Free First Response by Stephen Leather Page B

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LAMBETH CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND CENTRE (12.18 p.m.)
    ‘Another one’s just come in,’ said Lumley, standing up. ‘A bus in Tavistock Square.’
    ‘Please don’t tell me it’s a number thirty,’ said Kamran.
    ‘I’m afraid so,’ said Lumley.
    Kamran groaned. There had been four suicide bombs in London on the morning of 7 July 2005. Three had been on Tube trains. The fourth, the final one, was detonated on the top deck of a number thirty double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, close to the headquarters of the British Medical Association, killing thirteen people and injuring dozens more. ‘This can’t be a coincidence,’ said Kamran. ‘Not when it happens on the tenth anniversary of Seven/Seven. On the same bloody bus. Bastards, bastards, bastards.’ He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then patted Lumley on the shoulder. ‘Liaise with SCO19, Bomb Squad, Fire and Ambulance. And let’s get the helicopter overhead. Where is it now?’
    ‘Marble Arch.’
    ‘Move it to Tavistock Square. As soon as you know who the Silver Commander is there, let me know.’
    ‘Will do,’ said Lumley, picking up his phone.
    Waterman stood up and came across. ‘That’s a bit of a game-changer, isn’t it? A bus. Tavistock Square.’
    ‘Like I said, it can’t be a coincidence. But why aren’t we seeing them on the Tube? And Seven/Seven was never about hostages, it was about mass killings.’
    ‘This lot are different,’ said Waterman. ‘This is ISIS and they’ve always been good at PR. They know that by replaying the Seven/Seven bus they’ll get more coverage. People will talk about it, exactly as we’re doing now.’
    Kamran sighed. ‘It’s obviously been well planned,’ he said. ‘Was there nothing to suggest that anything like this was coming?’
    ‘The threat level has been severe for some time, but that’s more a reflection on the number of jihadists in the country rather than a specific threat.’
    ‘You’d have thought there’d be something. This number of targets, so many people involved, you’d have thought someone would have talked.’
    ‘Attacks on shopping malls and public places, yes, they’re always being discussed. But individual attacks like this across the city, co-ordinated and planned? No, no one knew this was coming.’
    Kamran walked out into the main room and headed for the SCO19 pod. The desks were laid out so that eight people could work facing each other. Inspector Windle was on his feet, talking animatedly into his headset. ‘I know resources are running thin but we need at least two ARVs in Tavistock Square now.’ He took off his headset. ‘This just gets worse, doesn’t it?’
    ‘How are you fixed for vehicles?’
    ‘We’re not. All I can do now is move assets around.’
    ‘Where’s Captain Murray?’
    ‘He’s a smoker. Haven’t you noticed he pops out every half-hour or so?’
    ‘How many of his men do you have?’
    ‘Eight so far. They’re two apiece at the first four locations. That’s in addition to the six we already had embedded with ARV units. There’s another Chinook on the way from Hereford with eight more.’
    ‘And how are they getting on with your people?’
    ‘Good as gold, so far. Our guys do a lot of training with the SAS and while there’s a fair bit of healthy competition there’s mutual respect too.’ He put his hand up to his headset. ‘Sorry. I’ve another call coming in.’ He turned his back on Kamran to take it. The main screen was showing Sky News. They had managed to get their own helicopter above Tavistock Square and were transmitting an overhead view of the bus.
    Kamran walked to the pods on the far side of the special operations room where the Ambulance and Fire services were based. The officer liaising with the Fire Brigade was a familiar face – a twenty-year veteran called Danny King – but Kamran hadn’t met the London Ambulance representatives before and took the time to introduce himself to the two