First Response Read Online Free PDF Page B

dies.’
    ‘Bastards,’ said Windle. ‘It’s kids in there.’
    ‘Since when have they cared about kids, or women?’ said Kamran. ‘They see all Westerners as valid targets. Now, how are you doing resources-wise?’
    ‘We’re running low on ARVs,’ said Windle. ‘We’ve got all three kit cars tied up already. I’ve put a call out to get any off-duty SFOs to come in, but that’ll take time.’
    The two constables who had been checking the nursery walked back to their car. ‘That’s a good picture. Where’s it coming from?’ asked Kamran.
    ‘Local authority,’ said Windle. ‘The parents were causing problems when they were parking so the council set it up to fine them. It’s not quite a live feed, there’s a delay of about two seconds, but that’s good enough.’
    ‘Can we access the stored video?’
    ‘I don’t see why not.’
    ‘I’ll get Joe on the case, see if he can get us a shot of the bomber arriving.’
    ‘What’s happening on the negotiation front?’ asked Windle.
    ‘Nothing so far,’ said Kamran. ‘To be honest, it’s all happened so quickly we don’t have any negotiating teams in situ yet. All their demands are coming through social media.’
    ‘And what do you think?’ asked Windle. ‘They can’t release the ISIS prisoners, can they?’
    ‘I don’t see how they can, but that decision is going to be taken at a much higher pay grade than mine,’ said Kamran. He raised his coffee cup in salute and headed back to the Gold Command suite.
    Inspector Adams intercepted him. ‘I’m going to need more people,’ he said.
    ‘Specifically?’
    ‘I’ve got two support staff monitoring social media and a third collating and passing positive intel to Sergeant Lumley. But they’re already overwhelmed.’
    ‘Bring in what you need, Ian.’
    ‘I think I’m going to need another three at least. At the moment there are hundreds of tweets a minute using hashtag ISIS6. Unfortunately a lot of it is just noise. Also, I want to get someone identifying the hostages – ideally get names and addresses and contact numbers. That’s going to take manpower.’
    ‘All good, Ian. I don’t think anyone is going to be worrying about the overtime bill on this one.’
    ‘And just to let you know, we’re having problems on the negotiator front. I’m now calling in officers on days off and most of them don’t have their phones on.’
    Kamran smiled ruefully. Even the keenest of police officers didn’t like having to work their days off so preferred to switch off their phones rather than being put on the spot. He had to admit to pulling the same stroke himself from time to time. ‘Put in calls to neighbouring forces, see if we can borrow from them if necessary.’
    The inspector nodded and hurried back to his pod. Kamran managed to get back to the Gold Command suite without further interruption and found Lumley talking to a stocky man in his early thirties, casually dressed in a black North Face fleece and blue jeans. His hair was cut short and he had a tan that was starting to peel around his nose. ‘This is Captain Murray,’ said Lumley. ‘SAS.’
    ‘Welcome aboard, Captain,’ said Kamran.
    ‘Call me Alex,’ said Murray, shaking hands with the superintendent. ‘Anything we can do to help, you just have to ask.’ He had a firm grip and the policeman noticed that his nails were bitten to the quick.
    ‘The SAS has a number of men embedded with the various firearms units, right?’ said the superintendent.
    ‘Across London, yes. A dozen or so at any one time.’
    ‘Can we get them to the various locations, especially any snipers you have? If you liaise with Marty Windle, he’s our tactical firearms commander. And they’re to report to the Silver officer at each scene, answerable to them.’
    ‘Understood,’ said Murray. ‘We’ve also got a Chinook flying in from Hereford as we speak with a counter-terrorism team on board. Eight men in all. They’ll be arriving at the Wellington