TTF LIVERPOOL

          Tank and Grace stepped from the elevator onto the top floor of the police station. The office was buzzing with activity; agents were at every desk talking hurriedly into telephones. Major Timms and Chen were standing next to the large white digital wipe board that the team used to illustrate ideas. Chen was pointing his finger and then pulling whole words across the board as if his finger were magnetic. As Chen rearranged words on the board he was talking quickly to the Major. He always talked quickly when he was excited. The Major and Chen had both rolled their shirtsleeves up to their elbows; their shirt collars were tieless and unfastened. They spotted Tank and Faz as they approached.

          “That`s very funny, Chen. What`s going on here then?” Tank said as he pulled up a chair. He patted Chen on the back hard, nearly knocking him over.

         Major Timms picked up the remote handset that controlled the digital board and pressed play. The screen changed immediately to an image of a man stood in front of the Iraqi flag. It was Yasser Ahmed. He was holding a 9mm Uzi machine gun for effect. His long black hair was tied tightly behind his head and he wore a dark headband.

         “Our message to the people of the West is a simple one. If you choose to vote for your crusading governments, then you are legitimate targets for the soldiers of Islam. Your leaders have led an illegal invasion into the lands of Islam, and we, the Mujahideen will defend ourselves. The people of the West must denounce this unholy invasion, and demand that the United Nations acts to stop this military action with its own troops. All Muslim prisoners illegally held in Guantanamo, and across the world must be freed. I have spelled it out to your governments before. Now I spell it out to you again. You will read the message and weep. We will not stop until every last Muslim brother is free from Christian and Zionist oppression.” Yasser Ahmed fired the machine gun into the air and the image disappeared.

          The digital board lit up again and the words that Chen had been moving around reappeared on the screen.

         “Chen`s onto something I think,” Timms said pointing to the screen.

         “Ahmed specifically used the phrase `spell` in the message several times. He likes to play games and tries to prove that he is more intelligent than we are. Look at this,” Major Timms gave Tank a typed list of recent attacks. Tank studied the list with Faz but there appeared to be no pattern at first glance.

         “Watch this please,” Chen said as he added the chronological order of the bombings to the screen.

         “We haven’t noticed this before because not all of the attacks are successful. We generally only put actual successful contacts onto the index rather than all of the attempted attacks. The foiled plots and plans we disregard. We give ourselves a gold star for solving them and forget about them. The attacks that took place overnight make no sense at all if you apply my theory to them, because Istanbul and Hamburg were stopped. So we couldn’t see the pattern until we applied my theory to them, then it was obvious,” Chen was very animated and trying his best to get his theory across but without success.

         “Chen, I haven’t got a bloody clue what you’re talking about so please just `spell` it out for us. Excuse the pun, Major,” Tank said shaking his head. He hated it when Chen spotted something before he had, but he often did.

          “Ok then pay attention please. We registered successful car bomb attacks overnight in Johannesburg, Amsterdam and Dubai. We also recorded foiled attacks in Hamburg and Istanbul. Now then if we forget what the outcome of each attack was, and just put them all on the same list. Then we need to apply the chronological order in which they should have happened,” Chen moved the digital names around on the screen, placing them in an imaginary order.

          “Now we have Johannesburg, Istanbul, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Dubai,” Chen pointed to each city as he read it out trying to emphasise his point.

          “Well they aren’t in alphabetical order. They aren’t even on the same continents. They are not all British colonies or American Interests either. I still don’t see your point Chen,” Tank stared at the list but the more he stared, the less sense it made.

          “I will add the attacks from last week to the board in the same chronological order, Glasgow, London, Oslo, Boston, Athens and Las Vegas. We discovered the London plot before the Glasgow attack took place. Forensics has told us that the car bomb in London was actually timed to explode after Glasgow airport had been attacked,” Chen was straining at the bit now. His theory was so obvious to him that he couldn’t understand why no one else could see it.

          “Yasser Ahmed said he would `spell` it out to us. If we put the attacks in the correct sequence, and use the first letter of each city we can spell the words, GLOBAL JIHAD.” Chen shrugged and held his hands palms up like a magician finishing a trick.

          “You can`t be serious. Have you checked this theory with his other attacks?” Tank stood up and stared at the list in disbelief. Now the theory had been explained it made perfect sense.

          “Run some of the others past me. I am not convinced that this isn’t just a coincidence,” Grace said shaking her head incredulously.

