Church was standing beside a table with guns, bullets and shoulder holsters laid out on it, some of which he was handing to the detectives from the Dip and Bomb Squads. There was a tense atmosphere and everyone had a solemn look on their face as they signed for their.38 revolvers and loaded them.
‘You an authorised shot, Tennison?’ Church asked, his eyes scrunched tight as if anticipating danger ahead.
‘No, sir,’ she replied, beginning to feel nervous about the whole situation, but not wanting to show it.
‘Stanley’s got some pickaxe handles in his car if you want one,’ a detective said in earnest.
Jane felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned to see Stanley.
‘A lump of wood will be about as much use as a glass hammer if the raid turns into Gunfight at the OK Corral.’
Jane shook her head and frowned. ‘I could have guessed you’d be the one to make light of a serious situation, Stanley.’
‘Only trying to make you relax, luv. Besides, anyone who’s not carrying a shooter won’t be called into the premises until it’s secure. You’ll be well away from the action.’
Stanley’s comment didn’t bother Jane. The truth was that she’d happily stay at a safe distance when the raid was carried out.
Crowley and Lawrence walked into the CID office followed by Dexter, who was carrying an A1 Plain Paper Flipchart, which he placed on an easel. Crowley clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.
‘Right, you lot,’ Crowley said. ‘Listen up, and listen well. As you are all aware, it was not that long ago that a police officer was shot and killed in London during a stop-and-search incident with a man who turned out to be a member of the IRA. I cannot emphasise enough how dangerous this operation is. The ASU that we are about to take out will undoubtedly be armed with handguns and explosives so the last thing I want are any fuck-ups by us.’
Crowley nodded at Dexter, who turned over the blank cover of the flipchart to reveal a detailed street map of the address that was about to be raided: 61 Caversham Road, NW5. Crowley pointed to the map.
‘The Intelligence Services informant has proved to be a reliable source in the past. Our targets are holed up in a two-bedroom ground-floor flat in a row of three-storey terraced Victorian buildings. Unfortunately, the information only came in earlier this evening so we haven’t been able to do a full daytime recce to evaluate the surrounding area, or any comings and goings from the target address.’
One of the officers raised his hand and Crowley nodded for him to speak.
‘Do we know anything about the occupants of the other two flats in the building?’
‘Luckily, we do. One of my squad located the landlord and is bringing him over as we speak, with a set of keys for the whole premises. The top-floor flat is currently unoccupied, and a young Jamaican couple with a baby have recently moved into the middle flat. The landlord says that an Irishman, who said he was a delivery van driver, started renting the ground-floor flat about a month ago. When the landlord visited a couple of weeks ago there were two other men in the ground-floor flat, but they didn’t speak to him. On a positive note, the description of one of them fits the artist’s impression we released to the press.’
Dexter interjected, ‘Generally, we’ve found that IRA bomb makers live alone, but as it’s a two-bedroom flat, I wouldn’t be surprised if more than one ASU operative is staying there. Maybe if they’re there together to plan a big explosion we’ll strike lucky and get all of the bastards.’
Crowley turned over to the next sheet on the flipchart, which showed more detail of the surrounding area. Number 61 was next to a builders’ yard, which in turn led directly onto to the overground railway line running through the nearby Kentish Town station.
‘As you can see, they have a good escape line via the yard and onto the train tracks. The last thing I want is to be chasing armed suspects on live rails, or facing a moving train head-on…’ He flipped over to another page showing the details of each team.
‘Stanley, you and a team of three others will go to 107 Gainsford Street, behind the target address. Via those premises you can gain entry to the garden of 61 Caversham to cut off their escape route. If they do come out through the back, then let us know over the radio right away as we don’t want to get caught in any crossfire. Understood?’
Stanley nodded and grinned, as if almost relishing the thought of a shootout. Crowley then explained that his team would be ‘Gold’, Stanley’s would be ‘Silver’ and the third team would ‘Bronze’. Only two people in each team would have a radio, to avoid too much airwave chatter. Crowley said that DCI Church and three other members of the bomb squad would be in his lead team and the rest would continue to cover the outside as backup, if needed.
‘Isn’t DS Dexter in the main team?’ one of the Dip Squad officers asked.
‘As much as Dexter likes to be in the thick of it he won’t be much use to us if he gets shot at the outset… unless anyone else here feels they’re capable of disarming a bloody bomb!’
Everyone could see Crowley was on edge and not in the mood for what he perceived to be silly questions. Stanley raised his hand, causing everyone to glare at him in expectation of an inane remark or question that would further annoy Crowley.
‘What about getting the young couple out?’ Stanley asked.
‘Good point, Stanley. Once we go through the main door and are in position to force entry to the target flat one of my team, accompanied by WDC Tennison, will go up to their flat and remain with them until the premises are secure and they can be safely evacuated… You OK with that, Tennison?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Jane replied, wondering apprehensively how much damage might be caused to the flat above if a bomb went off. She thought of her mother and the state she’d be in if she was listening in on the briefing. The thought made her smile and she knew that her nervousness was caused by adrenaline.
Crowley explained that once the suspects were arrested and the premises secure no one was to touch anything in the flat. Dexter would then search for any explosive devices, or bomb making parts, and Lawrence would deal with the forensic aspects of the search.
The duty sergeant entered the room with a box full of radios for everyone. He spoke with DCI Crowley, who didn’t look pleased as he picked up a radio and talked into it.
‘Oscar Papa One from Gold, receiving, over.’ The radio hissed and there was no reply. Impatiently, Crowley repeated his call to the officers watching the suspect’s address.
‘Oscar Papa One, receiving… go ahead… over,’ came the reply.
‘I’ve just spoken to the duty sergeant… is the situation still the same? Gold over…’ Crowley asked.
‘Yes… nothing further to report… over…’
‘Keep me updated.’
Crowley banged the radio down on the table.
‘This could be a long night, gents… I had two of my officers enter the next door second-floor flat at 59 Caversham with listening devices while we were grouping up here. At present the lights are on at 61 but they can’t detect any movement. It looks like we sit and wait in obo vans and unmarked cars for now, in the surrounding streets.’
There was an air of despondency in the room.
‘It’ll be just our luck if the ASU’s out planting a bomb,’ one of the bomb squad officers said.
‘It’s a possibility,’ agreed Crowley. ‘We’ll know soon enough if they have, it’ll be all over the radios.’
‘How long do you intend to wait, Guv?’ Dexter asked, knowing that Crowley was in an awkward position. If a bomb did go off the ASU might not return to the premises, and might get out of town.
Crowley was silent, apparently thinking about his next move. Instead of replying, he walked over to Jane. ‘Tennison,’ he said. ‘A word with you in private.’