TWENTY FOUR
Akbar and Muhammad had complete control of the ground floor. Anyone that was left in the conference room was either dead or dying. Below them, there was panic and mayhem. Both men could hear screams of panic and terror that was taking place below them.
Rumours began to spread around that the mob had broken through upstairs and it was only a matter of time before they were all lynched and killed.
Akbar and Muhammad set about checking that no-one had survived the ground floor as they set about preparing to advance down into the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs, Susan started to come round from the explosion that had knocked her out.
Opening her eyes she started to recollect what had happened.
Clearing the haze, she immediately reached down her jacket until she found her mobile. Within a few seconds she text to MI5 emergency line that the Chinese President was in imminent danger.
Within a few moments the local Scottish SAS were notified that a terrorist incident had taken place in Edinburgh and members of the counter revolutionary warfare wing (CRW) were taxed with ‘999’ telling them that a real incident had taken place and that this was no exercise.
36 SAS troopers loaded into their converted white Land Rovers with their tactical CQB gear and set off for Edinburgh immediately.
Meanwhile Akbar and Muhammad unaware of this picked up one of the dead police officers’ radio’s and demanded to speak to ‘Whoever is in charge’.
There words were spoken with a strong Asian accent to give the impression that they were Muslim’s in an effort to further create linkages with extremists.
A few minutes later they started to speak to Chief Inspector Grant. The two men informed him that they were part of the Islam Liberation Army and began to spout out a series of demands.
Explaining the situation they demanded, their human and legitimate rights, freedom, autonomy and recognition of the Arab people within the UK, the release of all seventy five Arab prisoners in Guantanamo Bay detention camp and the realise of the 7/7 terrorist from Wormwood Prison. If no demands were met by six that evening, the Chinese President and his guests would be blown up.
In London, the PM was immediately informed and a few minutes later Cobra met chaired by the Prime Minister.
This small group of key players including the Minister of Defence and the Home Office Minister, a Civil Service Director and the Chief of Staff sat around a table, surrounded by various TV screen, which showed the latest pictures from Edinburgh, and various other places in and around Edinburgh. The meeting had been quickly set-up to discuss the situation and investigate their demands.
One the SAS troopers arrived in Edinburgh they began to prepare themselves. Driving to Carlton Hill, they immediately started to kit themselves out and ready for a fight. As they drove towards Edinburgh, the men began to mount their body armour on, prepare their Heckler & Koch MP5, and put on their lightweight boots that would be good for running and kicking in doors, S6 respirator so they could breathe through the CS gas and their NBC suit, to be worn under the body armour.
Anyone looking at the men getting ready would immediately have reacted with fear something that the SAS purposely wanted to achieve when attacking terrorist, which the SAS operative hoped could buy them just a few valuable seconds in battle.
Meanwhile as the SAS prepared themselves the Prime Minister announced that there was no way he was going to meet the demands of the terrorists.
Unaware of the agreement between his Foreign Office Minister and the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs the call came through that the terrorists had changed their demands and were now only requesting a car to Edinburgh Airport and a plane ready to take them and the hostages out of the UK.
With the SAS moved into ‘immediate action area’ the commanding officer commenced his target appreciation work.
A small operational group of four men and one female officer began to go over all the intelligence on the building and compile a plan for a full on tactical assault on their tablets. All the troopers were now fully kited out meaning they wore all their assault gear all the time, they had their primary and secondary weapons loaded and were ready for battle with bullets in the barrel and safety on.
Ten minutes later all of the troopers went through a full briefing of the assault plan so that everyone knew exactly what they were doing and could carry out the mission without any further orders.
At this point the wounded and injured Susan sent an e-mail to MI5, this time it was a low quality film of the Chinese entourage and guests huddled in a darkened room in the basement of the building. Having received this e-mail the commanding officer started to ping off a series of e-mails back to Susan who was able to a good account of the situation inside the building, and the number of hostages being held as well as their location. The best information the SAS got out of Susan was that the building was fitted with armour plated glass, which meant they would need to be blown in instead of beaten by sledgehammers as had been originally planned.
