there’s been some mistake because there hasn’t been an attack.’
‘What are you talking about? What were the explosions and all the shooting, then?’
Riz raised his eyebrows at Arley. Whatever was happening in there, it was clear Wolf wasn’t at the cutting edge of it. ‘I don’t know, but my understanding is that two members of the SAS were watching the rear of the hotel when some of your operatives opened fire on them. They then immediately retreated.’
‘Bullshit. That can’t be right. They were attacking us.’ But there was the first hint of doubt in his voice.
‘It wasn’t an attack, Wolf,’ said Riz, the calmness in his own voice a clear contrast to the terrorist’s. ‘I can promise you that. We genuinely want to negotiate.’
‘Your men shouldn’t have been round the back of here anyway. What were they doing there?’
‘They were simply keeping an eye on things.’
‘Tell them to stay away. Do you understand that? If we see any more of them again, we kill ten hostages.’
The line went dead, and Riz Mohammed took a deep breath. ‘Bloody hell, that was close. He’s not happy.’
‘It could have been one hell of a lot worse,’ murmured Arley.
‘So, who’s this contact of yours?’ asked John Cheney, frowning as he posed the question everyone in the room wanted an answer to.
They all looked at her.
‘I can’t talk about it right now,’ she said dismissively. ‘It’s classified.’
‘That’s ridiculous,’ complained Cheney.
Arley gave him a look that cut him dead. ‘That’s the way it is. No more discussion.’
But even as she spoke the words, she knew she was on the verge of being found out.
Eighty-one
‘WHAT’S HAPPENING?’ ASKED Ethan, his face etched with fear, as he sat on the bed next to his mother.
‘It’s all right,’ Scope told him, putting a protective arm round his shoulder as the last of the explosions and gunfire from down below faded away. ‘We’re safe here.’
‘What about Mom?’
‘Your mum’s going to be all right too.’
But as they looked down at her, Scope wasn’t at all sure he was right. It had been five minutes since he’d roused her and injected the insulin. He’d managed to get her to take a few sips from a Lucozade bottle he’d found in the minibar, but she’d almost immediately thrown it up, and she was barely conscious. She needed proper medical treatment urgently, and as long as they were trapped in here, she wasn’t going to get it.
He looked over at the TV, wondering what on earth all the fighting had signified. If it was an assault by the SAS, there was no sign of them yet. If they were coming, they were taking their time.
The TV was showing the front of the hotel, as it had done through most of the evening, and the rolling headline at the bottom of the screen said that explosions and gunfire had been heard inside.
Tell me something I don’t know, he thought.
Another rolling headline appeared: UNOFFICIAL SOURCE SAYS SAS STAGING A HOSTAGE RESCUE AND MEETING STIFF RESISTANCE.
‘Are the cops coming now?’ asked Ethan, pushing up closer to Scope for protection. ‘Is that them doing all that shooting downstairs?’
‘It looks like it.’
‘So will they be here soon to help Mom?’
‘Shit,’ Scope said aloud before he could stop himself. A third headline was now rolling along the bottom of the screen: UNOFFICIAL SOURCE SAYS NO ASSAULT TAKING PLACE, NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUING.
This was bad. More than that, it was almost unheard of. There’d definitely been some kind of attack, but it seemed it had been abandoned, which put him, Ethan, and especially Abby in a dangerous position.
‘Why are you saying bad words?’ asked Ethan. ‘What’s going on?’
Scope did something that had always served him well in his military career. He made a big decision under adverse circumstances.
‘We’re getting out of here,’ he said. ‘Right now.’
Eighty-two
‘WHAT THE HELL happened?’ demanded Fox as he and Bear came together at the top of the central staircase, a few yards from the ballroom door. ‘We didn’t get any of them.’
‘I saw them come in,’ said Bear breathlessly. ‘There were loads of them. I kept my head down and counted to twenty, then blew the thing. Just like you said.’
‘Well, it didn’t work.’
‘They must have been pulled back. If they’d been within twenty yards of that bomb, they’d have been blown to pieces. Are you sure none of them were killed?’
‘Well, there aren’t any bodies out there,’ snapped Fox. ‘Come on, we’d better give Wolf the good news.’
As they went through the doors, Fox could see that the hostages were looking extremely agitated, the noise of the attempted ambush having clearly spooked them, while both Wolf and Cat kept watch on them, weapons at the ready.
Hearing their return, Wolf stepped back, still keeping his gun trained on the hostages, until he was level with Fox and Bear. He looked furious. ‘I called the negotiator. He says there was no attack.’
‘There was. At least one person fired at me. And they threw a stun grenade.’
‘Someone fired at me as well,’ added Bear.
‘Did you get any of them?’
Fox shook his head. ‘No. They were definitely ordered back.’
‘So someone told them about our ambush. Your plan failed, Fox. You’ve made us look like fools.’
‘No, I haven’t. They came in. We fired at them. They left. Which meant it was a victory to us.’
‘But you didn’t kill any of them.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Fox, who was beginning to get heartily sick of Wolf. ‘The point is, we’re still in control, and holding the military at bay. All we have to do is keep this up for another three quarters of an hour and then the hotel goes up in flames and we make our escape. Just as we’ve always planned. We can still say we repulsed their attack. It’s still a victory.’
‘Except we didn’t humiliate them. That’s what we always wanted. To make the great SAS look like amateurs.’
Fox noticed Bear bristling as Wolf said this. For all his anger with the government and the establishment, Bear was still a patriot at heart, a man who’d been disfigured for life fighting on behalf of his country, and he didn’t like the British Army being disrespected. Fox didn’t either, but he was sensible enough not to react and he needed to make sure that his old army buddy kept his cool as well. ‘I think they’ve been pretty badly humiliated already,’ he said, meeting Wolf’s hard stare with a far harder one of his own. ‘And right now, it’s the best you’re going to get.’
Wolf grunted. ‘All right. You and Bear watch the hostages. I need to speak to the negotiator again.’ He turned away, motioning for Cat to follow, while Fox and Bear took up positions standing twenty feet apart.
‘Can you tell us what’s going on?’ one of the younger female hostages asked Fox. ‘Please.’ She fixed him with a vulnerable, doe-eyed gaze.
‘No,’ said Fox, loud enough for the whole group to hear. He pointed his AK-47 at the girl, and made a play of putting his finger on the trigger. She immediately looked away while Fox scanned the rest of the hostages, knowing
