Dave sat watching TV, Sally had gone to bed about an hour ago, he was half reading, half watching the TV, it was on the BBC news channel. They had spent the day Christmas shopping, there were just over two weeks to go. Tomorrow was Wednesday, they would both be back at work.
Dave Stretton drove a cab for Uber, Sally worked as a receptionist at Loughborough University three days a week. As well as their normal jobs, they both worked freelance for the MOD and MI5 as field workers and investigators. Based in Whitehall, Dave had worked for S417, a branch of military intelligence. Where he had been a sergeant. His unconventional methods helped resolve the most difficult of cases. He left the Army as more and more work was piled on to him on the assumption if no one else could solve the case, then he would. Moving to Loughborough for no particular reason, he rented a room from Sally. She was a widow, five years younger than Dave’s thirty eight. It wasn’t long before they were sharing a bed.
He had been recalled to help with a problem case. He said he would only return if he was used on a freelance basis. During the investigation, he found out Sally had been a researcher in the same building, but at a different time. She began to help him out with research and compiling reports, later she was trained as a field worker, the two now worked as a team. Mostly for MI5, called in when needed, Dave also helped out on a Thursday and Friday looking over cases where no progress was being made, Sally would join him most Fridays.
Blue flashing lights on the screen made him stop reading, the sound was off. Turning up the volume, he listened as reports were coming in of an explosion at Kings Cross tube station in London. There was a voiceover saying all hospitals had been put on alert and to expect many casualties. Dave phoned MI5, once identified, he asked what had happened. The voice on the other end said it had been a bomb with many dead. He hung up, sat for a moment, then went upstairs. Waking Sally, he said for her to get dressed, “put on black overalls and boots, I think we need to be in London.”
“What the fuck is going on?”
“There has been a bomb on the underground. I will sort out the backpack after I have changed.” In the spare bedroom where Dave had first stayed, he opened the wardrobe, in his battered backpack, he put two Glocks and shoulder holsters, two boxes of shells were added. He wondered whether to put in the Uzi’s he had kept from a previous job, he decided they would go, extra magazines were added. It would be better to have them and not need them. Sally was now dressed, she asked if anything needed to be done. “Can you grab some food and a laptop, better put in some additional clothes, I don’t know when we will be back.” Downstairs, he called MI5 again, Jane Goodley the head wasn’t there, it was understood she was on her way to the scene. Her deputy Howard was in the office, Dave asked to be put through. “Howard, it’s David Stretton, I’ve seen on the news, Sally and I are on the way down in case we are needed, tell Jane if she rings in. We will be in the Range Rover, can you give the registration number to the police who cover the M1. Ask them not to stop us and if possible escort us. It’s 22:00 now, there won’t be much traffic, we will be joining at junction 23.” Sally had put food in a carrier bag, the clothes were in a small suitcase. “Ready?” Sally nodded, they both walked out into the cold. Frost was beginning to form on the windscreen, a few flicks with the wipers cleared it. Sally put the radio on to a news channel, the reports didn’t sound good, ‘heavy casualties’ was how it was described.
On the motorway, he saw the outside temperature warning light on the dashboard, Dave ignored it. The speed gradually climbed up to 90mph, he was in the outside lane, most of the other traffic were lorries. Just after junction 19 a police traffic car raced past them in the middle lane, it pulled in front and the speed increased to 100mph. The car was replaced by a different one as the neared Luton, it stayed until they reached Staples Corner at the end of the motorway. Pulling into the underground carpark at the MI5 building, Dave looked at his watch, just after 23:30.
They went up to the top floor and made for Jane Goodley’s office, Howard stopped them, “she’s still at Kings Cross, you have to go directly there, a car is waiting for you downstairs. Dave, it’s worse than the radio is reporting, the whole of the tube network is shut down while they check every station.” Dave asked Sally if she wanted to stay with Howard. “It won’t be very pleasant, the aftermath of a bomb never is.” Sally said she would go, but if it was too bad, she would wait in the car.
As they were heading towards the tube station, the noise of sirens was increasing, ambulances were going in both directions, to and from the area. The car was stopped at a police cordon on Edgeware Road. Once their identities had been checked, they were allowed inside. The road in front was blocked by emergency vehicles, police, fire and ambulances, the whole area looked gridlocked. Ambulances were queuing up. Out the car, they walked towards the entrance to the tube station.
Smoke could be seen coming from the entrance, not much now, just a trace, fire hoses snaked across the ground and into the station. Firemen were wearing breathing apparatus, ambulances were lined up on one side of the bollards. Sally saw inside, people were being worked on, doors were closed, a siren would be heard and the ambulance would be gone, replaced immediately by another. Dave looked for the command post, it was just inside the entrance to Kings Cross main line station, not far from the tube station entrance. The emergency services were working away quickly and calmly. They were stopped at the way into the station, it was a couple of minutes before they were allowed in. Jane Goodley was talking to the Chief Constable, Dave tapped her on the arm, he could see the relief on her face when she turned round. “Can you bring us up to speed or pass us on to someone else?”
