Countdown to Terror

Chapter 25

 

The Gent woke early and breakfasted in his room, flicking through the Times. There had been no further mention of the Manchester takeaway incident, and neither was there speculation as to whether the Greater Manchester police knew the names of any suspects, and if so why they had not been released to the press.

Regarding international news, all the papers were full of the Syrian army murdering their own people, whether rebels, insurgents or they just happened to be in the way at the time. It was a civil war, and refugee camps were appearing in Lebanon and Turkey. It could be Sunni against Shia. There was also a piece about people abseiling down the Shard building. Rumour had it that Prince Andrew might be having a go.

It was time to call Monroe.

He answered grumpily. ‘Monroe. Ah, good morning, I’ve been meaning to get back to you. I’ve got a bit more news for you, yes. Harrods spokesperson can’t shed any light onto why Sulamain was murdered, but did say that he had been open about him giving names to this travel agent as part of his connection with MI6. Seems they kind of approved. Could be more to it, because if they are dodgy with people and stuff going out, they are likely to be dodgy with people and stuff coming in, if you get my drift.’

‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘All sounds logical when it’s spelt out like that.’

‘The jury’s still out as to when the news of Sulamain’s death should be released to the media, and of course Samir doesn’t know yet either, so we need to have some kind of story next time he makes contact, which he has to do soon. We’re pretty close now as to his whereabouts. There was some kind of fight at the house, but they’d scarpered again before we got there, although we don’t think they went far because we’d been keeping tabs on an old Toyota van that they abandoned a mile away. His last call was from Sainsbury’s, so my guess is that’s where he’ll try from again. We’ve got a couple of men undercover there, but we have got be careful not to blow Samir’s cover.’

‘Yes, I agree. At least we seem to be closing in now, and once we have eyeball I assume you can control the situation.’

Monroe was more circumspect. ‘Well, we could if we knew what exactly they were planning to do. If what was planned was wholesale murder, we obviously could not allow that, but we do need to catch them in the act, so to speak, in order for all charges to stick.’

The Gent interjected, ‘I’ve got a few questions. You’ve not said anything about Sulamain’s mobile, which is presumably what Samir is likely to try calling on again. Is it still working? If not, he’ll be suspicious, and if he calls Sulamain’s home he’ll expect Sulamain to be there. Do you want Harrods to be talking to Samir or what? It would be better, perhaps, if you routed calls from the mobile to a dedicated policemen or agent who Samir would be likely to trust. Do you know whether Samir knew about Jack Spinner, or Harry Farquarson as he was known?

Monroe replied testily, ‘I have been working on all that. I’ve been trying to get a meeting with Jack Spinner, but not having much success right now. Would you like to be included?’

‘Why, yes, of course. Thank you,’

‘OK, I’ll come back to you,’ Monroe said as he rang off.