‘Spider?’ asked Button.
‘It’s okay,’ he said.
Button nodded and looked at the commander. ‘Stand your men down,’ she said. ‘We won’t be shooting anyone today.’
The commander scowled at Button as if he thought she’d made the wrong decision, but he relayed the order to his team.
Button looked back at Shepherd and he could see the apprehension in her eyes. He knew exactly what she was thinking. If he was wrong both their lives were about to change for ever. And a lot of people were going to die.
Chaudhry and Malik walked together towards the Eurostar departure area. A train had just arrived and passengers were pouring out of the arrivals hall.
‘What’s going to happen?’ asked Malik.
‘I don’t know,’ said Chaudhry.
‘Are we going to France? Are we doing something on the Eurostar?’
‘We can’t, we don’t have our passports.’
‘So why are we here?’
‘I don’t know, Harvey. Now just shut up, will you?’ Malik flinched as if he’d been struck and Chaudhry felt suddenly guilty. ‘I’m sorry,’ whispered Chaudhry. ‘I don’t know what’s going on. But it’s not about bombs, I’m sure about that.’
‘So what, then?’
‘Wait and we’ll find out.’
A fearful look flashed across Malik’s face. ‘Raj, what if it’s radioactive? What if there’s plutonium or something in the packs? It could be killing us now without us knowing.’
‘No one is going to kill us, Harvey. Remember what The Sheik said to us? We are Islamic warriors. Mujahideen. We are to fight and fight again, remember? We were never meant to be shahid. Only the stupid and ignorant kill themselves. That’s not us.’
‘So why won’t they tell us what’s happening? Have a look at the phone, will you? Check it’s working.’
Chaudhry took the phone Harith had given him out of his pocket. He showed the screen to Malik. ‘See? When they call, it’ll ring.’
‘Yeah? And maybe the phone is the trigger. Maybe when it rings the packs will explode or spew anthrax into the air.’
‘Harvey, will you look at the bloody phone? It’s a phone, full stop. It’s not connected to anything. It’s not a detonator. Okay?’
Malik shuddered. ‘I can’t take this much longer, brother. It’s doing my head in, innit?’
Chaudhry wasn’t listening to his friend. He was scanning the area, his eyes narrowed. ‘It’s a rehearsal,’ he said quietly.
‘What?’
‘A dry run.’ He gestured with his chin. ‘Take a look around, Harvey.’
Malik looked to his left. He saw two young Asians standing by a coffee shop. They both had backpacks similar to the ones that he and Chaudhry were carrying. Then he looked over at the entrance to the tube station just as two more Asians walked out. He saw they also had backpacks. Timberland backpacks. ‘Are they with us?’ asked Malik. ‘I don’t recognise them.’
‘You don’t recognise them because they’re not from our mosque,’ said Chaudhry. ‘Khalid has been recruiting from all over London. Maybe the country.’
The two Asians who had come out of the tube station were deep in conversation. One of them was holding a mobile phone.
‘I don’t understand, brother. What are you saying?’
‘Nothing’s going to happen today. If it was going to happen it would have happened already.’
‘You mean it’s a test, right?’
‘I think so,’ said Chaudhry. ‘They wanted to check that we’d do as we’re told.’
As two more Asians walked from the direction of the Pancras Road taxi rank, Chaudhry’s mobile rang and he jumped. The caller had withheld his number. Chaudhry took the call.
‘Well done, brother,’ said Khalid. ‘You can make your own way home now. Someone will call to collect the backpacks and the phone. Allahu akbar.’ Khalid ended the call.
Chaudhry took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. ‘We go home,’ he said to Malik.
‘It’s over?’
‘If anything it’s just beginning,’ said Chaudhry
‘They’re walking towards the exit,’ said Button. ‘Did you see that? He took a call on his mobile and now they’re heading towards the Midland Road taxi rank.’
‘Some of them are walking towards the tube,’ said the commander. ‘Maybe it’s the tube they’re after.’
‘No, they’re all leaving,’ said Shepherd. He pointed at another CCTV feed. Two Asians with backpacks were walking towards the Euston Road exit. ‘And here, look.’ A tall Asian was walking slowly to the Pancras Road exit, while a fat Asian hurried after him. Both were carrying backpacks.
‘He’s right,’ said Button. ‘They all got phone calls and they’re all leaving. It was a dry run. A rehearsal.’ Button patted Shepherd on the shoulder. ‘Well done, Spider. You called it right.’
‘And if I hadn’t, Charlie? What then? Would have you killed them all?’
‘If I was convinced that they were carrying bombs, and if I was convinced that they were going to use them, then of course.’
Shepherd nodded slowly but didn’t say anything.
Shepherd was just about to put the key into the lock of his front door when his John Whitehill phone rang. It was Chaudhry.
‘John, it’s okay,’ he said. ‘Were you watching? It was a test. It was just a test.’ His words were coming out so quickly that they were running into each other. ‘We were scared shitless, I can tell you. Harvey thought they were going to use anthrax or something. Then Khalid called and said we were to go home.’
‘I know,’ said Shepherd. ‘Just give me a minute.’ He let himself into the flat and closed the door behind him before switching off the burglar alarm. ‘Where are you?’
‘Home,’ said Chaudhry.
‘Is Harvey with you?’
‘We’re both here. It was a dry run. A rehearsal.’
‘I know,’ said Shepherd again. ‘We were watching you. I told you, MI5 has professionals. They watched you all the way from Stoke Newington and we had you on CCTV at the station.’
‘Did you see the others? There were other brothers there.’
‘We saw them,’ said Shepherd. ‘Did you recognise them?’
‘Just one of them. The one who was driving the van we were in. Harvey had played football with him. But they all had the same backpacks. So you think we’re going to attack the station? Is that what it was about? Next time they’ll give us guns?’
‘I don’t know, Raj. It’s possible. Did they say anything to you?’
‘They just told us to go home and that they’d talk to us soon. Someone is going to collect the bags and the phone.’
‘I’ll arrange a tail,’ said Shepherd.
‘Do you think I should open the backpack, see what’s inside?’
‘Best not,’ said Shepherd. ‘It might be part of the test.’
‘So what do we do?’
‘We wait and see what happens next,’ said Shepherd. ‘And well done, you handled yourself brilliantly. Tell Harvey from me, you guys did a great job.’
‘I just did what they said. I don’t know what I would have done if they’d given me a gun.’
‘Let’s meet tomorrow and we’ll talk it through,’ said Shepherd. ‘And well done with the hood.’
‘The hood?’
‘Letting me know that everything was okay by leaving your hood up.’
