Countdown to Terror

Chapter 12

The next morning he realised he’d had his mobile switched off in an effort to get some sleep after the day before. Switching it back on, there was a text from Bill Lambert: “There’s been an incident in Manchester – could be your man. Do you know anything? News blackout until June 6th, then all will blow.”

Bloody hell! He thought. He’d advised Bill that it would be wise to keep tabs on Samir. As usual, he paced and pondered in his conservatory. Bloody police spin. What on earth is an “incident” anyway?

He decided to call Jenny for an update on Samir. She answered her mobile immediately, knowing who it was from the display. ‘Hello, how are you? Back from your travels then? How did it go?’

There was no time for niceties. ‘Oh, fine excellent thanks. I’ll tell you all about it later. There’s been some kind of incident in Manchester. Have you seen Samir lately?’

Jenny started to sound nervous, ‘No, I’ve not seen him for over a week now, and he’s not responding to calls, texts or emails. Oh, my God! What’s happened? What kind of incident?’

He tried to sound reassuring. ‘I don’t know at this stage, but it must be big, because there’s a news blackout until June 6th, so where that leaves the British Museum situation, I haven’t a clue. But it’s certainly a good job you’ve been seeing less of him, although at the moment we don’t know what it is or whether Samir is involved. Let me see if I can find out and I’ll come back to you, otherwise we can talk some more on the 6th.’after he put the phone down, he continued to ponder. If the group had gone missing and Jenny could not get hold of Samir, then he must be involved somehow, he thought, but what was the incident and how was he involved? The Gent was rarely wrong about a person’s basic character, and he still didn’t have Samir down as a wrong ’un – a bit of a playboy, certainly, but a terrorist? It was now half past two on Monday 4th June, and they had until Wednesday 6th – or more precisely midnight on the 5th. The newshounds would pick it up immediately and

Someone would leak it straightaway. The fifteen-minute news TV channels would start it off as breaking news, the TV breakfast news channels would be getting policemen, politicians and any old pundit out of bed to appear. All radio stations would be onto it: it might even make some morning newspaper editions. He made some calls, but nothing! Apart from one who had merely confirmed the PR-speak in Bill’s text? He would have to go back to Bill Lambert, who would certainly know more by now.

The Gent was not part of the police or any recognised organisation or agency of any kind. His was a parallel world of shadowy networks who sometimes – or often not – gave each other snippets of information, and if one had enough snippets and the intellect to process them, one could reach a conclusion infinitely more probable than a mere hunch, as favoured by popular TV sleuths.

Lambert answered his mobile immediately.

‘How are things, Bill? I got your text, thanks, but can you bring me up to date? I’m aware that ‘whoever’ has gone to ground, but are you at liberty to let me know exactly what happened?’

Lambert was cautious. ‘I’ve got be very careful. Your original info appears to be correct re: potential terrorists. Can you let me know where you got it from?’

The Gent was equally guarded. ‘Let’s just say it came from a girlfriend of said potential perp.’

 ‘Well, from my investigations so far into the young man’s lifestyle that could amount to half the rich babes in South Manchester, but fair enough, it’s going to be all over the news in a day and a half. It seems a young girl of mixed race supposedly in care got involved with an Asian grooming and trafficking gang operating from a takeaway shop. The father found out and was in bits and burst into the local mosque just as the group were in a motivational session. They immediately set off in vigilante mode, but by all accounts it turned into something more like Genghis Khan. The father’s calling it the Sword of Allah, so you had better be prepared for the headlines.’