False Friends (29 page)

‘Al ’s wel that ends wel ,’ she said. ‘And we now have Roger McLean in the frame and that’s priceless. They’ve already arrived back in Birmingham and we have a team on him as we speak.’

‘What about Sean?’

‘His name’s not Sean, for a start. Aidan McEvoy. Ulster Defence Association hard man. The PSNI lost sight of him a year or so ago and assumed that he was in Ireland.’

‘Why would the UDA get involved with the likes of Kettering and Thompson?’

‘We’re working on that. Might just be personal. Might be that he’s a hired hand. Of course it might also be that the UDA is connected to Breivik’s Knights Templar group, in which case we have a major problem.’

‘The UDA has plenty of arms so if they’re involved there’d be no need for them to be buying from me.’

‘That’s what we’re hoping,’ said Button. ‘A UDA lone wolf is bad enough; if the whole organisation was moving its attentions to the mainland we’d have a smal war on our hands. But there’s no point in crossing bridges. We’ve got McEvoy under observation now so we’l see where that leads us.

But as far as today went, job wel done.’ She ended the cal .

Shepherd felt too tense to sleep. It was often that way after working undercover: the adrenaline was flowing and al his senses were on overdrive.

During his undercover career he’d seen agents deal with the pressure in many different ways. Drink, drugs and gambling were easy crutches to turn to, but they’d never appealed to Shepherd. Running had always been his way of taking the edge off. Running cleared his mind, and aching muscles led more often than not to a dreamless sleep, but it was too late to go out running so he spent an hour doing sit-ups, crunches and press-ups before showering and heading to bed.

Chaudhry was sitting at the back of a lecture theatre typing notes into his laptop. There were more than a hundred students listening to the lecturer and most had laptops open in front of them, though a few were stil taking notes the old-fashioned way, scribbling away on notepads. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as he received an SMS. He took out his phone. The message said ‘Now’ and was fol owed by a mobile number he didn’t recognise. It was Khalid. He changed his number every few days and changed his phone once a month. It was Friday and Chaudhry hadn’t had any contact with Khalid for over a week. Chaudhry grimaced. The door was at the front of the lecture theatre and if he left now he’d have to walk past the lecturer, a forty-something surgeon with a tongue as sharp as his scalpel. Chaudhry looked at his watch. There were only another ten minutes until the lecture would be over so he decided to wait, though he packed away his laptop and put it into his backpack. As soon as the lecturer finished, Chaudhry picked up his bike helmet and backpack and hurried out into the corridor. There were too many students around so he went along to the cafeteria, where there were only a handful of people. He took out his mobile and cal ed the number.

‘What took you so long, brother?’ asked Khalid.

‘I’m at the university and I needed to find somewhere quiet,’ said Chaudhry.

‘You can talk now?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then listen to me, brother, and listen wel . It is time.’

Shepherd was walking out of Tesco Express when his mobile rang. It was Chaudhry.

‘John, where are you?’

‘Hampstead,’ said Shepherd. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s on,’ said Chaudhry. ‘Today. Today’s the day.’

Shepherd quickened his pace, heading for his flat. ‘What do they want you to do?’

‘I don’t know yet. Harvey and I are being picked up later today and that’s when we’l be told. John, what do we do?’

Shepherd could hear the tension in the man’s voice and he was breathing heavily.

‘Just take it easy, Raj. Everything wil be okay.’

‘This is it. This is when the kil ing starts. They want us to kil people. You have to do something.’

‘Raj, you need to be cool. No one’s going to kil anybody. We’ve got your back. Let’s just take this one step at a time. Now, who did you speak to?’

‘It was Khalid.’

‘And did he say where you would be going?’

‘He said nothing, John. Just to turn up outside an Indian restaurant and a van would col ect us. Me and Harvey.’

‘Anyone else?’

‘He didn’t say.’

‘And the restaurant? Where is it?’

‘Stoke Newington Church Street. At five o’clock. That’s only four hours away.’ He was talking quickly again, the words tumbling into each other.

‘It’s going to be fine, Raj, I promise. Now, did he ask you to take anything with you?’

‘No.’

‘What about clothing? Did he tel you what to wear?’

‘Just casual stuff.’

‘Outdoor gear, indoor?’

‘He didn’t say.’

‘Did he say anything about bringing ID? Money?’

‘He didn’t say anything about that.’

‘Passport? Did he mention your passport? Or driving licence?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Okay, now the phone we gave you. The one with the GPS. I need you to take that with you and to keep it switched on.’

