'And then what? Then you kill me, right?'
The man said nothing, but Green-eyes took a step forward and pointed at Andy. 'That's right, you bitch!' she shouted. 'It goes up and you with it!'
'So I've got nothing to lose, have I?' said Andy quietly. She reached behind her with her right hand and brought out the video recorder's remote control. She slowly raised it in the air so that they could all see it, her thumb moving over the on-off button. 'If I press this, the bomb goes off.'
Captain Payne turned to Patsy. 'What is it? What the hell's she holding?' On the monitors, the green figure that was Andy had one arm held up high as if pointing at the ceiling.
Martin gripped Denham's arm so tightly that the older man winced. 'What's she doing, Liam? What's happening?'
'I don't know, Martin,' said Denham, peering at the monitors.
'Liam,'
said Patsy. 'Could she have rigged the bomb?'
'It's possible. But how? What has she got there?'
Captain Payne turned to Hetherington, pushing up the sleeves of his sweat-shirt. 'If she means what she says, we have to go in now,' he said.
'Let's see what she's up to,' said Hetherington.
'We have less than an hour, whatever happens,' said Payne. 'I recommend that we go in now.'
Captain Crosbie adjusted his body armour. 'Right, orders group,' he said, and the fifteen troopers gathered for the pre action briefing. To an outsider the men might have appeared over-relaxed as they listened to their commanding officer.
Several were sitting on desks, swinging their legs. Coop was sprawled in a chair, chewing gum noisily. The laid-back attitude was deceptive, Crosbie knew. The troopers were trained to a standard few men could ever hope to achieve and would do everything asked of them. They were used to being addressed as professionals and had earned the right to be treated as such.
'Two teams of seven,' said Crosbie. 'If we get the green light,
we go in on two sides, simultaneously. Three stages. One.
Lower the shaped charges. Two men on each frame. No messing -- we only get one chance at it. Down and blow them. Stage two. Flash-bangs. Sandy and Coop take care of them. Throw in,
minimum delay, then drop to avoid the flash. Everyone else goes in immediately afterwards. Four troopers are coming in through the front door, but they're not moving until they hear the flash bangs.' He gestured at Chuckit, who was sitting in front of his laptop and talking on the phone. 'Hopefully we'll be getting 328 THE BOMBMAKER real-time thermal images of the floor below, but we can't bank on getting them before we go in. What we do know is that we have four targets. Tango One and Tango Two are male. Tango Three and Tango Four are female. Tango Four is the bomb maker, but according to Intel she's working under duress.
Having said that, all are to be regarded as hostile. We don't have time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Tangos One,
Two and Three are armed. Handguns.'
Several of the troopers were cradling their Heckler &
Kochs. Crosbie held up his own weapon, a Heckler & Koch MP5SD, the silenced model of the MP5. 'Down below us is a four-thousand-pound fertiliser bomb, and our first priority is to secure it. We're not sure what it looks like, but keep all fire well away from it. I'm told it's relatively stable, but no one really seems to know what effect a nine-millimetre bullet travelling at four hundred metres a second is going to have on it. I'd rather not find out, so pick your targets. Who's got MP5SDS?'
Half a dozen of the troopers raised their hands. Crosbie named the two teams, dividing the men with silenced weapons so that there were three in each team.
'MP5SDS lead the way,' he said. The silenced weapons had a much lower muzzle velocity, which Crosbie hoped would minimise the chance of a premature explosion if a stray bullet should hit the explosive. 'Coop, how are you getting on with the shaped charges?'
'One done. I'll have the other ready in ten minutes.'
Crosbie nodded. The framed charges were made of light wood which Coop had nailed into rectangles the size of the windows they intended to blow out. Around the edges of the frames was PE4 plastic explosive connected up with a continuous ring of Cordtex detonation cord, and at the top was a primer and a detonator. The charges would be detonated by wire, and if Coop had done his calculations correctly they would blow in the windows and the blinds, but with minimum damage to the interior of the office. It was a delicate balance. Too little and the blinds might still be in the way when the troopers went 329 STEPHEN LEATHER through the window; too much and the fertiliser bomb could be accidentally detonated.
Andy held the remote control to the side, aiming it at the briefcase, as Green-eyes and the Wrestler moved to stand behind the man in the ski mask. 'I didn't just wire up the timer,' she said,
her voice cracking under the tension. 'I wired up the remote,
too.'
'Could she do that?' Green-eyes asked the man in the ski mask.
'You'd better believe it!' Andy shouted.
'What do you want, Andrea?' asked the man in the ski mask.
'What do you mean, what does she want?' shouted Green eyes. 'It doesn't matter what she wants. We've got guns. We'll fucking well shoot her!'
The man said nothing. His eyes continued to bore into Andy's as if he were trying to see into her mind. She stared back,
refusing to look away, refusing even to blink.
'You can't shoot me,' said Andy. 'Because no matter how good a shot you are, no matter where you shoot me, I'm still going to be able to press the button. Even if you kill me stone dead, my hand is still going to go into spasm. The bomb'll go off.
You'll all die.'
Green-eyes glared at the man. 'Is that possible?'
The man kept staring at Andy. 'If she's wired it that way, yes.
The thing of it is, has she?'
Andy swallowed. 'There's only one way to find out,' she said, her voice shaking. 'I'll press the button and we'll all die.'
She raised her hand above her head.
'No!' shouted Green-eyes. 'Don't!' She lowered her gun,
but the man in the ski mask kept his levelled at Andy's chest.
Captain Payne looked over at Patsy. 'I recommend we go in now. If she presses that button, everyone dies.'
Patsy bit her lower lip as she stared at the thermal images on 33O THE BOMBMAKER the bank of monitors. 'Are you sure you can take them out without the bomb going off?' she asked.
Payne looked pained. 'I can't promise. But I can tell you that in hostage rescue rehearsals we get the hostage out alive ninety six per cent of the time. So long as the woman doesn't panic and accidentally set it off, we should be okay. We'll drop down on two sides. Shaped charges to take out the windows, flash-bangs to disorientate them, then the troopers swing in. Four of my men will take out the main door. It should be over in seconds.'
Patsy exhaled through pursed lips. She looked at Hetherington and raised an eyebrow. He nodded, pulled out his mobile phone and tapped out a number. Neither of them had the ultimate authority to approve the storming of the building. Only one man could do that. Hetherington walked to the far end of the office and began talking urgently into the phone. Patsy fingered her crucifix.
Martin turned to Denham. 'They can't go in now,' he said.
'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. Haifa 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.