checked… Now…”
“Chris has already made the call…”
“Ok…Next item…”
*****
Donal Garret stood silently as the Desk Sergeant at Paddington Green Custody Suite processed his paperwork… Kevin Rafferty did the same…
As the officer removed the security tags,unzipped the transparent plastic wallet and handed Garret the contents, Garret made a point of counting the bundle of British sterling notes, slowly and deliberately…
“I can assure you sir… The contents are correct…”
“Oh I don’t doubt you Sarge… I was reckoning on giving you a tip, so I was… I do it with all the help at the classier establishments; I’d have to say your room service is excellent, that full English is spot on son…”
“Yes sir…you can leave by the door behind you, oh and take the boy wonder here with you…?”
“I’ll do that…!”
Garret had replied with a smug, self-satisfied grin on his face… As he stepped from the police station entrance on to the Edgware Road, he took a deep expansive breath…
“You smell that young Kevin…? You can’t beat the smell of freedom lad…”
Immediately a black Renault LWB van pulled up alongside the pair, the side door flung open and four masked men grabbed arms and legs, throwing them both through the vans side door entrance… Once inside both men were bound, hooded and sedated…
Watching from the Custody Suite, the Desk Sergeant lifted the telephone receiver and dialled the number written on a Post It note he had removed from his wallet…
“Section Chief…” “It’s done…”
“Understood… Lose the number…”
*****
I replaced the receiver giving Charlie and Chris a knowing look… Both nodded, Chris continued…
“Sergeant Mortimer and his men have been busy with the Ford Cargo, most of the diesel and nitrate has been pumped in to a waste tanker and removed, also the Semtex is now safe too…
“Has he said anything in regard to the leak…?”
“He’s said quite a lot…Most of it unrepeatable…! It would appear that three of the barrels were fitted upside down so during their hurried departure from Wrington Hill these three must have lifted from their lids… Bill’s team two led by Lance Corporal Ian Gibb are to attempt to retrace their route, they are positive that the device would have been leaking en route to Gordano…”
“They’ll love that…!”
“I think they are trying to conjure constructive excuses to stay in the area rather than return to Northolt…”
“Yeah… Only to be called out again to an area they’ve just been active in… It makes sense Chris…”
“Charlie, speak to Bill… Anything we can do to help them to re -enforce that position, we’ll back him…”
I turned back to Chris…
“Anything from the truck or the body…?”
“Nothing… Police officers have found a dismantled cellphone in a gents’ toilet litter bin… The TECs will have it by around 0930… GCHQ have picked up one or two segments of dialogue, individual words mostly… It’s not much to work on but they’re having a try… There’s nothing on ECHELON either…”
Chris was referring to the Signals Intelligence collection and analysis network which had been set up in the late forties.
“They’ve been very careful from the start… Considering cellphone technology is new, they seem to know an awful lot about it…”
“What do you suggest…?”
“Have Norm and Sarah do background on these companies… See if any names flag…”
&
nbsp; “Ok…Don’t forget Colonel March will be here for 0900, we also have to bring Robin and Steve upto date… Jim Collins has already spoken to Frank…”
By 0830 I was beginning to see railway lines with my eyes shut, such was the scrutiny I was giving the aerial images which had been produced the previous day. The one major nagging thought kept returning; a detonation here could certainly not be classed as a non-event, panic would ensue as would a media frenzy-it wouldn’t however be the main event. Norman was right; the VBIED was a distraction, a diversion to allow further movements.
Bearings: The Compass Trilogy Part One Page 31