Jane Goodley wasn’t in her office, Howard said she had been in meetings almost constantly since yesterday morning. “Has there been any progress?”
“They have been studying the CCTV yesterday, it’s possible they have picked out the bomber, but no identity yet.” Dave went off to his office, he called Sally to say how bad it had been that morning, he said if she couldn’t find a taxi, to call him, he would try to arrange an official car.
The rest of the morning was spent going over cases where the researchers were stuck, he read all the notes and wrote out suggestions for them to try, by lunchtime, he had managed to get through three. He stopped for a break, his phone rang as he ate, an appointment with Jane Goodley was in his diary. He looked at his watch, it was in ten minutes. Taking his coffee up with him, the door was open, she was shouting instructions to Howard. Knocking, he waited for her to look up, “David, come in, close the door.”
Putting his cup on her desk, he walked to the coffee machine and poured out a cup for her. “Jane, sit down and stop for five minutes, you look worn out.” She slumped onto her chair. “Have you been home since Tuesday night?”
“Only for a few hours, it’s manic, the Home Secretary and Prime Minister are demanding answers. There are none to give him, the papers and TV are round every corner trying to make up a story out of nothing. The Chief Constable is getting it worse than I am. As soon as we find out something, every available person is on to it. Even with hundreds working, progress is slow. At Kings Cross, they are still trying to remove some of the dead, I went down, the smell of death is hanging in the air, even with the fans on.
Structural engineers are down there assessing if it will be safe to remove the train, there is a huge crack in the ceiling. The Royal Family have been instructed to visit the injured in hospital, I think there are two different groups going round. David, I’m knackered, if I don’t stop soon, I will collapse.”
One of the phones on her desk was ringing, he picked it up, “Jane Goodley’s office,” the voice on the other end asked for Jane. “She’s having a break, I’m taking her calls, you can either leave a message with me or call back in thirty minutes.” The voice on the other end asked who he was, “David Stretton, who are you?”
“I’m the Home Secretary, find her, I’ll wait.”
“You will have a long wait, she is worn out having had only a few hours sleep since Tuesday, you can leave a message or speak to her deputy.”
“Who are you?”
“As I said earlier, David Stretton, for the next thirty minutes, it’s a choice of me or her deputy, Howard. If you’re not happy with that, ring Richard Charlton, mention to the PM you have spoken to me.”
Peter Stockdale now realised who he was talking to, he knew there would be no getting past him. “What part of this investigation are you involved in?”
“None, I’m down here as part of my normal duties, I came down on Tuesday evening to see if our help was required. I spent a little time down on the platform, the police are the best people to be carrying out the initial investigation. Right now, I’m trying to prevent Miss Goodley from collapsing, unless it’s important, can you give her a break please?”
Jane had heard the conversation, however it hadn’t registered. “Howard, can you get the Prime Minister on the phone, put him through to Jane’s phone when you are connected. While he was waiting, he phoned Jane’s partner Ruth. “It’s David, are you at home? Jane is worn out, I’m want her to go home, if she does, will you make sure she goes to bed and switches off her phone.”
The phone on the desk rang again, Dave heard Richard Carlton’s voice on the phone. “What do you want?”
“Sir, I’m with Jane Goodley, she is out on her feet, I think she needs to rest, I know what is happening, but if she doesn’t stop, she will be no use to anyone. I am down here as part of my normal duties. Howard and I can look after things until tomorrow morning, speak to Sir Rupert Parsons, see if he agrees, send Howard an email to confirm.” He was told to send Jane home and to wait for an email. Dave spoke to Howard. “Can you find a car, Jane is going home, the PM will let us know the next move.”
He turned to Jane, “you’re going home, gather what you need, Ruth is waiting for you, go to bed and sleep.” Dave went down in the lift with her, the car was waiting in the basement, he kissed her as she got in, she said nothing. He sat with Howard waiting for the email from the PM, it arrived as Dave brought in two coffees. Nothing was said until it arrived, Dave read it before passing it to Howard.
“Thank goodness, it says you are in charge until she returns, I don’t want the responsibility of all this at the moment.”