She excused herself from the Chief Constable. “A bomb has gone off on one of the tube lines, we aren’t sure if it was on a train or the platform. There are at least thirty dead, the figure will rise, many more injured, usual bomb type injuries. We will not be allowed in until the injured have been removed. Depending on whether they are trapped or not, possibly another three hours.” Sally wanted to know if there had been a warning or if any intelligence had been picked up beforehand. “Nothing, it just happened, the police are at TFL now looking at the CCTV, we will have our own copies later.”
“Has anyone claimed responsibility yet?” Again, Jane said there had been nothing. Sally looked back out through the doors, firemen were sitting on the ground leaning against the wall to the station. Turning, she walked into the now empty station, she found one of the kiosks which had been abandoned, calling back to Dave for him to join her. He was passed two cases of bottled water, Sally carried a third, “there for the firemen outside.” Passing the bottles round, there was the odd nod of thanks, most were too tired to say anything. She watched as many of them drunk the water and stood up to go back into the station.
It was 04:30 when the last survivor had been released from the tangled mess which had once been a tube carriage. Investigators were now being allowed into the tube station. The explosion had been on the southbound Piccadilly line. Jane Goodley spoke to the Chief Constable, Dave and Sally were to be allowed to join the team going down. Entering the station, Sally asked what the smell was, “burnt flesh and smoke, you will soon get used to it.” Their names were taken and written on a board, hard hats, masks and goggles were issued to everyone in the party. Inside the entrance, out of view from the outside were rows of body bags, each one used.
They slowly walked down the escalators, the smell growing stronger, Sally was the only woman. Nothing could prepare her for the site she saw when they turned on to the platform. Two carriages of the tube were mangled, bits of cloth were everywhere, she realised they had once been clothes people were wearing. There was a huge hole in the platform, blood was splattered everywhere. She had to hang on to Dave when she saw body parts. Some of the dead were still trapped inside the carriage. The forensics team were busy setting up their cameras, firemen were still trying to remove the dead. It was easy to see the bomb had been on the platform and not the train, the blast went into the carriage.
Sally went to sit on a bench further along the platform away from the explosion. Dave looked round, there was nothing he would gain from looking at the aftermath, the CCTV would reveal a lot more. He would look at it in conjunction with forensic reports. Sitting with Sally, he said there was nothing for them down here, they slowly climbed the stairs back up to ground level. There were more body bags lined up, waiting to be removed. Outside Sally was sick, her face was white, despite the cold she was sweating. Taking one of the bottles of water she had brought out earlier, she drunk it down to take away the taste in her mouth. “Dave, it was horrible, I never want to see anything like that again.”
Jane Goodley was sitting when they found her. “It was on the platform, not the train,”
Sally sat beside her, her face was still white, “Jane, don’t go down there.”
Dave said he wasn’t sure how much more would be achieved by staying, he suggested they return to MI5, discuss what they know and plan from there. Later, as they were leaving, he said he was starving. “How can you think about food having seen the carnage down there?”
“The dead are dead, while I have loads of sympathy for their friends and relatives, starving myself won’t help them. We didn’t see many of the injured, it’s them we should feel sorry for, they will have to live with the injuries for the rest of their lives, reminded of it every day.” Jane said there was nothing more to do here, reports would start appearing on her desk in a few hours. “Let’s go back to my office, talk about where we go from here.” Her floor was busy, Howard and his team were fielding calls, politicians wanted answers, meetings were being arranged. “They want answers, the investigation is hardly beginning, the police will be searching through the CCTV. We will get copies later, their focus at the moment will be trying to find evidence, once we have some information, our agents will work with the police to find out who and why. I don’t think it will be solved quickly.”
Dave said he felt sorry for the ones who had to collect the bits of people, “I think it will be months before the line is open again, the station will probably be closed for a couple of weeks while the scene is gone over, the south line will be boarded up to allow the rest of the station to function.” Sally poured three coffees from the machine in Jane’s office, “is there anything we can do at the moment to help?”
“No, I don’t think so, the Met police will have as many people on this as they can. We will look it at from our side, MI6 may be involved if there is any links to overseas. I think there is nothing for us, we might as well head home.”
Looking at his watch, “Jane, I will be back tomorrow, I can help you with anything you want, or I can do my normal duties. I will come up and see you when I arrive.” As Dave drove back up the M1, Sally was quiet, she had tried to sleep, but couldn’t, the images from the platform were stuck in her head. She had seen dead bodies before, but they had always been the enemy, this time it was innocent people. Dave was quiet as well, he was thinking, why, why now, why the tube platform, there were busier places, where more people could be killed? When they were home, Sally rang work, she said she had been in London, caught up in the trouble and had only arrived home a short while ago. She wasn’t lying, just not telling the complete truth.
They went to bed, around 09:00, both slept until the evening, the meal when they got up was food from the freezer.
“Will you be coming down on Thursday night, and do you want to stay over until Saturday?”
“I’ll come down, but I want to come home on Friday night, I’m playing tennis with Olivia on Saturday morning. I want to sort out what we are doing over Christmas, we will come back here afterwards.”
The main line trains were running as normal on Thursday morning, it was only when he arrived at St. Pancras the chaos started. Entrances to the tube were closed, there was a huge queue for taxis, he decided to walk. It would take around an hour to walk to Flemings Hotel in Mayfair, the room wouldn’t be ready, however he would leave his case and hopefully there would be a taxi to take him on to Millbank.
© 10210ken 2026
