by Alan G Boyes
“That police 4x4 is travelling along the road again. See him? He seems to turn up at any time, I can’t detect a particular schedule” remarked Khan, an observation already made by Fadyar the previous day.
“Yes, he does, and that adds a slight level of uncertainty. He looks local police but must have been given a special patrol. I cannot believe the British have so many officers they can afford for one of them to travel up and down this road several times each day without good reason.”
59
At about the same time as Fadyar was enjoying the scenery, Detective Chief Superintendent Bill Ritson was handed a sealed white envelope by the Intelligence Services liaison officer. Ritson slit it open and read the deciphered message. It was the breakthrough he so desperately needed.
case log: 003487AL87 decodmsg: 567-32459(FR)-STxy 140906-08.38
Mother and Father in Law will visit UK 12 to 22 September. They will be looked after by friends, but hope to meet up with you. You should have enough funds in your London account for your expenses. Your three cousins in Birmingham may also wish to see them, phone 0701502488 on arrival. Good luck. NH
Ritson immediately went to the photocopier and obtained six copies of the message. One he would retain, one he would pass to each of his three most able subordinates, one for Deputy Commissioner Manders and one for the Commissioner himself. The adrenalin rushed through his body, a potent mix of alarm and excitement. Alarm because of the dates mentioned, but excitement at finally obtaining the deciphered message that surely was evidence of some sort of plot. He briefed his three officers.
“I want every aspect of this message investigated. Who are Mother and Father in Law? Who is on a visit to the UK? I want us to check again the names of all VIP’s, dates, where they are staying, why they are over here, and so on – even second or third rate celebrities. Searching the CCTV footage of Birmingham for the day the Masri woman arrived in the UK could be a problem but see what you can do. Start by tracing that phone number. See also if we have anyone known by initials NH.”
Kingsley, the MI5 liaison officer who had first brought Ritson the deciphered message, spoke, “You could read the message that one group is meeting up with another and that this message is not in itself anything to do with a plot, or at least only indirectly.”
Kingsley was sharp, and it was a pertinent observation. Ritson thought on it for a few moments before saying, “I agree, it could be, but we can’t afford to assume that until our enquiries prove negative. My bet is we are onto something big here, so let’s get going!”
Once more, the ATU office became a site of almost constant activity. People hurried across the floor to confer with others, whilst colleagues were busy either dialling telephones or checking computer screens. What needed to be done now was routine, albeit highly labour intensive, but it did not require the specialist skills of Dongle who was still busily engaged on searching through obscure databases and old computer records. Ritson’s briefing had therefore been relayed to those other officers trained at using the basic software that traced telephone numbers or suggested alternate numbers where the target number was unknown or falsified. It was the same for obtaining lists of VIP’s in the country. All his officers had clearance to view those screens so Dongle’s special skills were deployed on what was thought most appropriate to the furtherance of the investigation.
Ritson spent the afternoon going round all the persons in his team, one by one, encouraging them, urging them to find out more about the message. He had personally studied the computer printouts that listed all known VIP’s, politicians, sports stars, Hollywood actors and actresses, and other notable visitors who were likely to be in the UK. None particularly caught his eye. There was a concert by Madonna in London in a couple of days, a new film starring George Clooney was opening in the West End for which the lead actor was over to help publicise it, and a couple of minor European Union delegations were discussing nothing of major importance all week at a Five Star luxury hotel in the centre of London. There was simply no one on the list that he considered merited a deeply disguised and organised terrorist attack.
“Try for events. See if there are any major events coming up” Ritson asked, desperate to find the reason for the plot. He was certain there was a threat, any doubts now dispelled by the decoded message. Innocent people do not write such messages in code.
A little while later, he read the new listing. His eyes went down each of the hundreds of so-called major events occurring during the next week but, again, none stood out. Dismayed, Ritson went over to the next officer to see what he was doing.
“The message is clearly about a meeting. Are there any known suspects recently arrived in the UK? Kingsley suggested that maybe the buggers are all meeting up somewhere to discuss their next atrocity.”
“I don’t think so, Sir. There would have been increased communications traffic and Morwenstow and GCHQ would have picked that up. Also, there are no security reports of movements to the UK of known suspects.”
Ritson was becoming exasperated.
“There has to be something. What about the phone number?”
“The phone number doesn’t make any kind of sense, Sir. The message was encoded. The phone number was also in code originally so now ought to be kosher, but it clearly isn’t. We have the computers working on it, but every time the computer changes the numbers, or suggests alternatives, we come up negative or with a perfectly legitimate number. The computer is even adding and subtracting digits to try and make a proper phone number that we can then trace but that takes a hell of a long time and so far everything we’ve tried has gone belly-up.”
Ritson patted him on the shoulder, “Well, keep at it. Thanks.”
At 5pm, whilst his team were busy, Ritson went to see Manders and handed him the copied message and excitedly relayed the news.
