BOMBPROOF by ROBOTHAM MICHAEL

Author:ROBOTHAM MICHAEL
Language: arg
Format: epub
Publisher: LITNE - LITTLE, BROWN BOOK GROUP

27

Commander Bob Piper surveys the empty streets and the abandoned shops and offices. The perimeter has been secured and civilians evacuated. It’s textbook stuff. Two cordons. Concentric circles. The only people allowed through the outer ring are police and emergency services. The inner ring is for the counter-terrorist squad, CO19 (Specialist Firearms Command) and the bomb squad. Now the only civilians within the cordon are the hostages and the hostage taker.

Piper hates sieges. In the old days they were easy. You gave the guy a few hours to cool down (or sober up) and then issued a final warning. If he didn’t surrender you went in. Breaking down doors. Firing teargas. Shooting the bad guys. Restoring order.

But ever since the Jean de Menezes debacle at Stockwell Tube, procedures have been changed. Not so much procedures as public sentiment. Two firearms officers put seven bullets into the head of a Brazilian electrician they mistook for a suicide bomber. Who knew that people would take it so badly? Turned out that shoot to kill is only acceptable if you smoke the right suspect.

There were public inquiries, internal reviews, an inquest and calls for the Commissioner’s head on a spike. De Menezes became a poster boy for the civil liberties whingers and bleeding hearts who delight in portraying law enforcement agencies as totalitarian secret police.

After the war on terror and the war on drugs there should be a war on irritating people, thinks Piper, on the Marxists, the moaners and the greenies.

Last year a siege in North London went six days. Everyone praised the police for their patience and tolerance - except for local residents, unable to sleep in their own beds or get a change of clothes.

This one can’t go on for six days. Tomorrow morning a million people are going to be catching trains and buses into Central London. What then? Chaos.

Piper glances at a TV monitor. The front of the Red Emperor is bathed in light that reflects off the silver and gold letters painted above the main window.

A dozen firearms officers are positioned on the rooftops around the restaurant. Sharpshooters. Trained professionals. One clear shot and they can all go home. In the meantime Piper is supposed to negotiate. Confer. Reach a deal.

That’s his dilemma. Piper is a conservative and a believer in law and order, but not in lawyers or judges or in a judicial system which has too many flaws; too many gaps for criminals to slip through.

Piper is also a realist, who has accepted the fact that in all probability his decisions will cause irreparable harm to innocent individuals. That’s the nature of policing. No matter how much training you do or how sharp your skills or how modern your armoury, sometimes the most efficient weapon is a broad axe.

The Commissioner has called a media conference. He wants Piper by his side. He will doubtless express full faith in his Commander, thereby ensuring that if the operation goes south, he can blame someone else for the debacle.

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