Back in the office Sally was smiling. “I’ve found him, but Valerie is struggling, when you have had a coffee, can you sit with her.”
“Who is he?”
“Stephen Williams, aged twenty seven, I have his address in London.”
“Which service was he in?”
“How did you know? The Welsh Guards.”
“I guessed, it’s too well organised to be anything other than military or ex-military.” Drinking his coffee, he asked why the girl was struggling.
“She doesn’t know what she is looking for, the translation is no problem, she needs someone sitting beside her.”
“OK, I have a couple of things to sort out, then I will be with her. When we get back to the hotel, we will be armed at all times until this is sorted.”
“Why, has something changed?”
“Not really, I just think we should.” Sally knew he was lying, but said nothing. “Can you call Howard in? “Will you organise the phone surveillance of the main troublemakers, anarchists and the like. Find the mobile numbers and check the logs, look for something out the ordinary, say to the researchers I want reports by tomorrow afternoon. Finally, he phoned Taff, he picked up immediately, “it’s Dave, are you OK?”
“Yes.”
“Does this involve the Army?” There was no reply, Dave looked at his phone, the call had been ended.
Sally looked across the desk at him. “Find out all you can regarding this Welsh Guard, you know, the usual, phone calls, messages, bank account. If he has a car, check the registration number on the ANPR.” He left to spend some time with Valerie. They compared images of timers on sale with the photographs recovered from the tube. When they found a suitable match, Dave said for her to check the sales. On all they looked, only a few small sales had been made. “Keep looking, I have other things to do. I will come back when I can, call Sally if you find anything.”
Going down in the lift, he wondered where this would end up. In the stores, he picked up two Kevlar vests, he left Sally’s on her chair in Jane’s office. When she saw Dave, she said Valerie wanted to see him. “I think I have found it, five hundred timers were ordered two months ago.”
“Print out the order, it doesn’t matter if it is in Chinese, you can do a translation later, it will have the delivery address in English. When you have done that, look for the payment method, I want the credit card number.” The address was in Leeds, Dave returned to his office, he looked on Google Streetview, it was a rundown office block, this wasn’t going to be the breakthrough he hoped for.
Returning to Valerie she had found the payment, it had been made through a third party provider. “Give me as much information as you can, will you translate the sales invoice for me, put a covering sheet with your extension number on it? Thank you for your hard work.” He locked the office door, as he had gone in, Howard said he had to see him, “ten minutes, I have to make a call.”
“Yuri, it’s Dave again, I need your help, someone has paid for equipment from China using a system similar to PayPal, I don’t think the banking software will get me in. Do you have anything, I don’t want to buy it, just need to find out who the buyer is?”
Yuri said to send over what information he had. “I will see what I can do, I will add it on to your bill.”
Unlocking the door, he called Howard in. “There is paperwork you need to sign and decisions have to be made on other items.”
“Explain to me what each document is, a brief outline will be sufficient, I will decide if further reading is required.” Twenty minutes later, it was done. He went looking for Sally, her head was down, reading information on the laptop, he tapped on the glass wall to the office, seeing him, she stood up and unlocked the door. “We’ve located the order for the timers, five hundred of them, they were delivered to an address in Leeds, we won’t get anything from there. How have you got on?”
“He did five years in the Welsh Guards, leaving just over two years ago, since then he has had a series of jobs, nothing lasting very long. Currently he is working as a courier for a company who deliver for Amazon, or rather he isn’t, he hasn’t been at work for two weeks. There are texts and emails from his work, trying to find out why he hasn’t been in, the last one saying if he wasn’t at work the following day, then his job would be gone.” Dave asked about calls and spending. “He doesn’t spend much on his bank card, the train trips must have been paid in cash, or someone bought him the tickets. It’s mostly small shops in supermarkets and take aways plus his rent and utility bills. He has lived at the same address since he left the Army.”
“What about his record?”
