Three Faces of West (2013) (36 page)

“Control, the boat is empty.” Said John, “Seems that this could have been the way that the terrorists entered the site. It’s much more discreet than entering by road where they could be seen, especially the convoy of white vans ready for distribution of the poisons.”

“Agreed. What can you see?” Said Harvey,

“Packing crates, wooden and mostly empty.”

“Do you think the bombs on site could have arrived in them?”

“It’s likely.” Was John’s reply.

There were many crates packed and stacked high all around the small cargo hold, some were inaccessible, but other less so,

“Alpha 2, have all the devices delivered been used?” Asked Harvey,

“I’ve no idea. I can look around but there’s no guarantee of finding anything.”

He proceeded to search through the maze of wooden crates and plastic boxes, all seemed to have similar batch numbers except for those down at the far end. Going over to them, John observed something about one of them,

“Looks like this set are different to the others.” He said, “Looks like a different batch, I’m going to open one of the boxes.”

Trying to open the tightly shut boxes seemed near impossible; they were all impeccably sealed,

“It’s no good I can’t open any of these.” He said frustratingly as he shifted each box aside, trying them as he did so. However moving one box stacked up against one of the main bulkheads also revealed something more than the boats frame, it was enough to stun him for a brief second,

“Alpha 2 to control, I’ve found something.”

“What have you found Alpha 2?” asked Harvey. John did not respond,

“Alpha 2 come in…what have you found?…Report.”

John finally came to his senses,

“Control, there’s something attached to the bulkhead.”

“What’s attached to the bulkhead? Alpha 2 what have you found?” Asked Harvey,

“…It’s a bomb.”

Everyone at Thames House stood there in silence. For a second they really had no idea what to do next, what if there were other devices around the complex?

“Is it live?” Harvey asked,

“…Yes it’s primed.”

With the tension mounting Harvey made a reassuring decision, “I have requested the police to deploy bomb squads on standby.”

“Yes but what do I do in the meantime?!” Said John, the hint of anxiety obvious in his voice. The honest answer was that Harvey was not sure himself, until one of the other members of his team stepped in,

“Alpha 2, what type of device is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is it dynamite?”

John looked, “No it’s plastic explosive.”

This got the operative thinking, “OK…you should see things attached to it. Can you see a timer?”

Observing the mechanism, John just looked on without touching it, “Yes I can see a timer…It’s a clock…the same as the consignment we found in that warehouse in Colchester.”

The operative back at headquarters thought on, “OK…it sounds like it’s activated by a timer only, not by moving or tilting it. That’s good…OK Alpha 2 what else can you see?”

“There’s a battery-‘

“The battery is used to power the timer.” The operative mentioned to Harvey, “OK Alpha 2, anything else? Keep looking, you should see some kind of metallic or brass tube.”

John looked on, “…Yes there’s a brass tube between the timer and the battery.”

“Good…now, you should see two wires coming out of the tube…”

“Yes I can.”

“What colours are they? One should be red and the other one should be either blue or…green.”

John looked, “They’re red and green.”

Harvey, like all there was by now extremely concerned. Wanting to put some of this into context he asked his operative for clarification,

“What does that mean?”

Turning to his superior, the operative was harnessing all his knowledge to keep everyone in the loop and his colleague alive, “The brass tube is the detonator, the wires going into it connect the timer and the battery.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” Harvey asked. With the tension rising still further he turned back to the radio,

“Alpha 2, I’m going to tell you how to make that device safe. I’m going to take you through it, and I want you to follow my exact instructions…I need you to trust me, OK?…You do trust me don’t you?”

“…Yes.” John replied softly.

This was all that the operative wanted to hear, “Good man. OK, you’re going to disconnect the timer from the detonator. That’ll prevent it from setting off the main charge, OK?”

“Fine, what wires do I need to touch?”

“Don’t touch anything yet!” Warned the operative. Harvey, the whole team listened on in complete silence. West, still in River View, found himself a quiet spot out of the way, listened intently to the drama playing out in his earpiece. Frustrated and captivated with that fact that this was purely a two man drama and there was no way he could help.