          “In 2002 when Ahmed first splintered from al-Qaeda he was involved a series of incidents. If we take all the successful and attempted events in systematic order, we have the word ISHMAEL. There were attacks in Istanbul, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Manchester, Antwerp, Edinburgh and London. Now bearing in mind that he was just starting to branch out, he was already sending us messages. He has been playing games with us from the beginning,” Chen shrugged again to emphasise his point.

          “What about the attacks in America before he landed here?” Tank asked with a confused look on his face. He couldn’t make any sense or word from the attacks there.

          “Well this one is a little more difficult. If we apply the same logic to it then we have a series of attacks that would give us the letters, SLGF. San Francisco; Las Vegas; Grand Canyon and Florida were all Ahmed targets. There is an Islamic extremist group in the Philippines that were formed in 1991 that use the same initials. The Sayyaf Liberty Group Freedom Fighters, they are responsible for over a thousand deaths, and they are highly revered by Ahmed and his affiliates. At the time of the American attacks, SLGF had just bombed a passenger ferry killing 323 people. Spelling their initials from his own attacks was a gesture of salute from Ahmed.” Chen smiled at the look of amazement on Tank`s face.

          Tank knew that Chen`s theory was correct. Yasser Ahmed`s message to the Times had just highlighted the obvious.

          “If we can identify an Ahmed plot, then we may be able to second guess the next target. It`s not much to go on. It would be pure speculation and guess work but it`s better than nothing,” Tank said thinking out loud.

          “What do we have from the tape apart from that, any suggestion of where it was made?” Grace asked. Identifying a potential target wouldn’t help them to catch Yasser Ahmed. He was unlikely to be near to the attacks when they happened. Grace Farrington made an incorrect assumption.

          “Forensics has it at the moment but there isn’t much to go on at the present time. The fact that he emptied a machinegun clip into the ceiling during the tape would indicate that they are using an empty building somewhere, an industrial unit perhaps. There are no neighbours that`s for sure.” Major Timms looked across the room as he was speaking, the fat controller David Bell was hurrying toward them.

          “We have located Sian`s Jeep at a railway station in North Wales. There is a lot of blood in it, which indicates that she wounded her attacker. The DNA matches the samples of blood that we took from the steps where she was shot. Whoever drove that Jeep also killed Sian. Our initial DNA searches have thrown up the name of a Bosnian Muslim called Rasim Janet. He is a veteran of the siege of Sarajevo, but our records have him listed as missing presumed dead after the war.” David Bell stared at the list of cities that was on the digital screen.

            “Has anyone checked the local hospitals in the area? He can`t have boarded a train unnoticed with a bullet wound in him,” Faz said.

            “There are no reported gunshot victims at all but there is a Polish immigrant in a recovery room at Bangor hospital. He has had emergency surgery to a shoulder wound that was apparently caused by a metal spike. It went right through him in some kind of farming accident. He could be lying, and it`s possible that he is our Bosnian friend with a through and through bullet hole in his shoulder. The local uniform men are checking it out now,” the fat controller said.

           “The chances are that if he is Rasim Janet then he is armed. I want you to send an Armed Response Unit, to back them up immediately,” ordered Major Timms.

           “Do they have him on CCTV entering the hospital? If they do then we need to get his picture to the hospital in Holyhead and see if Mustapha Ahmed recognises him. Look, I know that this Rasim character shot Sian but we really don’t need another terrorist in prison that is refusing to say anything to us. We have an opportunity here and we shouldn’t waste it.” Tank stood and walked toward the window. Everyone in the taskforce would want this man imprisoned or dead for killing Sian.

           “What are you saying, Tank?” Chen asked.

           “I am saying that if it`s him then we need to let him go and keep him under surveillance. He could lead us straight to Yasser Ahmed.” Tank knew that it would be an unpopular suggestion but it was the correct thing to do. Yasser Ahmed was the number one priority.

           “Tank is right. We need to know that it is Rasim Janet first. Get the Response team to keep him under observation. Tell them to send that CCTV footage to us immediately. Bell, you need to get that information to Mustapha Ahmed for confirmation that this man is our target,” Major Stanley Timms patted Tank on the back. It was a hard decision to allow a man that has killed one your officers to remain at liberty. The job of taking him to task would be delayed. He could lead them to the most wanted terrorist on the planet; justice would have to wait.