“Nothing stands out, drunk several times, but no trouble. I’m just starting on his calls, I will have a list of who he calls soon.”
Sally came through just after 18:00. “I have the calls, I’ve checked out the numbers and have the names, most of them are connected to his job, the others I’ve highlighted, he has WhatsApped them on many occasions. You will need to find a way in to read the messages, what we don’t know is if he is using a burner phone.”
“You’ve done well, I think we should call it a day, put on the vest before we leave.” He rung down to the night team, “I’m at Flemings Hotel, call me if you need me, my mobile will be on.”
The driver dropped them off at the door to the hotel, inside Sally said to the receptionist they would be staying until Friday night and could she ring housekeeping to collect clothes which needed to be cleaned. The hotel was quieter than usual, the porters said it was due to the bombings. “People are scared, they don’t want to travel to London at the moment.” In the room, once the laundry had been collected, Sally said she wanted the truth about how dangerous this was.
“Honestly, I don’t know. The closer we get to solving the problem, the greater the danger. Taff is scared, he hung up on me today when I mentioned the Army. You uncovered a soldier today, the two with the suitcases I suspect will also turn out to be ex-soldiers, but I don’t think they will be aware of what they were carrying. Their faces didn’t show any hint they knew they were carrying bombs. I’m sure the Army is involved, but who, and how many, I have no idea.”
“What do you think their aim is?”
“To destabilise the government, whether they want to take over, or force elections to have a government which is more pro whatever they want, I don’t know. If they try to take over the broadcasters, then we know it will be a coup, I hope it’s not that.”
“Dave, this is serious shit, who have you told?”
“Only you and I know what I’m thinking, I spoke to Richard Carlton today, I said a little to him, he is aware I’m looking in a different direction. When Jane is better, I may speak to her, will you call Ruth, see how she is today. I’m going for a bath, book a table for later.”
The bathroom was in darkness when she brought in a coffee for Dave, she quickly undressed and joined him. They lay together in the bath until the water was cool. Sally wanted to go to bed, but she could see Dave was thinking about something else. “Will this be done before Christmas?”
“I don’t know, but I hope so.” He picked up his backpack they left the room to go down for dinner. Sally looked at him, but said nothing, she knew what was inside, unfortunately, the Uzis were in the boot of their car in the MI5 car park. As they ate, the talk was about what they hoped to achieve the next day. When they had eaten, they went up to their room, by 22:00, they were in bed. He was woken by the sound of his phone ringing, putting on the bedside lamp, he found it and answered. “David Stretton,” a calm voice on the other end said who he was. “Sir, we are getting reports of bombs going off all over the country again.”
“Get me a car, call the emergency team, say to get in as quickly as possible, start a report, have it ready for me, I will be there in thirty minutes.”
Sally was awake, she had heard some of the call, “fucking Hell, we can’t even get a night’s sleep.” She was out the bed and dressing, Dave passed her the Kevlar vest and a shoulder holster, “I want one which can go round my waist, it’s easier when wearing the vest.” The lobby of the hotel was empty, the porters were watching a screen behind their desk, it was on the BBC website, the headline was all about the bombs.
“There should be a car for us outside, would one of you check please?” The porter returned saying there was a black Range Rover outside with blue lights flashing. Dave checked the street before letting Sally leave the hotel. Ten minutes later, they were in the lift heading for the top floor, there were some staff in. Dave asked for someone to bring the night team up here and to switch the phones back to day mode. Sally brought him a coffee, the office door was open, he wanted to see and hear what was going on.
One of the night team knocked on the office door. “I have an initial report, a lot of the bombs are in Scotland, electricity pylons, culverts under roads, electricity sub stations and railway lines again. There are reports of a few injuries from car crashes, where the roads have subsided. There will be no trains in Scotland tomorrow.”
“What about England and Wales?” “Not much from Wales, but if it is in the wilds, we may not hear about it until later. A lot round Newcastle, the Metro has been attacked, more electric sub stations. In Manchester, a mains waterpipe has been blown up, several bridges have been attacked. Not much round London.”