“OK John.” Continued the operative, “I want you to position yourself so that you are comfortable, and when I say so I want you to touch one of the wires.”

“OK. I’m ready…which wire?”

The operative hesitated for a split second. If he got this wrong, “The green wire OK John? When I say so, I want you to touch the green wire. I want you to feel how loose it is in its connection. Can you do that for me John?”

Tentatively John reached out to the wires in the bomb device. Trembling with absolute fear under the stark realisation that he could be staring at instant death, it required all of his personal and professional stamina to steady his hands. Beads of sweat running down his forehead, his eyebrows felt heavy under the collection of sweat he was perspiring under the intolerable situation. His eyes stinging from the sweat that had managed to drop, impairing his close eyesight prompting him to mop himself with his other free hand. He touched it, his forefinger slowly tugging at it in a bid to gauge how secure the wire was in its fitting,

“It’s tight but I can move it.” He said.

“OK John, you are going to disconnect it from the detonator now. That will break the circuit and stop the timer from setting it off. When I tell you to, I want you to pull on the green wire and slowly remove it.”

Frozen stiff, John understood his instruction perfectly. Harvey though was just as nervous,

“Is that the correct way to diffuse that device?”

The operative turned again, “Providing it doesn’t have a failsafe-‘

“You mean booby trapped?” Harvey cut in,

“It will be the correct wire.” He reassured, but Harvey could not be sure,

“What happens if it isn’t?” He asked,

“Then it will explode in his face.”

“Oh my god.” Said Clive in the background. Samantha at his side just stood there in silence as did the others, her hand covering her mouth. Suddenly the immediate reality hit home. Everything, not just John’s life, but the whole operation, the wider implications and the reputation of everybody relied on this next decision,

“It had better be the right one.” Said Harvey reflecting the thoughts of everyone around as the operative turned back to the task in hand,

“John can you hear me?”

“I hear you.”

“OK, take your time, when you are ready pull on the green wire and disconnect it slowly.”

John gripped the wire, his heart thudding through his chest, ears, and neck. The sounds of his surroundings completely drowned out by now in the tenseness of the situation. He began to tug,

“Pulling it out now.” He said as everyone stood in silence. Jack, still in hiding could only hear through the quietness of his earpiece. At Thames House nobody dared say a word for fear of breaking John’s intense concentration at this critical time. Tugging at the green wire very slowly, John applied a very minute amount of pressure, only as much as his hands dared as he suddenly heard a click. The wire pulled out but only halfway, causing a noise to be heard stopping John dead in his tracks holding the wire steady in a half connection to the detonator,

“It’s beeping!! It’s making a noise!!” He said over the radio. Everyone at Thames House panicked, but tried utterly not to show it. Jack, hearing the pleas of his friend over the radio wanted to break cover, held his hands over his eyes waiting for the sound of an explosion,

“OK, OK, keep calm John!” Said the operative desperately trying to control the emotions of the situation, “Pull the green wire out now. Nice and steady, remember, you trust me.”

“Don’t you dare leave me like this!” Was the reply,

“Nobody is going to leave you John, We are here. Don’t think about the beeping; just continue to pull out the wire nice and steady.”

Everybody listened on…silence…had he done it? Again everybody, even Jack listened intently for any signs of radio chatter, but nothing. Nobody dared utter a word,

“Control I’ve done it, the wire is out. The beeping has stopped.”

The sense of relief almost overwhelmed everyone, in the huge sighs let out by those present. As they came down from their high emotional state from what they had just gone though, the operative sought to reassure Hudson as to what he had just done,

“OK well done, you’ve made the bomb safe. Now you can remove it, carry it around, whatever. Just make sure the green wire doesn’t go back in for now.”

