Button nodded. ‘I’m afraid there seems to be more to it than that,’ she said. She flipped open the file on the table. Inside were a couple of dozen printed sheets topped by a photograph.
‘We’re all familiar with Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, of course. He detonated a car bomb in central Oslo killing eight people and went on to murder another sixty-nine at a youth camp.’
Shepherd and Hargrove frowned. Button smiled at their confusion. ‘What Operation Excalibur seems to have missed is that three of the men they’ve been looking at met with Breivik just six months before the attacks.’
The colour drained from Hargrove’s face. ‘How could West Midlands Police not know this?’ he said.
‘They’ve been treating it as a purely criminal case,’ said Button. ‘I assume no one there thought of looking at the bigger picture.’
‘But why didn’t a check on Kettering and Thompson throw up the link to the Norwegian?’ asked Hargrove.
‘Because that intel isn’t on the Police National Computer,’ said Button.
‘I know that,’ said Hargrove. ‘I ran the checks myself when we were first approached about the case. I don’t understand this, Charlotte. A British group with links to a Norwegian mass murderer discuss acquiring high-powered weapons and alarm bells don’t start ringing?’
‘Well, they’re ringing now, Sam. Loud and clear.’
‘That’s what you think?’ asked Shepherd. ‘You think this Brummie group is planning some sort of public attack?’
‘All we know is that Kettering and Thompson met with the Norwegian in 2002 and were in email contact with him right up until the attacks. Six months ago Kettering, Thompson and another man flew to Olso and met with him again.’ She flicked through the papers in the file, then tapped one. ‘During interrogation Breivik claimed that he was a member of a new Christian military order. He called it the new
She smiled thinly.
‘How much of this is the fantasy of a deluded mind and how much is a serious terrorist threat has yet to be determined. I don’t think we’ve uncovered anything that suggests a coup or revolution is on the cards. But the link with Breivik is a red flag. A very big red flag.’ She took out a surveillance photograph and slid it across the table to Hargrove. ‘This is the third man from the UK who was at that meeting. Roger McLean. I gather he doesn’t appear on Operation Excalibur’s watch list?’
Hargrove studied the picture and then handed it to Shepherd. McLean was a big man with a shaved head and a St George’s Cross tattooed on his right forearm.
Shepherd shook his head. ‘They’re not looking at him,’ he said.
‘McLean’s been around right-wing groups for more than twenty years. He was initially with the National Front, then switched to the British National Party, then just before he met Breivik he moved to the EDL. In 2003 he went off the grid.’
‘What exactly do you mean by that?’ asked Hargrove.
‘He didn’t attend any party meetings of any of the groups, didn’t go to any demonstrations, disappeared from the electoral roll, isn’t registered with a GP, doesn’t pay tax, doesn’t, so far as we can see, have a bank account. But he does appear to be involved in several right-wing and anti-Islamic websites.’
Button took back the photograph from Shepherd and handed Hargrove a printed screenshot of a website. ‘The Truth About The Muslim Menace’.
‘The nightmare scenario is that we have a group of British citizens who are set to emulate Breivik,’ said Button. ‘We’ve had our psych people run profiles of Kettering and Thompson but we don’t have enough information to decide whether or not they are capable of mounting a suicide attack. But we’re told that they are the type who would go on a killing spree if they thought they had a reasonable chance of getting away with it.’ She sighed. ‘You can imagine the havoc a group with automatic weapons could cause in the city centre. The Bullring alone gets a hundred thousand visitors on an average day. It could all be over in a couple of minutes and the death toll would be horrendous. Hundreds, certainly. That’s before we even start talking about grenades.’
At the mention of grenades Hargrove turned to look at Shepherd, and Shepherd winced inwardly. Hargrove had realised that the intelligence on grenades could only have come from Shepherd.
‘And with it being Birmingham, many of the victims would be Asian and Muslim,’ continued Button. ‘We’ve always considered that the high percentage of Muslims in the community meant that the West Midlands are less likely to suffer a terrorist attack. But the nature of these terrorists changes everything.’
‘We don’t know that they are terrorists,’ said Hargrove. ‘They’re saying that they want the guns for self- protection.’
‘Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?’ said Button. ‘They’re unlikely to go shopping for weapons on the basis that they’re going on a killing spree.’ She took back the website screenshot and slid it into the file. ‘Birmingham is the UK’s second biggest city and if it is in the firing line there are plenty of targets, from the Council House in Victoria Square to tower blocks, department stores, stations, hotels. And, as the city is slap bang in the middle of the country, there are plenty of escape routes. They could go on a killing spree and be on a motorway at seventy miles an hour before the police even get to the scene.’
She shuffled her papers and smiled at Hargrove. ‘I realise that this puts you in something of an awkward position, Sam.’
‘That’s putting it mildly,’ said Hargrove quietly. ‘You’re going to take Operation Excalibur off West Midlands Police and they’re going to blame me.’
‘Actually, that’s not what I was going to suggest,’ said Button. ‘Your agent is in place and Dan here is on attachment to COG so if anything we’d be looking for the operation to be brought under the Met’s jurisdiction. But I don’t think that’s necessary either. Basically we’d like you to continue running your undercover operation but to share any intelligence with us. I’d be happy to do that through Dan, but if you’d rather be the point of contact that would be perfectly acceptable.’
‘And would West Midlands Police be privy to the fact that we’re sharing their intel?’ asked Hargrove.
‘Best not,’ said Button. ‘And frankly whether or not they knew that MI5 had a watching brief is immaterial to the way that they would handle the case.’
Hargrove leaned forward. ‘That’s not strictly speaking true, though, is it? They’re treating it as if it were a straightforward criminal investigation but you believe there are terrorist implications.’
‘If West Midlands Police get a conviction for buying automatic weapons then Kettering, Thompson and the rest will go down for ten years. I think we’d regard that as a successful outcome. We’ll just be monitoring to check that the investigation proceeds smoothly.’
‘And if I’m asked directly whether or not I’m passing intel on to the Security Services? What do I say?’
‘I really don’t see that happening,’ said Button. ‘But that would be one very good reason for using Dan as the conduit.’
‘Plausible deniability,’ said Hargrove.
‘Exactly.’
‘And I’m assuming Ray Fenby doesn’t get told?’
‘I don’t see any reason why he needs to know,’ said Button. ‘But there is one thing that perhaps we’d like to handle a little differently. West Midlands Police are treating this very much as a local crime issue. We would be very interested to see if there’s any overseas connection. In particular, anything connecting Kettering and Thompson and the other members of this Knights Templar group — the German, the Frenchman, the Dutchman and the rest. We’re running an investigation at this end following phone and email traffic, but if we can get Kettering or Thompson to reveal anything, that would be a bonus.’
‘I’ll talk to Ray,’ said Hargrove. ‘But that’s a tough one. Kettering and Thompson aren’t stupid so he won’t be able to push it.’
‘Understood,’ said Button. ‘But if you could perhaps ask him to keep his ears open for any Continental connection it’d be much appreciated.’
Hargrove nodded but he looked uncomfortable.
‘And again, it’s important that Fenby isn’t aware of our interest. I’d rather that stayed between the three of
