‘Rafi’s plan is for the Government to put into place a war chest which will enable them to issue shares in Government Real Estate Investment Trusts, instead of tapping the gilts market. These can be used to meet the potentially large increase in their liabilities. It’s ingenious, in that they can draw down what they need, when it’s needed. Aidan reckons that this war chest could have?400 billion in it. This would be more than enough to placate the markets under all but the very worst outcomes of the terrorist missile attacks.’
Kate paused. Now for the difficult bit, she thought. ‘What we need is complete secrecy. MI5’s and our worry is that the terrorists’ well-placed sleepers include contacts in both COBRA and the Mayor of London’s disaster unit. MI5 are still working on the list of names that John has given them. Our concern, and a big one at that, is that if the terrorists were to be tipped off and consequently changed to a plan “B”, we would be completely in the dark as to how to stop them. I appreciate the chances are small, but the hazards are enormous.’
The commissioner almost interrupted, but held his silence.
Kate continued. ‘Our advice is that the London Stock Exchange and Euronext. liffe must, at the last moment, not open tomorrow.’ She paused, ‘Also, we believe that it’s too large a risk to take to expect our political masters to fully and quickly comprehend the scale of what they’re up against. Spin, procrastination and aggrandisement are so ingrained amongst some ministers that we seriously wonder whether they’ll move quickly enough. Accordingly, as of now, Rafi would like to bring together a team of four or five senior City gurus, who will be tasked with drawing up an economic plan for the consideration of our political masters, so that they will be able to make decisions based on facts and not on short-term political expediency. Realistically, by this time tomorrow evening Rafi and Aidan will be ready to drop and won’t be in a fit state to pitch a financial recovery plan to the Bank of England or the Treasury. Who knows, the City gurus might even come up with a better plan!’ At this point Kate shot Rafi and Aidan a cheeky smile.
‘Agreed,’ said the commissioner, letting Kate carry on.
‘Our next proposal is that the SAS and anti-terrorist squads should be brought in to neutralise the terrorists and to search all the properties we have identified as their bases. The individual terrorists must be stopped from causing destruction, but if feasible they should be allowed to escape to the trawlers. We can then follow them and hopefully pull in all those in charge of the terrorist operation.’
‘Lastly, we could do with another Nimrod – AWACS. We have one monitoring Golden Sundancer. It would be useful to have a second keeping an eye on the trawler in Great Yarmouth.’
The commissioner looked carefully at the team around him. ‘Thank you, Kate. What you’re asking David and me to approve, in terms of our careers, is suicide – if you’re wrong! I only have one question for you: have you corroborated the facts as if we were taking these bastards to court?’ There were nods all around.
‘We’ve sought supporting evidence to confirm each link in the chain,’ said Kate. ‘The final proof will be if the terrorists are where we say they are. If they’re not, we don’t have a clue where else to look.’
‘So your suggestion is that the SAS and anti-terrorist squads are put in place to prevent the terrorist attacks?’
Kate nodded.
‘I have a fundamental problem with this suggestion,’ explained the commissioner. ‘We’re duty-bound to treat this threat with the seriousness it deserves, but with the recognition that if we mess this up, it’ll be ranked amongst the biggest police cock-ups on record. The SAS will require full military support at each of the locations, plus field hospital and medical support, in case any of the missiles reaches its target. We don’t have the powers to run this scale of operation alone.’ Giles turned to David. ‘Who do we need to persuade?’
‘I reckon we need the say-so of four people: the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Defence, the head of MI5 and the chief of staff of the armed services. The Home Secretary is out of the country until tomorrow attending an inter-government conference in Germany. We’ll need to get his stand-in. From a practical point of view they’d need to be based here, as this is where all the information is. I agree with MI5: it would be too risky to use COBRA, given the likelihood of there being embedded sleepers.’
The commissioner turned to the chief superintendent and said, ‘Are you willing to gamble your career and pension on this?’
‘Sir, as I see it, I’ve no choice. If we don’t follow this covert route and MI5 are proved to be right, and the terrorists do have moles within COBRA, it would be a total disaster. They would be alerted and could change their targets.’
‘Right, it’s agreed – you and I will take full responsibility for this if we’ve got it wrong.’
‘Agreed, sir,’ said David gravely. ‘I have one other issue, but it can be discussed at a later time… I’m uncertain if it would be wise to let any terrorists leave the UK mainland.’
‘Perhaps one could view it as letting them move to a location where it would be safe to capture them, and where the chances of collateral damage would be low,’ suggested Kate.
The commissioner tipped his head to one side, taking on board her comment. ‘Thank you – your observations and the hard work of your team are noted. However, before our political masters arrive for a briefing, I have two strong requests. First, get confirmation that there are only four missile launchers on the mainland. Second, find the whereabouts of the unknown properties.’
‘David, will you please phone the Home Secretary’s office and see which minister is covering for him and get their phone number? Also, get the number for the Secretary of State for Defence. I met with the head of MI5 a couple of days ago concerning Rafi, and I promised to keep him in the loop. I’ll call him and invite him. I’ll also speak to the chief of staff of the armed services who, as luck or good planning would have it, is due to have dinner with me tonight at my West End club. I’ll arrange for them to be here for a council of war at 8 p.m. I’ll then invite the two ministers. Kate and the rest of you, please find me the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.’
As Kate’s team was leaving the room, Jeremy turned to John. ‘I think we did rather well there, don’t you?’
‘Yep, I couldn’t have put it better if I’d tried,’ said John.
They shot an approving glance at Kate, who had heard their comments.
‘Thanks guys, I’m so pleased you kept quiet!’
At that moment the phone next to the commissioner rang. It was Jeremy’s boss at MI5. Giles switched the phone to conference mode.
‘Evening all. Just a quick call to update you before your meeting ends,’ said Neil. Kate and her team moved back into the room and stood by the door. ‘We’ve a lead on Kaleem Shah. There are two suicide bombers with him. One of them used a credit card in Tilehurst, on the outskirts of Reading. Our informed guess is that they’re going to attack the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston and/or Burghfield, where nuclear warheads are put together. Both sites hold stocks of plutonium. Kaleem Shah, the cell leader, has many years’ experience of living on battlefields. It is likely that he will want to lie low somewhere near to the targets.’
‘Thank you for the update, Neil. While you’re on… Do you happen to know where your boss is?’ asked the commissioner.
‘He’s sitting next to me as we speak.’
‘Good evening, Giles,’ said the head of MI5.