Fortress by Andy McNab Read Free Book Online

‘Are you suggesting that we’re covering something up?’
    ‘Perish the thought, Commissioner. I’m just putting it out there that perhaps the shooter intended to make the hit look like it was one of your chaps.’
    There was another ripple of surprise from round the table. Garvey knew that, not for the first time, she was out on a limb. She had to be sure of her facts. ‘Since the shooting took place less than four minutes after the victim’s car came to a stop, it’s unlikely that the assailant was tailing him and was most probably lying in wait. So, this was in all likelihood a carefully planned assassination by a professional who had recced the location and chosen his position in advance, knowing the target would come to a halt right where his weapon was aimed. This killing ground was carefully chosen.’
    Clements’s triumph was complete, but he made sure his expression remained grave.
    Halford’s eyes bulged. ‘And exactly how did you deduce that?’
    As soon as he spoke it was clear he wished he hadn’t. The home secretary was not known for her great intellect but she more than made up for it with her grasp of detail.
    ‘Do you know what kind of car Suleiman was travelling in?’
    ‘I don’t think that’s—’
    ‘Correct. It wasn’t a car, it was a van – and since it was parked facing away from the direction of the shots, the gunman needed Suleiman out of the vehicle to get a clean shot. So you might ask yourself if the shooter also expected your lot to be there to get his man into the open for him.’
    ‘Home Secretary, I really think that airing untested theories in this forum is unwise.’
    ‘Why?’ She looked round the room. ‘Since you’re not telling us anything, what’s going to leak? All I’m asking is, you look closely at the possibility that this was no drug shooting but a carefully planned assassination in which the Metropolitan Police appear to have been – no doubt unwittingly – complicit. What if the shooter wanted your men there to make it look like they did it? Where did your team get the information that Suleiman and his driver were supposedly armed? Surely it’s the source of that intelligence which might lead you to whoever lured both Suleiman and your men to the site, where they were made to look like complete pricks.’
    She stared at Halford, who looked as though his balls had shrunk to the size of acorns. Sweat was spreading around his high-riding collar. He made one last attempt to regain some kind of authority. ‘Home Secretary, I completely fail to see what value there is in pursuing this unwarranted line of interrogation. The whole point of COBRA—’
    ‘Is to get to the heart of things. I know, John, and you shouldn’t take it so personally. We can all see you’re in a tight spot.’
    That was the coup de grâce – the final twist of the knife. Having floored him she now turned to Woolf. ‘I’m sure MI5 would be the first to agree that this one’s going to take a lot of digging to resolve. Woolf, don’t you agree?’
    He looked startled to have the spotlight suddenly trained on him. ‘Er – absolutely, ma – Home Secretary.’
    ‘Can you bring us up to speed on their thinking?’
    He fiddled with his tie as if to check it was still there holding his head in place, discovered it was loose, made an attempt to tighten it, failed and gave up. ‘All our intelligence seems to confirm that Suleiman was clean, which may have put him at odds with the drug lords.’ He stole a glance at Halford, who was staring at his cap. ‘But if there turns out to be no drug-crime-related motive, then we could be looking at extremist elements wanting to open divisions between Muslims and the, er – well, the rest.’
    Garvey was ready to pounce. ‘Which elements? You’re supposed to be the people with their fingers on the extremist pulse.’
    She watched Woolf scan the room. All eyes were on him. Evidently he hadn’t anticipated being put on the spot like this. She