The Scorpions Nest

The Scorpions Nest. Chapter 4

4. Number 10 Downing Street

London

15.30 GMT/18.00 AFT

Number 10 Downing Street is currently being redecorated, under the guidance of the Prime Minister's wife Melanie Rosewell, heavily security checked workmen in almost white overalls on makeshift scaffolding are slowly painting the inside of the entrance hall, a deep Maroon colour that she believes will breathe warmth into the cold room, but Mrs Rosewell wasn't just decorating to brighten the place up, she was adding her mark to the property, if she was going to be living here, she wanted it to feel like her home, and although there were lots of rooms she is not permitted to redecorate, she sure as hell was going to modify the ones she is.   Down to the right of this grand entrance area is a corridor , bending further right at the end it leads to a set of closed double wooden doors, outside two security agents stand on duty, hands clasped together in front of them and leaning slightly back, they give off a formidable and menacing vibe, one of the house staff wheels a rattling metal tea trolley towards them, as she approaches them she is stopped "Thank you, we will take it from here" one of them says, they stand watching her walk away back down the corridor, when she turns the corner out of sight one of them grabs the trolley as the other one opens the door, he wheels it into the long boardroom leaving his colleague to close the door behind him and continue to keep guard.

"Just stick it over there "yells Gary to the security agent "Thank you" he nods gesturing the security agent back towards the door, a smartly dressed stocky built man Gary Rosewell still looks young for his fifty five years of age, although his neatly cropped hair has some grey flecks in the sides, reassuring you of his maturity, and reassurance is needed when you consider this man makes key decisions in the running of the British Isles.

The room is a hive of activity, people are rushing around desperate to get themselves seated and ready for this emergency meeting, an emergency meeting that most of them were only given an hour’s notice of, some even less. At the head of the table Army intelligence officer Peter Storrie is carrying out a few checks on the connection from his laptop to the projector. Now seated at the table next to the Prime Minister is Doug Chennells head of Army Security, next to him on his left is Aidan Smith an officer from the Elite Royal Protection Squad, The squad is a part of Metropolitan Police's Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department, on the other side of the long wooden table is Brigadier Tom Stevens a high ranking officer in the British Army with over thirty years of service to Queen and country, next to him is Field Marshall Ian Smith a close friend of Stevens and also his commanding officer, all the military personnel are in their uniforms, except for Field Marshall Smith who was at home with his family celebrating the birth of yet another of his grand children, he looked tired and worn out, he also looked uncomfortable in his civvies, much preferring his military uniform to these dress down days with the family.

"Ok I'm ready" says Storrie raising his voice slightly to get the attention of the room, "You are all here because in some way the info I'm about to give you effects you all, there’s no easy way to say this, so I'm going to jump straight in "Doug can you get the lights please, as the lights dim he pushes the space bar on his laptop illuminating the room with his first slide, on the wall at the head of the table a crystal clear image of the map of Afghanistan snaps into focus.

"Approximately 2 hours ago a convoy of lightly armoured Humvees was en-route to Bagram Airfield, when it was attacked by unknown forces, these aggressors were dressed in Afghan Military Uniform, but obviously they aren’t the Afghan Army, could be a breakaway group from the old military, but until we get clarification we will assume they are an unknown terrorist organisation, Their sole aim was to kidnap one of the men in the convoy, this is a mission they succeeded in, this was obviously a well thought out and planned attack, which we think was heavily financed due to the number of enemy troops and their weaponry, casualties were minimal although loss of life was sustained" he shuffled uneasily as he turned back toward them.

"Gentlemen the man they kidnapped was Prince Harry" there were a couple of gasps as his news quickly and suddenly registered with the audience.

"Why wasn’t I informed?" questions Smith as he jumps up.

"You’re being informed now" retorts Storrie.

"This happened two hours ago, why wasn’t I informed then?"

"Because we don’t give information like this out over the phone, this isn't a pissing game of who is more important than the other, this is about the life of one of our monarchy, we need to collaborate and work together, look they had inside info on what Harrys movements were, one of the lower ranking officers there phoned an Afghan cell phone number about twenty minutes after the convoy left, we monitor all phone calls in and out of the base when we are about to do any sort of exercise in the field, it's a matter of precaution, when quizzed on it he shot and killed two men before being gunned down trying to drive out the base. Checks are being made into his friends and contacts in and outside the army, there are only a few other people that could of known he was going this morning; let's start by getting a list of them."

"Leave that to me" Stevens says jotting something down on his notepad, "I'll have that info within the hour."

"Also we need a list of the names of everyone in the convoy whether they knew why they were heading to Bagram or not, they will all need to be questioned and their backgrounds checked."

"I'll get that info as well" Stevens now writing frantically.

"Have there been any contact from the kidnappers" Rosewell blurts, still coming to terms with what's happened, realising this looks bad on him, the Army and the other security forces.

"Nope not yet, but its early days yet, you will all be kept informed, I suggest you cancel all appointments for the next couple of days gentlemen, this can't be allowed to ride out"

Ian Smith interjects in the conversation "If it happened two hours ago, what's happening now?"

"We have choppers heading there to survey the area, but fear they have already gone to ground, we have estimated the area they are in to be..." he pushes the space bar again "within here given the top speed of the vehicles" he points to a new slide covering an area of ninety miles

"That's a lot of area to search"

"It is, but we realistically think they are here" he points to a mountainous range near to where the convoy was attacked "there is a lot of open space around here and we don't think they would chance driving across it where we could follow with choppers, so this is where we will concentrate our search."

"I agree what's our next step then, we can't afford to sit still on this for a minute."

"You’re right we can't, which is why we think the best option is to send in a team of professionals to find and extract him, we don't want to spook them with helicopters and hundreds of soldiers, because if you back these people into a corner they might kill him."

Stevens sitting there listening sees his chance to help the situation "I can have a team ready in a few hours, I'll get hold of  Colonel McCartney the acting chief of the general staff, he has some good men working for him and he will be able to get a team together in no time I'm sure of it."

“OK if we are all in agreement" looks around the room at the nodding faces looking for any sign of someone with a better plan, nothing “Yep? Right, Tom can you act on this now please, time is of the essence."