GLASGOW AIRPORT

Chen walked into the top floor office and was greeted by cheers and applause. His right arm was slung in a loose hospital fastening across his chest.

       “Some people will do anything for a few days off!” He heard someone say as he made his way across the office toward the goldfish bowl. There was a buzz around the far side of the room as new information was coming in. Tank waved at Chen and summoned him over to them. The digital screen was descending into its operating position and the image of a burning vehicle came into focus.

          “Good to have you back, Chen,” Tank said slapping him on the back a little harder than was necessary. Chen grimaced in exaggerated pain and then smiled.

          The image on the screen showed a green Cherokee Jeep wedged in the doorway of the main terminal building at Glasgow Airport. The Jeep was ablaze, as were the two Asian men that had jumped from the burning vehicle. Four members of the Strathclyde Police Force pounced on one of the burning Asian men and handcuffed him. Flames were jetting out from the rear of the Jeep and gas canisters could be seen clearly in the trunk.

          The Major stepped out of the goldfish bowl office to address the assembled agents of the Terrorist Task Force.

          “We have an incident at Glasgow Airport as you can see. The Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called a meeting of COBRA, the emergency committee. The home secretary has raised the national terrorism threat to its highest level `critical`, meaning that we are expecting attacks imminently. Tank, there is a helicopter on the way for you. You need to be at this COBRA meeting with the PM.”

          “I`ll take Chen with me, if that is okay with you.” Tank grabbed his suit jacket and started to fasten his tie properly. Tank and Chen headed to the elevator that would take them to the landing-pad on the roof.

          “It would seem that we are finally getting some response from London. Faz, you had better get yourself up to Glasgow, and report back to me when you know what the bloody hell is going there.” Grace Farrington nodded and headed toward the lift.

          The Major and Tank had been frustrated by the lack of urgency that the government had displayed since the arrival of Yasser Ahmed. The home office didn’t want to spark off wide spread panic across the country. Incidents of terrorism both at home and abroad led to mistrust in the communities where Muslims lived and worked. During the 1970`s when the troubles with the Irish Paramilitaries were in the news every day, anyone with an Irish accent became a potential bomber. The general public would become suspicious of anyone with olive skin if the government were not very careful.    

          The Major had asked the home office for troops to be deployed around the Stanlow oil refinery and heightened security at the country`s airports. The strain of British forces stationed in Iraq, and at war in Afghanistan left domestic issues short of men. There was no definite target, and too much supposition for the home office to agree to deploy troops. The situation had been compounded by incidents the previous day in London. Two abandoned vehicles had been found packed with petrol, gas canisters and nails. One was parked outside of a busy nightclub in the theatre district of the capital; the other was left abandoned on a major traffic route. Neither homemade explosive device had detonated but the intention shocked the nation. The green Jeep that the Major was watching on the screen was packed with gas canisters. This was the work of the same group that had attacked London the previous day.

           Tank had already given the Scottish Airport police orders on what to do until Grace Farrington arrived to control the situation. The two Asian men that had been in the burning vehicle had suffered severe burns. It was only because of the quick thinking of a taxi driver that they were still alive. The taxi driver was an ex-marine who had seen action in Northern Ireland. He had located a fire extinguisher and doused the flames that were consuming the two suicide bombers. Eyewitnesses reported that the two Asian men were not at all grateful for being rescued. They were now in the accident and emergency department of the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. Tank ordered the rest of the department to be evacuated until it was clear that the two men had no further devices hidden on their person. All the airplanes that were on the runway were to be parked, and all passengers were to be left on board. Any air traffic that was due to land at Glasgow was redirected to other airports in the north of England.

           Airports all over the country were closed to traffic. Nothing was allowed to approach the terminal buildings at any airport in the country. Tank`s cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He answered it and spoke to Grace.

           “I am in touch with the Strathclyde police; they have given me a rundown of the situation. The setup is the same as the two cars in London yesterday. The vehicle is packed with gas canisters but there doesn’t appear to be any sophisticated explosive devices involved.” Grace had already deduced that this was an independent extremist terror cell. The type of attack that they had attempted in London and now in Glasgow was amateurish.

           “This is not Yasser Ahmed`s work then. This is another cell. Have we got any indication of who they are?” Tank asked.