‘He said no phone.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. He was very specific about that. He said that Harvey and I were to leave our phones behind.’

Shepherd tapped his phone against the side of his head as his mind raced, considering al his options.

‘John, are you there?’

‘Yes, Raj, I’m here.’

‘What do we do?’

‘Are you okay to go?’

‘I think so. But what do you think they want?’

‘I don’t know. I wish I did, but I don’t,’ said Shepherd. ‘Okay, now listen to me careful y, Raj. I want you and Harvey to do exactly as you were told.

I’l make sure that you’re fol owed and that you’re protected.’

‘You can do that? You’re sure?’

‘As soon as I’ve finished this cal I’l get on to my bosses and arrange it. You and Harvey do as Khalid says and I’l make sure you’re fol owed every step of the way.’

‘But what if they want us to kil , John? What if they give us guns or bombs?’

‘Then we’l see that and we’l move in,’ said Shepherd. ‘Look, Raj, do you think you can take your phone with you? That would make it easier for us to fol ow you.’

‘But what if Khalid finds out? He’l know I disobeyed him.’

‘It’s up to you, Raj. Al I’m saying is that if you had the phone it would be easier for us to track you. But there’s no pressure. It has to be your cal .’

Chaudhry laughed harshly. ‘No pressure? Are you serious? If they find out what I’m doing they’l . . .’ He left the sentence unfinished.

‘Raj, it’s going to be okay.’

‘You promise?’

‘I promise,’ said Shepherd. He ended the cal with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach because he knew that wasn’t a promise that he could make. He phoned Charlotte Button and told her what had happened.

‘Friday evening?’ she said. ‘Worst possible time. Any idea of potential targets?’

‘Raj had no idea. Unlikely to be a sporting venue, right? If they’re being picked up at five I doubt they’l be in place by six. More likely seven.’

‘Seven o’clock in London? They could hit Soho, Leicester Square, the theatre district. Or it could be symbolic. Trafalgar Square. Downing Street.

The London Eye.’

‘He wasn’t specifical y asked to bring ID so I can’t see it’l be anywhere that would need identification,’ said Shepherd.

‘Wel , we can spend al day trying to second-guess them but that’s not going to get us anywhere.’

‘They’re being picked up outside an Indian restaurant on Stoke Newington Church Street. I’ve asked Raj to take his GPS phone with him so we can track him. He’s reluctant, though, because Khalid specifical y said no phones. What about Khalid? Are you going to have him tailed too?’

‘Khalid shook his tail yesterday.’

‘How did that happen?’

‘Khalid’s hardcore al-Qaeda, Spider. Single-use SIM cards, disposable phones or cal boxes, no computer of his own and only uses computers in Muslim-owned internet cafes, never conducts business at home but almost always face to face in public places.’

‘But he’s under surveil ance, right?’

‘Most of the time, yes. But ninety-nine per cent of the time he does nothing. He sleeps, he goes to the mosque, he eats, he socialises. We’ve no idea what he says to the people he meets, which is why Chaudhry and Malik are so valuable. They’re the only assets we have in his circle.’

‘But yesterday he lost his watchers?’

‘It happens now and again. He goes into anti-surveil ance mode and he’s clearly been trained by experts. We could have a dozen men on him and he’d stil lose them al .’

‘So he knows that he’s being fol owed?’

‘Our guys are experts too, Spider. I doubt that he knows that he’s being fol owed; it’s just that every time he goes active he employs al the anti-surveil ance techniques at his disposal. Like I said, he’s hardcore. I wish we knew what he was planning. We could be looking at anything, couldn’t we? Guns. Bombs. Chemicals. We just don’t know.’

‘There’s nothing to suggest that it’s a suicide attack,’ said Shepherd. ‘So I don’t think it’l be bombs.’

‘They could be lying to Chaudhry and Malik,’ said Button. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time.’

‘What do you need me to do?’ asked Shepherd.

‘Where are you?’

‘Hampstead. Just dropping some stuff off.’

‘Soon as you’ve done that, come to Thames House,’ she said. ‘I’l get an operation room set up.’

‘I’d rather be closer to them.’

‘No can do,’ said Button. ‘You’re not a professional fol ower. The last thing we need is you showing out. Soon as you can, okay?’

‘I’m on my way,’ said Shepherd.