“Bring your coffee into her office, can you access her emails?”
“No, only she can.”
“OK, I’ll find her password, will you get onto the police, or British Transport police. I want access to the footage from Tuesday, any problems, say I’m in temporary charge, send them over a copy of the email if you have to.” Using her computer, he logged on to his cloud storage, he downloaded a piece of software, put in Jane’s user name and waited, before he had finished his coffee, he was in. Scrolling back to Tuesday, he read every email since the explosion, nearly all were demanding updates, the replies had mostly said there were none. Howard came through with login details for the Underground CCTV system. He said there was a separate file with the video of the possible bomber. Dave looked at that one first, an arrow was above the person, it followed him from when he entered the network of tunnels, he had walked from St. Pancras, the cameras were very good, the man looked in his fifties, his face gave nothing away. He was tracked down the escalators and on to the platform, the arrow was still above his head as he stood waiting for the tube to arrive, as the train drew to a stop, there was a blinding flash, the camera then went off. Dave watched it several times, his gaze focused on the man.
Sally phoned saying she was on the train, Dave quickly said what had happened. “Check into the hotel, then come to Millbank, I will be here for some time.” Howard and his team went at 18:00, he said they would be back in at 07:00. He gave Dave the extension number for the night team who would be on duty. Sally arrived twenty minutes later, he poured her a coffee before kissing her. She said there was no problems with getting a taxi, she only had to wait around ten minutes. “I want you to watch a video from Tuesday evening,” he turned the screen round for her to see. She watched it and shook at the end when the screen went off.
“I’ve watched it around ten times, you see if you can spot something odd.” Dave put it on repeat. “Don’t look at the target, Sally asked what she was meant to be looking for. He waited for the video to begin again, “look at this man, notice anything?” He pointed to a man about ten metres in front, as the target walked from St. Pancras.
Sally watched him all the way until he disappeared on to the platform. “I can’t see anything, I can see the man, but I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
“How many times have you seen someone with the same suitcase as you, walking in the same direction and then heading down to the same platform on the underground as you?” Sally watched the film again, they both had a silver hard shell suitcase with the shell having curved ridges. One was being carried, the other wheeled along.
“It could be a coincidence.”
“I doubt it, hopefully the police will have seen it and are following it up, we will find out in the morning.” Before they left, Sally said the desk suited him.
Dave picked up a free paper in the hotel, the front page said forty two were dead and eighty seven injured, many with life changing injuries. He didn’t read any further. The atmosphere in the hotel was subdued, the Christmas decorations didn’t feel right, the lights had been left off. They ate at a local Greek restaurant, the food was good, but neither of them appreciated it. Back in the hotel, they had an early night.
It was an early start in the morning, Dave wanted to be in the office by 08:00, they were a little late. An alert Jane Goodley was sitting in her chair, he feigned disappointment when he saw her, “I thought I could carry on as the boss, I was going to award us a big pay rise this morning.” Jane laughed, she thanked him for what he did yesterday.
Sally sat on one of the chairs while Dave explained what he had seen yesterday. He played the video for Jane to watch, like Sally she didn’t see the other person, it was only when Dave pointed it out. Picking up her phone, she rang the Met and British Transport police and requested a conference video call. Half an hour later a ‘Zoom’ meeting was in progress, she pointed out the second person. Dave had written down points for her to raise. “Find out if they arrived on the same train, if they had any contact. Trace them back to the station of departure. We need clear images to allow us to identify them. This needs to happen as soon as possible, if you don’t have the manpower, we will take over.” It was agreed to have another meeting at midday for updates, any breakthroughs to be notified at once. She then called the Home Secretary to update him, he asked if it was progress, Jane said it was a start.
With the calls ended, she asked Dave if he would stick with the investigation. “We’re both here today, I can be back down on Monday unless something happens over the weekend. Until they make progress with the CCTV, there isn’t much we can do, has there been any preliminary forensic reports?”
“I’m promised them this morning, when they arrive, I will copy you in.”