“Go over this entire case again, Bill, slowly. Just the salient facts but try to get them all in some sort of chronological order.”
Ritson spent the next half hour briefing his superior. He mentioned Crossland, the bank account, Styles and his suspicious death. He spoke of Masri, Chalthoum and Hasan as being the same person – referring to her afterwards only as Masri – stressing the conclusiveness of Dongle’s statements regarding her computer. He linked Styles and the bank to Masri, the visits of Masri to Britain and the money withdrawals. He briefed Manders on the French police investigations and findings; the mobile phone sudden disuse and the concealed trail of ownership of the French flat and its selective cleaning. At the conclusion of the resumé, Manders was more than satisfied.
“That’s great Bill, really good job. I will ask for an emergency meeting of JTAC. We have such little time now if that decoded message is to be believed. We need to be putting more things in place. As head of the ATU, I am going to make a decision I may well regret, but something is going down and we must do what we can to be prepared. As it could be anywhere, notify all our regions of an imminent threat, level one, and to have as many ATU trained personnel on standby as they can muster.”
“Sir, you could lose your job if this is a false alarm, but you can count on my support if it comes to that.” Ritson knew that Manders was going out on a limb by issuing the order in advance of any instructions from the JTAC but was prepared to stand alongside him.
“Thanks, Bill. I appreciate that. If something happens tomorrow and we haven’t issued an alert – what then? Do we tell the public we were having a JTAC meeting to debate it? I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, but I won’t drag the commissioner into it.”
Ritson nodded and half smiled before rejoining his team. The officers worked on until 10pm in the desperate hope of tracing something that would crack the case wide open, but to no avail. The tired team headed home, their heads held low. They made no conversation as they left the office. They alone knew that time was running out and they had no idea what was going to be attacked or where, but they knew that they were the only persons likely to be able to stop it.
The members of the JTAC had received formal notification of the following day’s emergency meeting at 6pm, the same time as Manders issued his Level 1 notice. As a precaution, the Home Secretary, Cabinet office and members of the Joint Intelligence Committee were placed on warning and notified of the following day’s unscheduled meeting of the JTAC.
The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, or JTAC, was created as the UK’s centre for the analysis and assessment of international terrorism in June 2003. It is situated in a Grade II listed building at the corner of Millbank and Horseferry Road in central London, known as Thames House. The Secret Intelligence Service’s distinctive ziggurat building at Vauxhall Cross, which is often mistaken for the Security Service’s headquarters, is located on the other side of the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge. JTAC analyses and assesses all intelligence relating to international terrorism, at home and overseas. It sets threat levels, and issues warnings of perceived threats and other terrorist-related matters, for a wide range of government departments and agencies, as well as producing in-depth reports on trends, terrorist networks and capabilities. JTAC brings together counter-terrorist expertise from the police, key government departments and the various intelligence agencies. Collaborating in this way ensures that information is analysed and processed on a shared basis, with the involvement and consensus of all relevant departments. Existing departmental roles and responsibilities are unaffected.
The head of JTAC is accountable to the Director General of the Security Service, who in turn reports to the Government’s Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) on JTAC’s activities. JTAC had already received a routine – and very cursory – report on the possible Masri plot, but as the evidence had been sketchy it was never discussed in detail. As JTAC worked especially closely with the International Counter Terrorism (ATU) branch, headed by Manders, in assessing the nature and extent of the threat to the UK, the JTAC had hitherto been content to leave him to continue with his enquiries.
Effective command and control is essential to successfully manage an actual counter-terrorist incident and the UK’s approach to emergency response and recovery is founded on a bottom-up approach in which operations and decisions are made at the lowest appropriate level. In the event of a terrorist incident occurring, the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) is responsible for activating and coordinating the Home Office response. The OSCT provides a crisis response twenty-four hours a day, 365 days of the year and liaises with the Cabinet Office as to whether to activate central government’s crisis management arrangements in the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR). The aim of COBR, or COBRA as it is more commonly referred to, as meetings are often held in Cabinet Room A, is to provide effective decision-making and rapid coordination of the central government response. The Home Secretary usually chairs COBR meetings, but confusingly COBR also has its own threat assessment levels that grade the severity of the actual attack as opposed to the perceived (JTAC) one. The lowest level of this assessment is one with three being an attack that might threaten national disaster such as that on a nuclear installation. The Prime Minister would almost certainly chair a Level Three incident. It is not until the attack has happened that COBR can accurately assess its likely impact, which is why the early warning (JTAC) system was introduced, and why devolved decision making and initial command and control procedures are in place to initiate a prompt and effective initial response.
