Page 96 of Next in Line

‘Good morning, Assistant Commissioner,’ he replied, hoping he sounded wide awake.

‘The body of a paparazzi photographer has been found by a local fisherman on an isolated beach off the coast of Mallorca.’

William’s mind raced, as he tried to work out why this could possibly be of any importance to him, at five o’clock in the morning.

‘The local police,’ continued Holbrooke, ‘found a camera by his side and have sent us the images he’d taken. That’s all you need to know for now, except that a COBRA meeting will be taking place in Whitehall in an hour’s time, and your presence is required.’

Why me, William wondered.

‘We think it’s possible Mansour Khalifah may be involved,’ came back the answer to his unspoken question.

Involved in what, William would have asked, if he hadn’t been cut off. He leapt out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

‘Who was that?’ asked a half-awake Beth, but he’d already closed the door.

•••

Everyone stood as Mrs Thatcher entered the Cabinet Office Briefing Room just a corridor away from Number 10, with none of the usual prying eyes wondering why such apowerful group had been assembled at six o’clock in the morning.

She took her place at the centre of the long table and looked around at a score of the nation’s top decision-makers, who’d all emerged from their warm beds at a moment’s notice. Behind them sat a plethora of civil servants, who would ensure their masters’ orders were carried out when they returned to their Whitehall warrens once the meeting was over.

‘Assistant Commissioner,’ the Prime Minister began, looking across to the other side of the table, ‘perhaps you can bring us all up to date.’

‘The situation is frankly fluid, Prime Minister,’ replied Holbrooke, ‘while our intelligence agencies are continuing to gather the latest information, as I speak. All we know for certain is that an armed group of terrorists, possibly funded by Colonel Gaddafi, boarded and captured a yacht off the coast of Mallorca, on which the Princess of Wales is a guest. Its current whereabouts are unknown.’

‘I thought she and the Prince of Wales were on holiday at Highgrove,’ commented the Prime Minister as she looked at a map that had been placed on the centre of the table.

‘As does the rest of the outside world,’ said Holbrooke, ‘and I’d like to keep it that way.’ He touched a button on his console, and a photograph ofLowlander,with two inflatable dinghies floating from its stern, filled a large screen that dominated the wall at the far end of the room.

‘How did you get hold of that?’ asked the Cabinet Secretary, who was seated on the PM’s left.

‘A paparazzi photographer was on the beach at the time the raid took place, and the Spanish police were able to retrieve his camera.’

‘That was a lucky break,’ suggested the Cabinet Secretary.

‘Not for him,’ said Holbrooke. ‘He ended up with a bullet through his forehead.’

‘What was he doing there at that time of night?’ asked the Prime Minister.

‘He would have been working for one of the tabloids and must have been aware the Princess was on board the yacht. Luckily for us,’ continued Holbrooke, ‘he’d already taken several photographs before he was murdered. His body was found by a local fisherman. The Spanish police also dug up a .54mm bullet which was embedded in the sand near his camera. The type favoured by trained assassins.’

Several voices began speaking at once, until the Prime Minister waved a dismissive hand and nodded at Holbrooke.

‘We had no way of knowing who killed the photographer,’ continued Holbrooke, ‘until we received the pictures he’d taken last night.’

The image of the yacht on the screen was replaced by a young white woman’s face.

‘Who’s she?’ asked the Prime Minister.

‘Ruth Cairns,’ said the head of MI6. ‘She was born in Wakefield, and studied politics at Manchester University. But she dropped out, and disappeared for almost a decade, until recently, when she came to our attention following a signals intercept. She now goes by the name of Nasreen Hassan, and has become one of Gaddafi’s most trusted lieutenants.’ A short video showing a woman beheading an American serviceman in front of a cheering mob left them all in no doubt what they were up against.

‘Cairns appears to be in charge of the operation,’ said Holbrooke.

‘How many terrorists were involved in the attack?’ asked the Foreign Secretary, speaking for the first time.

‘There were only a couple of RIBs involved, so there can’t have been more than a dozen at most,’ replied Holbrooke. ‘We think we’ve identified five of them who have records with our intelligence agencies.’

A succession of mugshots appeared on the screen, as Holbrooke briefed the COBRA meeting on who the suspects were, and the roles they were likely to have played in the operation. The next photograph to appear on screen was of two men dressed in black, standing on the bridge of the yacht. ‘We think this has to be their captain and his number two, because they bear no resemblance to the five officers who sailed the yacht out of Mallorca on Friday evening.’

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