Stephen Leather - The Bombmaker

'They can, if that's what they decide is the best option,' said Denham.

'But what about Katie?'

'Katie's pretty low down their list of priorities right now,' said Denham. 'I'm sorry, Martin.'

Martin looked around the office frantically, as if searching for someone he could appeal to. No one was looking at him. Hetherington was still whispering into his mobile phone; Patsy, Barbara Carter and Tim Fanning were watching the bank of thermal image monitors; the SAS captain and two of his troopers were at the window, peering out at Cathay Tower between the slats of the blinds. Half a dozen technicians were gathered around laptop computers, their hands playing over the keyboards.

'Patsy, you have to hold off,' urged Martin. 'See what they do. If he lets her talk to Katie, we can find out where she is.'

'It's not my decision any more,' she said, avoiding his gaze.

Captain Payne had his mobile phone to his face. 'Stand by, stand by,' he said.

'What if Andy accidentally presses the button?' asked Martin. 'What if she panics? Flash-bangs are like grenades, aren't they?'

Patsy didn't reply. Martin looked at Denham. 'They're going to shoot her as well, aren't they? That's the only way to stop her pressing the button, isn't it?'

Denham averted his eyes. Martin held his arms out and waved them like a chick trying to fly for the first time. 'For God's sake, will somebody talk to me!' he shouted.

Patsy motioned with her chin at Fanning. 'Tim, take Mr Hayes outside, will you.'

Martin put his hands up in surrender. 'Okay, okay,' he said quietly. 'I'll be quiet.' He walked over to the window and stood next to the SAS captain.

Fanning looked at Patsy for guidance and she gave him a small shrug.

Hetherington clicked his mobile phone off and walked over to Patsy. 'The PM says to go in,' he said.

The SAS captain looked over his shoulder. 'That's a green light?' he asked Hetherington.

'Affirmative,' said Hetherington. 'And may God help us all.' He turned to Patsy. 'I think we should all move out of the room. Just to be on the safe side. Flying glass and such.'

Captain Payne put his phone to his mouth. Martin moved quickly, pushing the phone away with his left hand and grabbing for the man's gun with his right. He gripped the butt of the weapon and pulled it from its nylon holster. It came out smoothly, and before he realised it he was pointing the gun at Payne's head. Martin had never fired a gun in his life, but he knew enough to realise that there was a safety catch and he fumbled it into the off position with his thumb as he took a step backwards.

'Don't be stupid,' said Payne, holding his hands up, fingers splayed.

'Martin, for God's sake, what are you doing?' shouted Denham.

Martin kept the gun pointed at the captain's head. 'Tell your men to keep their hands where they are,' he warned. 'If either of them makes a move towards their weapons, I'll shoot you.'

'You're not going to shoot anyone,' said the captain.

'Martin, come on, calm down,' said Patsy soothingly.

Martin stepped to the side so that he could see everyone in the room, though he kept the gun levelled at the captain. Hetherington watched in amazement, his mouth open wide, his phone at his side. The two troopers were looking at their officer, waiting to see how he'd react.

'Martin, I know you're under a lot of strain at the moment,' said Patsy. 'But this isn't helping anyone.' She took a step closer to him.

'Stay where you are!' Martin shouted. 'If you come any closer, I'll shoot him.'

'That wouldn't be very smart, Martin,' she said.

Martin ignored her. 'Tim, push that desk against the door. Do anything else, anything at all, and I'll shoot him.'

The two troopers were moving away from the captain, one going to the left, one to the right. Martin waved the gun at Payne. 'Tell them to stay where they are,' he hissed. 'I'll try to shoot you in the leg, but I've never fired a gun before so I might hit you somewhere fatal.'

'That'd be murder,' said the SAS captain. 'Cold-blooded murder. Are you up to that, Martin? Are you up to shooting an unarmed man?'

'You've just been discussing killing my wife,' said Martin. His arms were beginning to tremble and he fought to keep them steady. 'You don't seem to have any problems with that.'

Fanning finished pushing the desk up against the door.

'Sit on the desk, Tim. On your hands.' Fanning did as he was told. Martin looked at the SAS officer, and waggled the gun at him. 'If anyone tries to come in through that door, they're going to have to come through Tim,' he said.

'I gathered that,' said Payne.

'Now, tell your men to take their guns out of their holsters. Tell them to use their thumbs and one finger. Then I want them to eject the thing that holds the bullets.'

'The clip?'

'The clip. Drop the clip on the floor, then the gun. Then they're to kick the guns across the floor to me.'

'You can tell them yourself,' said Payne.

'They're soldiers, and you're their officer,' said Martin. 'And if they don't do what you say, you're the one who's going to get the bullet.'

The captain nodded at his men. They slowly followed Martin's instructions. He kicked the guns under the desk, out of reach.

'Martin, have you thought this through?' said Patsy. 'Have you thought what's going to happen when this is over? You'll be in court for this. You'll go to prison.'

'Maybe,' said Martin. 'But you haven't given me any choice, have you? If the SAS go in, my wife and daughter are going to be killed. If that happens, I don't think I care much either way what happens to me.' He gestured with the gun. 'I might even end up using this on myself.'

'Now you're being stupid,' she said.

'We'll see.' He moved to the side so that he could see the thermal image screens. 'Turn up the sound, will you?'

Patsy turned up the volume. Everyone turned to look at the monitors.

– «»-«»-«»Andy held the remote control above her head, her thumb resting on the on-off button. 'I will do it,' she said. 'You're going to kill me anyway, so I've nothing to lose.'

'Yes you have,' said the man in the ski mask. 'There's Katie.'

'Katie's dead already.'

The man lowered his gun. 'No. She's not.'

Andy shook her head, blinking away the tears that were stinging her eyes. 'I don't believe you.'

The man stretched out a hand as if he were trying to calm a barking dog. 'She is, Andrea. I promise you. She's fine. The men she's with were told to look after her.'

Andy sniffed. Her arm was starting to ache and she wanted to change hands, but she didn't want to give the man in the ski mask an opportunity to shoot her.

The Wrestler cursed and Green-eyes turned to look at him. 'I'm going,' he said. 'You don't need me any more.'

'No,' said the man in the ski mask. 'We all stay until it's finished.'

'Fuck you,' said the Wrestler. 'You've got your bomb. I'm sure as hell not going to be here when it goes off. Just make sure you transfer my money into the bank. If you don't, I'll come looking for you, Egan.' He turned and walked towards the door, muttering darkly to himself.

– «»-«»-«»Patsy looked at Denham. 'You hear that? "Egan", he said.' She turned to Carter. 'Barbara, get on to records. Anything we have on a man called Egan. Aliases, everything. Notify GCHQ, too. And get them to liaise with the NSA. Search for any calls mentioning Egan. Then contact the FBI, crosscheck with them.' Carter nodded and picked up the phone.

'Wait!' said Martin.

'Martin, she's only going to make a phone call. We have to know who this Egan is.'

Martin hesitated, then nodded. Carter dialled a number and began to whisper urgently into the mouthpiece, a look of fierce concentration on her face.

There was a coughing sound from the loudspeaker. On the two screens, one of the flickering green figures slumped to the floor. 'They've shot someone!' said Captain Payne.