be a way of him testing the water.’ He sipped his lager. ‘Have you thought about it? Coming back to the cops?’
Shepherd snorted dismissively. ‘And know that every move I made was being second-guessed by box-tickers and accountants? And everything I did could be splashed across the newspapers at any point? I don’t know why anyone would be a cop these days. Wouldn’t want to be in SOCA again either.’
‘Like I said, Hargrove says it’s going to change.’
‘Yeah, well, it’s not up to him, is it? But it’s not just the job, it’s the attitude. If a cop makes a mistake he gets hung out to dry. If you’re in CO19 and you fire your weapon you’re on automatic suspension until the shooting is investigated. And effectively you’re guilty until proven innocent. You make a decision in the heat of the moment because you think it’s the right thing to do, but you’re then judged by pricks who never leave their offices unless it’s to get into the back of a chauffeur-driven car. Five is totally different, Razor. Everything I do is covered by the Official Secrets Act. No newspaper is going to splash my picture across the front page; no MP is going to call for my head because he wants to appease his constituents. Five looks after its own.’
‘Hargrove always had our backs,’ said Sharpe.
Shepherd nodded. ‘Yeah, he’s old school. But he’s just one brick in the wall. Say this operation goes tits up. Say we end up putting a round in one of those guys. Do you think Hargrove will be able to protect us?’
‘You’re not planning on shooting anybody, are you?’ asked Sharpe. He grinned slyly.
‘Just you, you soft bastard.’
‘You think you could take me?’
‘One-handed,’ said Shepherd.
Shepherd was making himself a coffee when his John Whitehill phone rang. He had spent three hours drinking with Sharpe and while he was far from drunk he was still a little light-headed. It was Chaudhry.
‘Hey, Raj, how’re things?’ he said, speaking slightly slower than usual to make sure that he didn’t slur his words.
‘I’ve something to tell you,’ said Chaudhry.
‘Go ahead, I’m all ears,’ said Shepherd, pouring milk into his coffee.
‘Can we meet?’
‘Tonight?’
‘I don’t want to forget anything and I don’t want to write it down,’ said Chaudhry. ‘My memory’s not as good as yours.’
‘You’re a medical student. You have to memorise millions of facts,’ said Shepherd.
‘Which is why there’s no room for anything else,’ said Chaudhry. ‘Look, I just met with Khalid. There’s some stuff you need to know.’
‘I can see you, but I can’t drive,’ said Shepherd.
‘I’ll come to you. I can see you on the Heath.’
‘Two guys on Hampstead Heath at night? Not sure that’s a good idea.’
Chaudhry laughed. ‘Don’t worry, John, you’re not my type. Look, I can cycle over and I’ll be careful. No one’s going to follow me on the bike.’
Shepherd took a sip of his coffee. ‘Okay, come to the east side of the Heath. There’s a petanque pitch there.’
‘A what?’
‘That game where you toss balls.
‘You think someone might be following you?’
‘No, but it’s always a good idea to have a fallback position.’
Shepherd ended the call. He finished his coffee, picked up his coat and a baseball cap off a hook by the door, and headed out.
He spent fifteen minutes strolling around the Heath making sure that he wasn’t being followed. He did get two very nice smiles, one from a sixty-year-old man in a cashmere coat and a trilby, another from a teenager in a black leather motorcycle jacket.
He did a quick walk round the petanque pitch, then sat down on a bench and put on his cap. Chaudhry was on time, pushing his bicycle. He was wearing his duffel coat with the hood up. He leaned the bike against the bench and sat down.
‘Are you okay, Raj?’ asked Shepherd.
‘I’m fine,’ said Chaudhry. He grinned at the baseball cap. ‘You really don’t suit that,’ he said. He pulled his hood down. ‘You’re about ten years too old for it.’
Shepherd took it off. ‘Yeah, I was going to suggest holding a newspaper but as it’s dark I thought that would just look plain silly. So what’s up?’
Chaudhry folded his arms. ‘Khalid wanted me and Harvey to talk to a couple of young guys who are on their way to Pakistan. We had dinner.’
‘Nice,’ said Shepherd.
‘They’re off to a training camp next week. Not the one that we went to, a new one.’
‘Do you know where it is?’
‘Closer to the border, he said. These guys are from the mosque. Khalid has recruited them the way he recruited me and Harvey. He did the same with us, introduced us to a couple of veterans before we went out to Pakistan. Now we’re the veterans.’
‘That’s how it works,’ said Shepherd. ‘Making you all feel part of the process, you against the world. It binds you together.’
‘They’re both students at South Bank University. Sociology, would you believe? One is Lateef Panhwar. The other is his pal, Faisal. Didn’t get his surname. They’re both from Derby, up north. And they’re flying out next Wednesday on PIA.’
‘That’s terrific, Raj. Thanks.’
‘What will you do?’
‘We’ll see if anything’s known about them. Then we’ll arrange to have them followed in Pakistan, and hopefully nail down the location of the training camp.’
‘They’re nutters, John. Serious nutters. They were talking about shooting down planes at Heathrow.’
‘Now that they’re on our radar we’ll be on their case twenty-four seven,’ said Shepherd.
‘So I did good?’
‘You did great, Raj. Really.’
‘What they’re doing is so wrong,’ said Chaudhry. ‘People like Khalid, they’re evil. They’re twisting the Koran to make it sound like we should be killing non-believers and that our religion has to go into battle against all others. You know what jihad means, right?’
‘Struggle,’ said Shepherd.
‘Exactly. Struggle. Yet most of the younger brothers seem to think that it means a crusade. That we have to somehow destroy all other religions. But that’s not what the Koran says.’
‘I think the majority of Muslims understand, don’t they?’
‘The older generation, maybe. But the young ones?’ Chaudhry shook his head. ‘I’m not so sure. The Americans did themselves no favours when they invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. And whoever thought that Guantanamo Bay was a good idea should be taken out and shot. It produced a whole generation of Muslims who really do believe that America is evil.’
‘No argument here,’ said Shepherd. ‘But you’ve got to remember that Afghanistan and Iraq were a reaction to Nine-Eleven.’
‘And Nine-Eleven was a reaction to American support for Israel, everyone forgets that,’ said Chaudhry. He grimaced as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. ‘Bloody hell, now I sound like I’m defending al-Qaeda,’ he said. ‘That’s not what I meant at all.’
‘Understanding someone’s motivation doesn’t mean that you agree with them,’ said Shepherd. ‘But your train of logic is spot on. Al-Qaeda resented what Israel was doing in the Middle East and blamed America for supporting them; al-Qaeda carried out the Nine-Eleven attacks; America retaliated by invading Afghanistan and Iraq. Muslims around the world saw that as an attack on their religion and that initiated all the terrorist attacks we’ve seen since