60
Donaldson was finding his all-terrain vehicle very much to his liking as he drove towards Loch Arkaig. The vehicle handled the twisting, narrow road with ease and the elevated driving position enabled him to have an excellent view over the tops of the small, but steep, undulations in the road. It was very early morning and without too much effort he had again been able to get close to Mealag Lodge and study the layout of the chalets and other buildings. In fact, the relative ease with which he had been able to operate unnoticed as he followed the perimeter fence caused him to regard the security guards with disdain and contempt. He and a group of his friends from Africa would have no difficulty in completely capturing the lodge and all its occupants, police or no police. Despite his disregard for those charged with protecting Mealag and those within it, Donaldson maintained his thoroughness and professionalism. He wanted to know all he could about the lodge layout, possible ways in, and – more importantly – ways out, so he sketched the location of the buildings and known pathways onto a note pad for reference later. The lodge itself had seemed deserted and he thought it was eerily quiet, until he heard a branch snap about eighty metres directly across from where he was crouched adjacent to the swimming pool flank wall. The sharp noise came from the other side of the pathway that led from the jetty to the lodge and he slowly raised his field glasses to study the forest opposite. As he did so, the merest flick of light reflected back from the lenses and was seen by Fadyar. She quickly dived low and lay perfectly still, cursing that she had carelessly walked onto a dead branch causing it to break loudly. Donaldson saw nothing and within a few minutes he made his way slowly back along the track to the Ford. Feeling far less conspicuous in the 4x4 he spent the next few hours driving along numerous rutted forest roads and tracks in the hope of finding other ways into Mealag but to no avail. He revisited the lodge once again in early afternoon in the hope that Cindy might have returned, but it was still silent so, disappointed, he resolved to try again the next day. He had not planned that killing her would necessitate several days of preparation and he was also acutely aware that this job was significantly more difficult than he had ever envisaged. He had no idea for how long Cindy Crossland would be remaining in Scotland, and as his employer had stressed the urgency of the assignment Donaldson felt honour bound to carry out his task here in the Highlands though he recognised that this was considerably more dangerous for him. He needed therefore to be really careful, not to rush, but also not to delay. Very reluctantly, he was also beginning to contemplate that only assassination might be achievable, his other pleasures may have to be foregone. That really annoyed and frustrated him, and when angry he was doubly dangerous.
* * *
It was seven in the evening when Chief Inspector Keith Maythorp had his evening meal interrupted by a call from the duty officer at the Fort William constabulary. His wife took the call initially and a very apologetic constable asked to speak to her husband on a matter of some urgency. It was typical of the calls she had grown accustomed to taking throughout most of her marriage. Fortunately their number was far less now than it had been in the early years, when her husband had worked at Glasgow and Leeds, and she was grateful for that, but she also knew that a call from Fort William, out of hours, was always serious. For that reason she immediately called Maythorp to the phone and went to get his coat.
“Aye, you’re right, dear” Maythorp said as he put down the receiver, “probably two hours, three at the latest.”
He then made two phone calls. Both were to his Area Inspectors, John Curry and Colin MacRae, whom he met in his office an hour later to discuss the implications of the issuing a new Level 1 threat assessment. The procedures that Maythorp and his two subordinates had to follow were well documented, and the sites at which he was required to deploy additional security measures had been identified long ago. Although Maythorp, Curry and MacRae were familiar with the procedures, Maythorp insisted they each read again their copies. Having done so, he turned to them and spoke.
“The threat assessment level is now at one – Critical. An attack somewhere in the UK, as yet unknown, is imminent but it is important to stress it has not yet happened. For that reason neither OSCT nor COBR are yet operational. This is still only an assessment by JTAC which may be revised by the Joint Intelligence Committee. For that reason it is vital that all your men are briefed, know precisely what they should do in the event that such an attack occurs on our patch, but their actions must not over-alarm the public. Unless absolutely critical, all leave is cancelled and you should get back officers that are on leave a
nd are at home or elsewhere in the UK. We have our list of places that will require immediate, additional full-time security. In particular, these will include the ferry terminals and the ferries themselves whilst in port, plus the Ballachuilish and Skye bridges. The ski lifts must be closed to passengers immediately – its only sightseeing tourists that use them at this time of the year anyhow. OK so far?”
Both nodded.
Maythorp continued, “Arm every officer up to the level of their training and in the event of a real terrorist attack on our patch, I do not want heroes. I want information.”
“I think we all understand, Keith” commented a rather weary sounding Curry. “But I have a question. Do we continue to use Greaves up at Kinloch Hourn? He’s a valuable guy and probably more use elsewhere. He reports that there is nothing untoward up there, a few tourists on the road and a couple out fishing but Mealag Lodge has its own special forces security people so they will be fully aware of this threat assessment. By the way, he briefly glimpsed one of the geeks the other day at the far side of the dam, dressed as a bloody English copper in a flak jacket. To Greaves, of course, he stood out like a sore thumb. We had quite a chuckle about whether he should arrest the guy for impersonating a police officer! This threat level can’t be to do with them, can it?”