“Until there is something, we will work as normal.” He and Sally left to for their office, flicking through the first file, he couldn’t settle. Was the other person also carrying a bomb, if so, what was his target. Not long after, he saw an email come in, it was a copy of the first forensic report, skimming through it he stopped at details of the bomb. It was estimated to be around twenty pounds of C4 explosive. Dave carried on reading, a large number of timers were broken and scattered amongst the debris. He read and re-read the report, sitting in his chair, he asked Sally to read it. “Skip the first part, it’s about the destruction, start where it says about the explosion.”
“What does it mean?”
“The bomb wasn’t meant to go off in the station, something happened. Come with me.” They walked quickly to Jane Goodley’s office, Howard said she was in a meeting. “Who with, can she be interrupted?”
“The Home Secretary is in with her, I’ll phone and find out.” Howard said to go in, there was only one spare chair, he apologised as Sally sat down.
“Have you looked at the report?”
“We are just discussing it now, why, have you seen something?”
“The bomb wasn’t meant for the station, we have to talk to the forensics people.” Both looked at Dave. “Read the part where they describe the explosion, it says there were parts of timers found, notice it says timers and not timer. I suspect there were several bombs in the case and for whatever reason, one activated, the rest were set off in a chain reaction. This should be kept quiet, say nothing to the press.”
The Home Secretary asked him if he was sure. “Pretty much so, I want to go to Kings Cross to speak to the forensics team, can you arrange it? If it is true, then there is another suitcase full of bombs somewhere in London.”
Jane made a call. “A car will take you to the station, is Sally going as well?”
“No, I want her start on the CCTV, do you know if the station they started from has been found yet?” The Home Secretary said people were working on it. “Get more people, if there aren’t any more, use people from here, give them access to the CCTV.” He said to expect him when he returned, outside the office he asked Sally to go back over the video from the station, “Howard, can you get access to the British Transport CCTV and give Sally the details.” In the office, he kissed her before saying he didn’t want her to go back to the station.
He was given paper overalls, a mask and hardhat when he entered the station, down on the platform, nothing, except the dead, had moved from Tuesday night. He asked who was in charge, a man stood up, Dave introduced himself. “I read your initial report, I have a question, I hope you can answer it? It said you had found pieces of timers, how many have you found?”
He was taken to a table away from the platform, on it were items recovered. “There are bits of six separate timers, there are probably more we haven’t found yet or disintegrated in the explosion and are now burnt or dust.”
“Do you know the make of the suitcase or anything about it?”
“No, only that it was silver and cheap quality, the sort you find on market stalls.” The man was thanked and Dave was on his way back to MI5. Sally was waiting for him. “Dave, I’ve not said anything, but I think there may have been a third man. Howard said they had arrived on a train from Leicester, the two with the suitcases were in separate carriages, the third man was in the same carriage as the one who exploded, but they weren’t together. The camera on the platform picked him up watching the suitcase. I looked at the other man with a suitcase, but couldn’t make out if anyone was following him.”
“Well done. I found out there were at least six timers found. I have to let Jane know, your discovery we will keep to ourselves until we have dug a little deeper. Pack up soon, I will see if we can have a car to take us to the station.” He left to see Jane Goodley, she was on her own, he said what he had found. “If the other suitcase is the same then there is someone in London with a load of bombs.”
“I’ve informed the Met, they are looking to see where the second suitcase went, they are having to check CCTV from the trains, platforms and station concourses, it could take ages. They are trying to get a clear shot to use facial recognition.”
“We will stay for another hour before going, however if you need us, call, Sally is out tomorrow, but I will be going through the CCTV, looking for clues, would you ask the weekend team to update me with any findings?”
Jane made notes, “David, something is happening, I don’t know what it is, or who is involved, be careful what you say and to whom.”
He looked at her. “Is that a warning, and what are you not telling me, we’ve been down this road before with you withholding information?”
“It’s nothing like that, it’s just a feeling.”
“You don’t have ‘just a feeling’, what is it, who has said something?”
“Some of the groups we monitor have been more active, nothing specific, just a lot more messaging, even then, nothing to follow up, it’s the usual threats.”
© 10210ken 2026
