Countdown to Terror

Chapter 22

The Gent was standing sipping a coffee, staring out at the traffic circling Russell Square. In the distance could be seen the British Museum, Senate House and Telecom Tower. He was also thinking about the Shard when his mobile rang. It was Spinner.

‘Good morning, old boy. Are you in London yet?’

‘Yes, I’m at the Imperial,’ he replied, emerging from a trance.

‘Excellent. I’ll pop round in an hour, fill you in about Sulamain.’

‘OK, see you then. I’ll be in the lobby.’

After exchanging pleasantries over tea and biscuits, Spinner began. ‘Sulamain came over here from Pakistan with his brother, but rather than join Mansoor in the business he decided to go to university in London. He was bright, and got a first in economics. I initially got to know him in the Politics Society, where he was a fierce debater. When he left, he became a policeman and eventually joined the Met, while I went into the Foreign Office and ended up in MI6. We’d kept in touch from time to time, and when I needed someone with an Asian background, he was perfect. When he retired from the Met and got the job at Harrods that was also very useful. You wouldn’t believe how many foreign villains arrive incognito and then blow it all because they like to shop at Harrods. When we wanted to trace someone, it was easy to request a name-check through their customer database and therefore prove where a person was at a particular time. Caught the odd one out, I’ll tell you, and saved the bacon of a few more.

‘Samir got involved when he was at Birkbeck College, and was disturbed by what a few of his contemporaries appeared to be getting involved in. It was done on an informal basis, relaying odd behaviour or apparent planning of illegal activity, especially of a potentially terrorist nature. This, of course, continued when he went back up to Manchester, although this latest scenario was a bit deeper and now we seem to be in deep shit. We currently have no idea who could have murdered Sulamain, or whether it was connected with the Manchester lot or something else.’

The Gent thought for a moment before responding, ‘That’s very useful, but not too hot on actual detail Jack, have you anything from Monroe?’

‘I’ve not heard from Monroe as yet. Sulamain’s general information passed to us was confirming rises in movements associated with the ‘Shia Crescent’ – that’s a group of Middle East countries where Shia Muslims form a dominant majority. They include Iran, Bahrain and Iraq, and the shape of these countries put together resembles a crescent or half-moon. The large minority Shia hold power in Syria. The phrase ‘Shia Crescent’ was coined by King Abdullah of Jordan after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the coming to power of a Shiite government in Iraq. Currently the Russians support the Shias. Regarding the civil war in Syria, the militant group there, Hezbollah, and Iran support President Assad’s government, whereas the Sunni states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey provide funding and support for the rebels. All this demonstrates that there is great tension between Sunni and Shias spilling over into many other states in the Middle East, and one of the biggest fears is that once the US leaves Iraq, Iran will exert even more influence.’

The Gent was struggling to keep up. ‘It was an exceedingly complex subject. And Sulamain was in on this intelligence, although not actually involved. Isn’t this what your guys in embassies do? Doesn’t seem like enough to get him a knife in the back for his efforts, unless of course you’ve got a leak and he was fingered.’