Chaudhry unlocked the door to his flat and wheeled in his bike. Malik was sprawled on the sofa eating his way through a bag of crisps and watching a quiz show on television. Chaudhry glared at him. ‘Why the hel is your phone off?’ he said.

‘Battery died,’ said Malik. ‘It’s charging.’

Chaudhry kicked the door shut and leaned his bike against the back of the sofa. ‘Khalid cal ed,’ he said. ‘It’s today.’

‘What?’ Malik sat up, spil ing crisps over the carpet. ‘What do you mean?’

‘What do you think I mean?’ said Chaudhry, tossing his helmet on to an armchair. He folded his arms and stood glaring down at Malik.

‘Today? It’s today?’

Chaudhry nodded. ‘It’s today.’

‘What do they want us to do?’ Malik asked.

‘How am I supposed to know?’ Chaudhry said, shrugging.

Malik stood up. Stray crisps fel to the carpet. ‘He didn’t say anything?’

‘Harvey, if he’d told me one word don’t you think I’d have told you? He said be here, now. He said we’d be picked up. That’s al he said.’

Chaudhry walked into the smal kitchen and opened the fridge. ‘Why is there never anything to drink?’ he said. ‘I bought three cans of Coke yesterday so where the hel are they?’

‘This is fucked up,’ said Malik, coming up behind him. ‘Why didn’t they tel us what’s going on?’

Chaudhry slammed the fridge door. ‘Because the fewer people who know what we’re doing, the less chance it gets out. Need to know.’

‘It’s treating us like we don’t matter, that’s what’s going on here.’ Malik screwed up his face and grunted. ‘Bastards, bastards, bastards.’

‘Relax,’ said Chaudhry. He switched on the kettle. ‘What happens, happens.’

‘Have you cal ed John?’

‘First thing I did.’

‘What if they . . .’ Malik left the sentence unfinished.

‘What?’ said Chaudhry.

‘What if they want us to . . . you know . . . shahid.’

Chaudhry’s mouth fel open. ‘Are you crazy? Where’s that come from?’

‘This doesn’t feel right. This isn’t what they said would happen. Maybe they’ve changed their minds. Maybe they want us to be martyrs.’

‘We talked about this. After al the training they’ve put us through they wouldn’t throw us away like that. And remember what The Sheik said. They want us to be warriors, not shahid. Now stop talking nonsense.’ He reached for a jar of Nescafé. ‘Do you want a coffee?’

‘Do I want a coffee? We might be dead in a few hours and you’re worrying about coffee?’

Chaudhry pointed a finger at Malik’s face. ‘I told you, stop talking crap. Now do you want coffee or not?’

Malik nodded. ‘Okay, thanks,’ he whispered.

‘It’s going to be okay, Harvey. We always knew we’d get the cal at some point.’ He spooned coffee granules into two mugs.

‘I just worry that they might not be straight with us,’ said Malik. ‘We don’t know what they’re capable of, not real y.’

Chaudhry leaned against the fridge and folded his arms. ‘Khalid wants us in Church Street at five. We’l be col ected and taken to wherever it is he wants us. What do you want to do? Cal him and tel him we’ve had a change of heart?’

‘We could do that,’ said Malik. ‘We absolutely could. We could just cal it a day.’

‘We can’t,’ said Chaudhry, shaking his head.

‘We can. We’ve done enough. We just tel John that we want out. MI5 can’t force us to go on like this. We gave them The Sheik. We showed them who’s bad in the mosque. We can walk away with our heads held high.’ He gripped Chaudhry’s shoulder so hard that Chaudhry winced. ‘Let’s go, brother. Let’s go before we’re in any deeper.’

‘We can’t do that,’ said Chaudhry. ‘We can’t let John down. And what would Khalid do if we left now?’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Malik, letting go of his flatmate’s shoulder.

‘With everything we know about him and the organisation, how could he let us live?’

‘We could run. Disappear.’

‘Harvey, how could we do that? To disappear we’d need money, we’d need documents, passports. The only people who could arrange that for us would be MI5. And if we run they’re not going to help us, are they?’

‘We’ve helped them already, haven’t we? We gave them The Sheik. They owe us for that. In fact screw them. We can go to the Americans.

They’d put us in their witness protection scheme. We’d have a whole new life in the States.’

‘Yeah, and who do we talk to? You want to phone the White House and talk to the President?’ Chaudhry laughed harshly. ‘Sure, that’d work,’ he said sarcastical y. ‘We don’t even know for certain that they told the Americans about us.’