“OK, thank you, take some people, start phoning the police, ask them for reports every thirty minutes, any problems I’ll speak to them.” He called out Sally’s name, he closed the door when she came in. “Check Stephen Williams phone, get on to the mobile phone company, I want to know where he is, even if he is using a burner phone, he should have his normal phone with him. Don’t take any shit.”
He saw one of Howard’s assistants, “I want a total of all the bombs which went of on Sunday and a total for tonight, the numbers will increase as reports come in, find a white board and update the total as they come in.”
Howard was now knocking on his door. “What do you want me to do?”
“There is a list of fifteen names of people murdered recently, I want you to check the backgrounds of each one, a full report in two hours.” He went looking for Sally. “The people who were looking for the suitcase carriers, did they have any luck?”
“I think they got clear shots, but no names.”
“When you get a chance, can you find the images, print them off and give them to Howard, ask him to check against the dead bodies on his list.”
Someone shouted the Home Secretary was on the phone for Dave, he pointed towards the office, he closed the door and sat down. “David Stretton,” he had to listen to the Home Secretary demanding to know what he was doing, Dave said most of the lines of enquiry he was pursuing, it wasn’t a good enough answer. “Sir, if you think you can do a better job, or have someone else who can, I will gladly step aside and let them take over. May I ask how the police are doing, are you giving the Chief Constables the same hassle as you are giving me? We can only work on the information given to us or we find out, we don’t have men on the ground investigating. I may have something to report later, but at the moment, we are still working on getting as much information as possible.” Dave had to listen to the Home Secretary going on, eventually Dave said someone needed him and he had to go.
Sally came in. “He’s in Newcastle, he hasn’t made any calls, I haven’t checked his messages, but he is still there.”
“Get back on to the mobile phone company, I want to know if they can live track him and also if the know when he went there.” The office was less frantic as the morning progressed, at 04:30, Dave phoned the canteen. “I want breakfast rolls and coffee up on the top floor, work on there being fifty people, add on a couple of packets of biscuits as well.”
At 05:00, he called for everyone to stop. “We’re making good progress, there will be food and coffee up here soon, take a break, have a drink and something to eat, afterwards, I want to see section heads for reports. Thank you.” He looked at the total number of bombs on the white board, it was at two hundred and thirty five, he added on twenty for the explosion in Kings Cross. It meant they had used a little over half the timers.
Howard came in to see him. “There is a match to one of the people Sally was looking for, I don’t have a name, there was nothing to identify him.”
“Pass both the images to Sally, say I want an identity, she will know what to do. When you have done that, see the section heads, take all the information from them and create a report, no doubt there will be a meeting this morning.” Back in the office, he shut the door, sitting down, he closed his eyes for five minutes, he opened them when he heard his phone ping. Yuri had sent him an email, there was a credit card number, an email address and a name. Dave sat looking at his phone, the phone on the desk ringing brought him back. “David Stretton,” there was a pause, “yes, I’ll be there at 10:00.”
Around 08:00 more staff came in, Dave thanked the night team, time was spent passing jobs over and bringing the new arrivals up to date. Howard said he had a visitor, Dave looked at him, “Sir Rupert Parsons.”
“Have someone bring him up, can you organise coffee for the two of us.”
A few minutes later, Howard knocked on Jane Goodley’s door, “Sir Rupert to see you.” Dave stood up and shook his hand, coffee was brought in, once they were alone he asked how Dave was coping,
“I think I was doing alright up until midnight when all Hell broke lose again. Everything is under control now, I know where the investigation is going, we are gathering more information all the time.”
“I’m not here to find out about that, it’s nothing to do with me. Did you have a disagreement with the Home Secretary earlier?”
“No, I said to him, if he thought he could do a better job or knew someone who could, I would step aside, I never raised my voice.”
