Stephen Leather - The Bombmaker

Bingham took out his mobile phone. 'I'll call the Met boys,' he said, heading back to the corridor.

The SAS captain and his two troopers dropped their kit-bags on one of the chesterfields and went over to the window. Patsy joined them, and they pushed the slats apart. Hetherington came up behind them, putting his phone away. He pointed to a glass and steel tower directly in front of then. The base of the building was obscured by a row of granite buildings, but they could see from the fourth floor upwards.

'The blinds are drawn. White vertical ones. See them?'

'Got it,' said Patsy.

'We've got people to the north and east,' said Hetherington.

'I'd like to put snipers on the roof here,' said Captain Payne. 'Can we have access?'

'It's being arranged,' said Hetherington. 'There's a roof garden up there but it's rarely used. I'll get someone to show you. Our people are installing long-range eavesdroppers as we speak. Patsy, a word.'

Two of the surveillance technicians were unpacking thermal imaging equipment from metal cases. Payne went over to watch as they attached the devices to tripods. They resembled huge pairs of binoculars with soda siphon cartridges attached to the top. They were similar to the devices that the SAS used, combining ambient-light image intensifiers and thermal imaging. They were capable of picking up heat sources through concrete, effectively allowing the viewer to look through walls.

Hetherington took Patsy over to the far corner of the office where there was a bronze statue of a turbaned warrior holding a spear that almost reached Hetherington's shoulder. 'The PM's been made aware of the situation,' he said. He fiddled with the tip of the spear as he spoke. 'He's in Bonn, but wants regular updates.'

Two technicians came in with more cases which they put on top of the table. They began unpacking laptop computers. Another technician snapped open a case and took out a satellite phone.

'One thing the PM's clear on – he wants the immediate area evacuated.'

Patsy opened her mouth to speak but Hetherington silenced her with a wave of a finger.

'There's to be no argument. He's taking the view that if we know there's a bomb in that building, it would be political suicide to allow civilians to remain in the area.'

Patsy nodded. If the PM had made a decision, there was no point in arguing.

'It will have to be low-key, of course,' said Hetherington. 'The last thing we want is for us to have people streaming out of neighbouring buildings.'

'So the Met's been informed already?'

'The Director-General's spoken to the Commissioner. He's unhappy about not being told earlier, but any political in-fighting is going to have to wait until later.'

'Good. I've requested a team of their explosives officers to be on stand-by.'

'That's already in hand. Now, the evacuation. What's the position regarding the building itself?'

'We're clearing the tenth floor and the counter revolutionary team is moving in. Once they're in position, we can use our people to clear the rest of the floors. But Jason, it's going to have to be done carefully.'

'Agreed. Carefully, but quickly. Let's use the lifts and the stairways.'

'I'll have the lifts fixed so that they don't stop at the ninth.' She fingered her crucifix. 'If we're emptying the building, we're going to have to stop anyone entering or leaving the ninth floor.'

'Ah,' said Hetherington. He patted the blade of the spear. 'I see what you mean. I'll get Captain Payne to assign men to the ninth-floor stairwell. How long do you think it'll take to evacuate the building?'

'Stairs and lifts?' She did a quick calculation in her head. 'An hour, maybe. I'd recommend we take everyone down into the carpark and out through there.'

'Agreed. Now, regarding the evacuation of the surrounding buildings. The Commissioner wants to set up roadblocks to stop anyone entering the area.'

Patsy pulled a face. 'Jason, if they see what's going on…'

'The blinds are closed – they can't see out. We'll tell everyone there's a gas leak. We'll have gas company people all over the place. We'll put a warning on radio and television.'

'That won't fool them,' said Patsy.

'No, but it's better than nothing. We have to evacuate, Patsy. The PM won't stand for anything less.'

Four more technicians rushed in carrying monitors, followed by a fifth man who was unrolling a cable. There were now more than two dozen people in the office, hard at work.

'And what about the people on the ninth floor?' asked Patsy.

'We evacuate, we contain the area, we assess the situation, and if at all possible… we negotiate.'

– «»-«»-«»Andy scuttled backwards, away from the man who'd been pouring water over her. She was soaked, and the side of her head ached from where he'd hit her. She had no idea how long she'd been unconscious, but with every movement of her head she felt as if she was going to pass out again.

'Who did you talk to, Andrea?' said the man. He had an American accent.

Andy put a hand up to the side of her head. When she took it away it was sticky with blood.

The man pulled a silencer out of his jacket pocket and screwed it into the barrel of his gun, watching her all the time.

'Who did you talk to?' he repeated.

Andy looked across at Green-eyes. She was also holding a gun and aiming it at Andy's chest. She looked back at the man. There was no point in lying because they'd have been able to call up the last number dialled on the mobile. 'My husband,' she said.

The man finished attaching the silencer. He leaned against one of the desks, the gun resting against his thigh.

'I wanted to know if he'd heard from Katie.'

The man's face was hidden by the ski mask, but Andy could see his eyes harden. 'Why would he have heard from Katie?' he asked.

'I don't know. I thought maybe the kidnappers might have called him. I saw the videos. I thought…' Her voice tailed off. She began to shiver, the effects of being doused with cold water coupled with the terror of her situation. It wasn't the fact that he was pointing a gun at her that scared Andy. It was the fact that he'd screwed on a silencer.

The man looked across at Green-eyes. 'The videos were in the briefcase,' Green-eyes explained.

The man nodded and looked at Andy again. 'And you thought your daughter was already dead.' He tilted his head to one side as he looked at her. 'She isn't, Andrea. She's still very much alive. The videos were to put your mind at ease, that's all.'

'If Katie's alive, there'd be no point in you making the videos. You could just have let me talk to her.'

The man stared at her with unblinking eyes. 'A fair point,' he said. 'But we didn't know what was going to happen in Dublin. If anything had gone wrong, we wanted to guarantee your co-operation.'

'Wrong? What do you mean, wrong?'

'Say the police had found her. Look at it from our point of view, Andrea. If something had gone wrong and we didn't have Katie, you'd hardly be likely to help us, would you? The videos were insurance against anything going wrong.'

Andy wrapped her arms around herself, still shivering uncontrollably. 'I don't believe you,' she said.

He gestured with his gun. 'I don't care if you believe me or not,' he said. 'The rules have changed. You're going to set the timer, right now.'

Andy shook her head.

The man levelled the gun at her left foot. 'I'll shoot your foot first. Then your knee. Then your thigh. Then your stomach. You'll do it eventually, Andrea, so why not save yourself the pain?'

'You're going to kill me anyway,' Andy said flatly.

'Dead is dead, that's true. But there are degrees of pain.' His finger tightened on the trigger. 'I know about pain, Andrea.'

Andy turned her head and closed her eyes, waiting for the bang, waiting for the bullet to tear into her flesh and smash through the bone.