           Often bombers and the bomb makers could be identified by the type of device that they use. The July/7 London bombers had used homemade explosives to devastating effect. A few weeks later copycat terrorists on the 21st July, tried to imitate the bombs. They used a mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide and a type of baking flour. They had incompetently weighed out the incorrect amounts of ingredients and the bombs failed to explode.

           On August 11th 2006, the Terrorist Task Force and British police foiled the worst airline terrorist plot since 9/11. Tank believed that had they not uncovered the plot it would have caused death and destruction on a massive scale. It was believed that the suspects were just days away from carrying out their plan. They planned to take down multiple aircraft using liquid or gel explosives. The plan was to hide the explosives in a sports drink bottle. The bottom half of the bottle was to contain dyed explosives; while the top of the bottle would still be sealed containing innocent sports drink. Water-gel explosives are now the most commonly used commercial blasting agent and have almost completely displaced the use of dynamite and plastic explosives in industry. The liquid explosives were to be detonated using a camera flash. Since this plot was discovered the carrying of liquid through security at airports has now been banned.

           “We have ID on one suspect; it appears he is a doctor. He is badly burned and keeps shouting that the attack is in revenge for the people of Haditha,” Faz said. She was around an hour drive from the Glasgow airport.

          “I will call you after your meeting with the PM.”

      Tank asked Chen what the connection was with Haditha and Muslim extremists. Chen had researched Iraq and Afghanistan as the conflicts developed. All wars have casualties but many of the dead in Iraq were non-combatants. The allied forces there were fighting a faceless enemy. They did not wear the uniform of an enemy army. The fight was impossible to win without creating innocent casualties.

          “Haditha is a nightmare situation. It is a city in the western Iraq province of Al Anbar. There are so many conflicting reports about the incident that it`s hard to get to the truth. The incident took place on the 19/11/2005. The Iraqis will tell you that the American Marines shot and killed 24 men woman and children, in cold blood. They claim that the killings were in retribution for an attack on a convoy, with an improvised explosive device that killed an American lance corporal. The Americans will tell you that they were chasing known insurgents through the area when they took small arms fire from two houses. Standard procedure is to clear the building with fragmentation grenades then pepper-spray each room with machinegun fire.”

             “What happened then? Were there non combatants in the houses that they attacked?” Tank asked. “You can`t really attack peoples` homes like that and not expect civilian casualties.”

             “Well that`s not the only problem. When the deaths were first discovered a Marine Corps communiqué initially reported that fifteen civilians were killed by a bomb blast and that eight insurgents were subsequently killed when Marines returned fire. An investigation found that five men, four teenagers and a taxi driver were shot dead in a taxi. Nineteen dead bodies were found in the three houses that were attacked; apparently all of them were killed by well aimed shots to the head and chest.” Chen shrugged his shoulders as he told Tank the tragic story of the Haditha killings. The horror of war changes peoples` lives; normally good men do strange things.

            “Eight American Marines were charged in connection with the deaths. Not all of them were convicted but the incident doesn’t exactly make the Iraqi people think that the coalition is there to help them.” Chen finished with a one-arm shrug.

            “It`s not just the Iraqi people we need to be worried about. That`s the type of incident that so called preachers of hate use to motivate potential extremists. Just like this incident in Glasgow where we have a doctor, who has decided to set fire to himself and his Jeep!” Tank said. He wished that the Americans could be a little bit more diplomatic sometimes; but then diplomacy wasn’t Tank`s best attribute either.   

             Tank`s cell phone buzzed again, He looked at the screen and saw that it was the Major calling.

             “Tank, put the phone onto conference mode. I need to speak to you all immediately.” Tank switched the cell over which allowed multiple agents to be involved in the call simultaneously. Tank could see the names of fourteen other agents who were attached to the call including Grace.

            “The North Wales Police Force has just found a body at South Stack Lighthouse. I am sorry to have to inform you all that it`s Sian. She has been shot twice. There is evidence of a fight at the scene and forensic teams are there now. Her gun and her Jeep are missing. As soon as we get the results back from forensics I will update you all.”  Major Stanley Timms cut the conference call connection. There was no point in saying anything more. Sian was one of the team and now she was dead.

Tank and Chen made the rest of the helicopter flight in silence.