A message was passed onto the SAS that there had been an explosion in the service entrance and may well be forced open. A few minutes later, the Police Liaison Group set up a reconnaissance team who went down to the service entrance to investigate the battered door. They found that the garage door had been ripped apart by the rocket and was riddled with torn pieces of metal and concrete with lead lining cracked and locked doors damaged.
One police officer sneaked into the burned out entrance throwing a small camera devise that the command team immediately got access to.
Consequently, they found their entry point, which was quickly included into their plan, and the plan was changed for the strike team to attack.
At 3 PM, a window opened from the roof and two bodies are thrown out onto the crowd below. Akbar then phoned the police to tell them that somebody will be shot in thirty minutes if the terrorist demands are not met.
Meanwhile Akbar and Muhammad started to take several bodies upstairs to the roof having blocked off the hostages in the basement with three doors they had blasted off with their weapons earlier effectively sealing everyone off from escape.
At this point, the Prime Minister gave permission for the SAS to be used and sent in to resolve the situation; the SAS were already out of the door and moving into position.
The two men who had a constant supply of grenades in their pockets knew from their own training that if the police came they would come in hard and fast and would. However, they were not expecting the SAS to come.
They expected the police to make an attempt. They knew when the police hit they would come in hard. However, the Police would not aim to kill Akbar and Muhammad and they hoped to use this to their advantage. As it had been decades since the military had been involved Akbar and Muhammad did not expect or prepare for the SAS to come in.
While the negotiators talking to Akbar, the SAS moved into their final assault positions. Explosive charges were placed against the back door and silently pressed against the wreckage. The resulting explosion would signal the assault and confuse Akbar and Muhammad. Men would rush through the exploded entrance and rush up to the first floor balcony, their job, to clear the floor. Another team would move in from ground level, and use an explosive entry charge to blow in the back door, their job was to follow the explosion in, ‘flash bang’ the room, clear the ground floor and free the captives in the cellar. Another team would use frame charges to enter the from the roof.
The attack began as planned with a massive explosion erupting from the basement. When the troopers rushed in they quickly charged up a narrow staircase towards the ground floor where Akbar stood preparing to meet the SAS troopers. As the troopers came up the stairs, Akbar opened fire with his assault rifle spaying the stairs with gunfire.
The troopers coming up the stairs immediately dropped to the ground avoiding the volley of gunfire. One of the troopers in the rear immediately threw a small hand grenade up the stairs forcing Akbar back into cover. This allowed each of the troopers to shoot up the stairs engulfing the area in gunfire.
Whilst clearing the entrance Akbar ran past some SAS troopers. One trooper fired at him but missed and he ran off into a room. Several bullets ripped apart a wall covering it with small holes. Two troopers immediately flash banged the room and went in after him however, they did not have torches and could not see him so they called for two more men with flashlights to search the room. They found him hiding on a sofa with his gun in his hand. Entering the room a smoke grenade was hurled into the room quickly followed by the four troopers. Targeting Akbar one of the troops blasted away at Akbar. A volley of bullets peppered his chest killing him instantly.
‘First Terrorist down, repeat first terrorist down’ was the call that came across the radio.
Muhammad who was guarding the entrance to the captives in the basement turned around and quickly realised that this was not a police raid but a full scale military assault.
In the panic and confusion of the explosions, Muhammad quickly lifted one of the doors blocking the captives below and started to pull out his grenades ready to hurl them on the trapped people below. He was able to throw one grenade down the stairs before one of the troopers shot him with two bullets that threw him across the staircase. A second later, another grenade fell out of his hand exploding. The resultant explosion threw parts of his body across the room.
Below them, the captives watched in horror as a grenade came down the stairs. It sounded like a football falling down the stairs.
Everyone looked towards the stairs and time seemed to freeze.
Susan was the first to see the grenade
She screaming out ‘grenade!’
Simon reacted faster by jumping on the grenade when it landed at the base of the stairs. Sacrificing himself, he saved the Chinese entourage and the other dignitaries trapped in the basement.
A few minutes later the doors were lifted off the entrance and several troopers came down the stairs.
The Lead trooper screamed out ‘move, move, and move!’
One after another, the captives were rushed out of the building and to safety.
A few minutes later, a message came through to the COBRA meeting announcing that the terrorists had been killed and the Chinese President had been saved.
Two terrorists had been killed but over a dozen police officers had been killed.