‘And how many exits are there in total?’
‘On the ground floor there are six. All have the same type of doors and all can be chained shut within seconds.’
There was a constant stream of shoppers entering and leaving the mall. ‘Won’t people try to stop them locking the doors?’ asked Abu al Khayr.
‘This entrance is the busiest,’ said Khalid. ‘We will have a brother wearing a security uniform.’ He grinned. ‘We already have two brothers on the security staff and hope to have more within the next few days. The owners are very keen to demonstrate their commitment to diversity.’
‘They make it so easy,’ said Abu al Khayr.
‘Always,’ said Khalid. ‘They see it as a strength but it is their biggest weakness. And one that we shall take full advantage of.’
They began walking through the mall. It was packed with shoppers and they were constantly being bumped into or having to step aside to avoid strollers and wheelchairs.
‘How many people are here?’ asked Abu al Khayr.
‘On a busy day, more than forty thousand. On a quiet day, maybe half that.’
‘That’s a lot of people,’ said Abu al Khayr. ‘As big as a football stadium.’
‘Exactly,’ said Khalid. ‘And think how many passengers there are on a plane. A few hundred. Here we have tens of thousands of people and not a single check on who comes and goes.’ Three Asian youths in baggy jeans and baseball caps pushed by them, swearing and laughing. ‘Do you think anyone has searched them for a knife?’ asked Khalid. ‘Or a gun?’ He shook his head. ‘There are no checks at all. Not one.’
They reached the halfway point of the mall. Shops branched off to the left and at the end were four double doors that led to more shops outside the main mall. Khalid put his mouth close to Abu al Khayr’s ear. ‘One man could lock the doors and start shooting. In the panic they would have only one way to run.’ He looked up and gestured at the levels above them. From where they were standing they could see shoppers on the first and second floors and beyond them the glass ceiling and the clouds high in the sky. ‘Just look around you. Look at the crowds. Think of them panicking and falling over each other, like stampeding cattle. And from above come the bullets of our brothers.’
Abu al Khayr nodded enthusiastically. Khalid started walking again and Abu al Khayr hurried after him. They walked towards the John Lewis store.
‘This is the most complicated area,’ said Khalid. ‘Ahead there are two double doors that lead to John Lewis. To the left are six doors leading to the outdoor shops, and to the right are six doors leading to Stratford International Station.’ Abu al Khayr looked around. There were shoppers walking in all directions and it was as crowded as a Moroccan souk. ‘You notice how the ground floor of John Lewis is on the other side of the doors?’ said Khalid. ‘Once the mall doors are locked our brothers will be able to exit through the store. They can enter on the first floor, use the internal stairs and leave at ground-floor level. They can do the same at Marks amp; Spencer at the other end.’
‘I understand,’ said Abu al Khayr. ‘They can mingle with the shoppers and escape.’
Khalid heard Arabic voices behind him and he looked over his shoulder. An old man with a long straggly grey beard was admonishing two young boys who could have been his great-grandchildren. Next to him was a woman in a full burka sitting in a wheelchair. All that could be seen were her eyes but from them alone it was clear she was as old as the man. An Arab man in a baggy grey suit was pushing the wheelchair, probably the woman’s son. The man caught Khalid’s glance and he smiled and nodded. Khalid smiled back. He and Abu al Khayr walked away from the Arab family and headed down an escalator to the lower ground level.
There was another exit midway down the mall, at the end of a line of shops leading off a bustling food court. There were three double doors which could be locked with a single padlocked chain.
The final two exits were at the far end of the mall — two double doors leading to the car park and five leading outside to the tube station.
The two men walked outside and sat down on a bench from where they could watch the shoppers pouring into the mall.
‘We will need a minimum of fourteen brothers,’ said Khalid. ‘That will give us one at each entrance. If they simultaneously lock all the doors then no one can get in, or out. But the more brothers we can get the better. I would prefer twenty.’
‘Do we have that many?’
Khalid nodded. ‘We can bring brothers in from Europe. I have spoken to mosques in France and Germany and they have brothers ready and willing to help.’
Abu al Khayr grinned. ‘So we can do it?’
‘We can and we will,’ said Khalid. He took a printed guide to the mall from his shirt pocket and unfolded it. On one side was a floor plan showing the four levels. ‘Getting access could not be easier,’ he said. ‘The brothers can arrive by tube, by train and by car. I suggest all the weapons are brought in by car. There are two car parks, A and B.’ He tapped them on the map. ‘Access to car park B, the bigger of the two, is from the lower ground floor only, here and here. Car park A connects to the mall on the lower ground floor, the ground and the first floor. Brothers arriving from the train and tube can collect their weapons and equipment from the car parks on the lower ground floor, then take up their positions. I think two vehicles, parked close to the entrances to the malls. Then we should have a vehicle in each of the three lower levels of car park A, again as close to the mall entrances as possible. That’s five vehicles and we need two brothers in each, a driver and an organiser. The brothers with the guns must stay hidden in the back. If we can use sisters in the front, that would be better. Just a husband and wife doing their shopping together.’
‘There are sisters we can use, but not many are trained in the use of weapons,’ said Abu al Khayr.
‘No need,’ said Khalid. ‘They only have to be in the vans. In fact they can drive away before the shooting starts.’
‘And the police? What happens when the police arrive?’
Khalid grinned. ‘We will launch the attack at six o’clock,’ he said. ‘Most of the police work during the day. It will take them time to call in reinforcements. The first armed response unit will take at least ten minutes and what can one car do? They will see that the doors are locked and they will have to wait for superior officers to arrive. And in the evening that will take time.’
‘They won’t enter the mall?’
‘Not with the doors locked, and not when they realise there are armed men inside. They are constrained by health and safety rules. All they will do is keep the area clear until they are able to assess the situation. By the time they’ve done that it will all be over.’
‘What about the SAS?’
Khalid shrugged. ‘They are based in Hereford and even if they leave immediately and fly to London in helicopters they will be too late. This won’t be like Mumbai, where the brothers had to move from room to room looking for targets. We will have all the targets here that we need. The only limiting factor will be the amount of ammunition that our brothers can carry.’
‘And how many casualties do you anticipate?’ asked Abu al Khayr.
‘In the first ten minutes I would expect there to be at least a thousand dead and many more injured. If we can continue for half an hour, the total could reach four thousand.’
‘It defies belief,’ said Abu al Khayr.
Khalid chuckled softly. ‘You can believe it, brother,’ he said. ‘Hundreds will die in the first few seconds because no one will have time to react. Then there will be panic but there will be no way out. Most will hide in shops but they will be trapped there. The mall is so crowded that every bullet will find a target. Our brothers can continue to shoot until their ammunition is expended.’
‘And then? What happens then?’
‘Then they leave. This will not be a suicide mission, brother. If carried out properly we will kill thousands and our brothers will escape to kill again.’
Abu al Khayr nodded as he studied the map. ‘Yes,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I can see how it will work.’
‘Inshallah,’ said Khalid. God willing.
Shepherd headed down the road to Hampstead tube station. A vendor was giving away copies of a glossy magazine at the entrance to the station and Shepherd took the opportunity to stop and have a quick look around.
