‘We have a clear shot,’ said the commander. ‘Do I have a green light?’
‘Wait!’ said Shepherd.
The commander looked at Button. ‘We can take them out now with zero collateral damage,’ he said. ‘We might not get another chance.’
Button opened her mouth to speak but Shepherd held up his hand. ‘Just give me a minute,’ he said. ‘Let me think.’
‘The clock is ticking, Spider,’ said Button.
‘Amen to that,’ said the commander. ‘If there are bombs in those backpacks we need to neutralise the threat now, before they go into the station,’ he said.
‘Neutralise the threat?’ repeated Shepherd. ‘Why don’t you say what you mean? Shoot them. That’s what you’re suggesting, isn’t it?’
‘Easy, Spider,’ said Button. ‘We’re just following protocol here. If they’re carrying bombs and there’s a chance that they are going to be detonated then we have to minimise civilian casualties. And the best way of doing that is to take them down sooner rather than later.’
‘I don’t see triggers, do you? They’ve just got backpacks. There could be anything in them.’
‘Including bombs with timers.’
‘Let’s just wait a little longer.’
‘We’re running out of time,’ said Button.
Lesporis stood up. ‘Charlotte, we have another van approaching St Pancras. Two Muslim males in the front.’
‘What?’ said Button, turning to look at the screen showing the map of London. A flashing light was moving east towards the station. ‘Do we have video?’
‘Screen eight,’ said Lesporis. They looked at the screen. A white van was sitting at a set of traffic lights. ‘We have a bike behind them. That’s where we’re getting the video feed from.’
‘They’re on Euston Road,’ said Button. ‘If they’re going to St Pancras they’ll be there in the next five minutes. How many are in the van?’
‘We think three in the back but there are no windows so we can’t be sure,’ said Lesporis.
‘So there are more of them on the way?’ said the commander.
‘It seems so,’ said Button.
On the screen, Chaudhry was talking to Malik.
‘I wish we had audio,’ said Button. She went over to stand behind Lesporis and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Make sure our watchers stick with that van and find out where it goes.’
‘I’m on it,’ said Lesporis.
Chaudhry stopped and stared up at the sign above the station. A CCTV camera was looking down at them. Malik stood next to him.
‘What are we going to do, Raj?’ asked Malik.
‘Let me think,’ said Chaudhry.
‘Think? What the hell are you thinking about? What if we’re carrying bombs? Those bastards could be preparing to blow us up right now.’
Chaudhry turned to look at the van that had dropped them off. It was turning on to the main road.
‘Raj? Come on, brother, get a grip, will you? What do we do?’
‘He didn’t say anything about a bomb. He just said we go into the station and we’ll get further instructions.’ Chaudhry held up the map. ‘This is where we have to go.’
‘And you believe that? And where the hell is Khalid? For all we know he could be calling up mobile-phone detonators right now. We’re dead men walking, brother.’
‘Just give me a minute, will you?’ Chaudhry looked at Malik’s backpack. It was bulky, as was the one on his back. He jiggled his. It made no sound. The pack was heavy, but not uncomfortably so. He tried to remember his time in the training camp in Pakistan. For several days they’d been shown how to make and use various types of explosives, and even how to construct a suicide-bomb waistcoat.
‘They’re not heavy enough,’ said Chaudhry.
‘What do you mean?’
‘If the target’s a station then the bombs would have explosives and metal for fragmentation. Nuts, bolts, nails. Otherwise you just get a loud bang. Feel the weight. They’re not packed with metal.’
‘So what do you think we’re carrying? Packed lunches?’
‘Poison? But that doesn’t really make sense. Poison in a rucksack isn’t going to hurt anybody. Guns, maybe. Handguns. Perhaps that’s it. Maybe we get into position and they call us and tell us to start shooting.’
‘I’m not shooting anybody. Look, let’s just dump the backpacks and get the hell out of here.’
‘That’s not an option, Harvey. Look, we’re not carrying bombs. I’m sure of that. So we go inside and see what they want us to do next. We can stop at any time.’
‘So let’s stop now.’
‘If we drop the bags and run, that’ll be it. How do we know they’ll catch Khalid?’
‘That’s not our problem, Raj.’
‘Yes, it is,’ hissed Chaudhry. ‘These people kill civilians. They’re terrorists so that’s what they want to do — terrorise. They kill and maim innocents because that way they spread terror. And if we don’t stop Khalid maybe he’ll kill your sister. Or my parents. Or our friends. These bastards don’t care who dies, Harvey. They blow up tube trains and buses and even mosques. And if we don’t stop them, who will?’
‘I don’t want to die, brother.’ Malik was close to tears.
‘No one’s going to die,’ said Chaudhry. ‘Not today. I promise.’
The young man in the grey suit raised a hand. ‘BTP want to know how many feeds you want?’
‘All of them,’ said Button.
‘We can get them all but there are more than a hundred cameras inside and outside. They’re asking if you want them to be selective.’
‘We need them all,’ said Button.
‘I told them that but the point they’re making is that if they send them as individual feeds we won’t have enough screens here. They’re suggesting they send us split-screen feeds with sixteen views per screen.’
‘That’ll do,’ said Button.
The man put a hand to his Bluetooth headset and nodded as he listened to what he was being told. He put up his other hand and made a waving motion at Button. He muttered something into his headset and then nodded at Button. ‘What they’re saying now is that you can have multiple feeds but you won’t be able to home in on any particular frame.’
‘Just tell them to send the feeds now,’ said Button tersely.
The van that had been driving along Euston Road stopped outside the station. The video from the bike that was following the van shook for a few seconds and then stabilised.
Button turned to the commander. ‘Have you got a firearms team at the Euston Road entrance?’
The policeman nodded. ‘Already in place but still in their vehicle.’
‘Let’s leave it that way for a while longer,’ said Button. She called over to a red-haired woman sitting at the far side of the room. ‘Marie, can you get me a floor plan of St Pancras showing all the entrances?’
‘I’m on it,’ said Marie, tapping on her keyboard.
‘The first feeds are coming through,’ said the young man.
‘Thanks, Toby,’ said Button. She pointed at the wall of screens. ‘Let’s clear the top row and put them all there.’
‘I’ve another ARV on the way,’ said the commander.
On one of the screens, three Asians got out of the back of the van on Euston Road. All were wearing backpacks.
A black screen flickered into life. It was filled with a map of the station, showing Euston Road to the left, Midland Road at the top and Pancras Road at the bottom.
Button walked over to the screen and tapped the top of the map. ‘This is where Chaudhry and Malik are,’ she said. ‘The Midland Road entrance.’ She moved her finger and tapped the left-hand side of the map. ‘This is where the second van is. I need everyone to start looking at the CCTV footage to see if we can spot anyone else. I’m as anti-profiling as anyone but we’re looking for young male Asians with backpacks.’
Shepherd got up and went to stand next to her.
‘Chaudhry and Malik are about to enter the station,’ said the commander.
‘We’ve got the van covered from the air, and it’s no longer a threat,’ said Button, her eyes on the screen.
Each of the screens showing the CCTV footage from St Pancras was divided into sixteen viewpoints, four across and four down. One of the shots was a view of the main entrance. Shepherd could see Chaudhry and Malik standing together.