“He said you were insolent,”
“I don’t think that was insolent, I didn’t swear at him. As I said, if he doesn’t like it then find someone else. I’ve been thrown in at the deep end, I have had to find my feet while at the same time running an investigation into over two hundred bombings. Some of those present at meetings give me a look, but I’m not bothered by that. I say and do what I have to.”
Sir Rupert stood, “keep up the good work, I may not be here, but I know what is going on.”
With that he was gone, Sally had been waiting outside, “I didn’t know whether to come in or not, what did he want?”
“He asked me about the phone call with the Home Secretary, he said to keep up the good work as he left. We have a breakthrough at last, he handed over his phone, the buyer of the timers.”
“I recognise that name, Henry Danbury, I’m not sure where from, give me the details, I will find out.”
“I have to go at 09:30, I think this will become a daily meeting until the people are caught.”
“Are you taking your gun?”
“No, there would be too many questions.” He put reports into his briefcase and had a final cup of coffee before he left. The meeting was frosty, the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister both had a go at him, he had expected it from the PM, but the attack from the Home Secretary was particularly vicious. He called Dave incompetent, it was only an intervention from the PM which stopped it. Dave thought the Chief Constable would be pleased it was Dave rather than him on the receiving end. The Defence Secretary had said very little during the meeting. Dave’s phone pinged during the meeting, when he had the chance, he looked at the message, it was from Sally, it had only one word in it, MOD.
The Prime Minister asked him to stay behind, those leaving thought he was in for another bollocking. There was no conversation until they were out in the garden. “Did you set the Home Secretary on me?”
“No, you must have upset him earlier, what progress have you made?” “My message during the meeting was details of a name, Sally is looking into it now, it might be nothing.”
“David, how much are you withholding?”
“I’m not sure what you mean, I have left you with our reports up until this morning.”
“I won’t ask again, just let me know before you do anything.”
“When it happens, it will be very quick, it will have to be.”
Sally was working away when he returned, he didn’t disturb her, “Howard, come into the office, don’t sit down. I want the file on the Chief Constable, can you print it out and bring it to me. Tell no one what you are doing, leave it an hour before you bring it through, I want to close my eyes and think, only Sally to be admitted.” In truth, he wanted a quick sleep. Sally came in, when she saw him, she closed the door and left him. She returned at midday and gently shook him, when he woke, she put a coffee on the desk.
“Do you feel better for that, I had one earlier in an office, I locked myself in?”
“Yes. OK, let’s start, has Howard given you a file?” Sally placed a thick file on the desk. Talk to me while I skim through this, I will be listening to you more than I am reading.
“Stephen Williams, took the train up to Newcastle yesterday, I have two people looking through for other passengers with matching cases. Henry Danbury is one of the private secretary’s to Admiral Sheldon, he is not military. I think he must use a burner phone, the calls on the phone registered to him are few and to a small group, but I’m checking these out. The credit card is registered to a George Armson, I haven’t started on him yet,”
“He’s a major in the Welsh Guards, I’ve met him in the MOD, many years ago. He may be retired now. That was a careless mistake, well done, things are moving. If he has been careless with his credit card, what other mistakes has he made. I’m not sure if he is the main man, but concentrate on him once you have finished with Danbury.”
Dave drunk his coffee as he looked over the file again. Using Jane’s phone book, he dialled the direct number for the Chief Constable. “David Stretton at MI5, we need to meet away from both our offices, can you meet me at Flemings Hotel in forty five minutes, it won’t take more than half an hour. I won’t say what it is about. I don’t want to be seen in Scotland Yard and I would rather you weren’t seen here. It is very important. The Chief agreed, Dave rang Flemings Hotel to book a meeting room, he ordered coffee and biscuits for the room. He said to Sally where he was going and who he was meeting, she came into the office as he was putting on the Kevlar vest, the Glock was in his backpack. She kissed him and said to take care.
© 10210ken 2026