Removing it from the wall, it seemed to come away pretty easy. Looking at it now, John could see it was a fairly simple manufactured device. Was not complicated at all, but something struck him, even in the throes of relief that he was still alive,

“Control, there’s something else about the timer…the hands on the clocks, it bugged me in Colchester, but it’s only just hit me now. The design of the hands, they’re identical to ones retrieved from King’s Cross. Inspector Waterson showed them both to me and Jack in Scotland Yard in the aftermath of the bombing!”

Still relieved, Harvey responded, “So are you looking at a device used in that terrorist attack?”

“Possibly, or at least the timers were used.”

Jack still listening in from his hiding spot knew exactly what his friend was talking about. He realised the link straight away.

“Control,” Asked John, “I have an idea. If I re-arm this bomb and reset the timer, we have a ready-made device to put out of action that stockpile of poison before those trollies and vans get out there to distribute it.”

Harvey turned to Clive, “Will plastic explosive be enough?”

“Yes, plastic explosive does have a greater yield than ordinary dynamite, so it should be enough to evaporate any released poison before it gets into the atmosphere.”

Harvey didn’t have much alternative, “OK Alpha 2, go ahead.”

He reset the timer, setting it for ten minutes by rotating the hands to the correct time. He inserted the green wire back into the detonator causing it to tick,

“Control we have a live device again, now it’s just one mighty big grenade. I’ve set it for ten minutes.”

“Then that is how much time we have got.” Replied Harvey.

Back at the bridge leading toward the factory warehouse, all was quiet. There was certainly no external evidence to the drama that had just occurred at the dockside. A crouching figure swiftly but quietly attempted to make his way across, getting only two thirds of the way before being disturbed by activity,

“Control, this is Alpha 2. I have the bomb on me; I’m attempting to plant it at the warehouse now. But there seems to be activity coming from the building.”

“What kind of activity Alpha 2?” Asked Harvey, still coming down from the excitement,

“People moving out of the side.”

Harvey thought for a second, “Sounds like they are getting ready to move.”

The whole team were now monitoring the wider events, watching and waiting all the screens and computer monitors to see what the terrorists would do. Harvey wanted to time it right, to catch them in the act with all the evidence, it was all both exciting and terrifying at both the same time. After the knife-edge incident with John and the bomb, it was hard to say how much more they could take. Such was the intensity unfolding before them, nobody saw four suited men enter the office behind them,

“Charles, what’s going on? Where are we up to?” Said one of them in an authoritative tone causing Harvey to spin round with a few others,

“Home Secretary, this is a pleasant surprise. Well it definitely looks a potential biological attack on the capital. We have pinpointed the terrorists and the ring leaders, and traced then to APF Industries in the docklands.”

“I know, I remember you briefing me earlier. So what are we doing about it?”

“The full works, the police are on standby, rooftop snipers covering the area, specialist police forces and bomb squads are on site. Even the SAS are deploying and waiting for our signal to go. I even have some of my own personnel on the ground.”

“How many?” Asked the Home Secretary

“Two. One going after the poison on site and the other going after the ring leaders if he can find them.”

“And how are they going to distribute this poison?”

“They are deploying them in tarmac laying machines under the cover of road works. We think they are going to get them out via white vans observed on site.” Explained Harvey. There was nothing else he could say.

“OK.” Said the Home Secretary, “The Prime Minister is aware of the on-going situation and wants to be updated regularly. So do you recommend the implementation of evacuation Plant Theresa?”

Harvey stalled for a second, “No I don’t think so yet. I still believe we have a chance to stop it Home Secretary.”

“You had better hope so; otherwise this country will hang you by the balls.” Warned the politician, but Harvey had no time to respond, one of the other operatives cut in,

“The SAS and the police are deployed. They’re ready to assault on our word. What do we do, shall I tell them to go in?”

Hesitating for a few seconds, everyone wondered if this was it,

“What are your orders?” Asked Aazim as the Home Secretary stepped forward,

“Charles, the Prime Minister is in no mood to wait, and neither is the Palace. What are you going to do?”

Turning toward his staff Harvey wanted as much info as possible,

“Alpha 2, report what you see please.”