First Response (37 page)

‘And before that?’

‘We were driving. We were sitting in the back of the van with hoods over our heads. We kept stopping and Shahid would open and close the doors as he let us out, one by one.’

Barlow smiled and gestured with his pen for Ahmed to continue.

‘Before that we were in the warehouse where we had been kept. We were tied to chairs and we were hooded and put in the back of the van. Our hands were tied behind us. He only untied us when he dropped us off.’

‘And before you were put in the van?’

‘We were sitting in a circle. Hooded. The vests were already on us. One of the men was arguing with Shahid. He wouldn’t stop. He kept shouting that he wasn’t going to do what Shahid wanted. Eventually Shahid dragged him behind a metal screen and used his mobile phone to detonate his vest.’ He shuddered and folded his arms. ‘It was … horrible. I mean, there were bits of him everywhere. There was this trainer with a bit of his leg sticking out. Bits of brain and skull and blood … I really thought I was going to die the same way.’

Gillard nodded. None of the men had been told that the vests were fake, that they had never been in any danger of being blown up. The police needed to be sure that all the men had truly been coerced and so far there seemed no doubt that they had all been in fear for their lives.

‘So you were taken yesterday?’ asked Barlow.

‘In the morning.’

‘And held all day and night?’

‘When I woke up I was on the floor with a hood over my head. They took it off and put on a blindfold and gave me a sandwich to eat and water.’

‘They?’

‘I’m sure there was more than one person,’ said Ahmed. ‘Maybe three or four.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘I heard them moving. And talking, sometimes.’

‘What did you hear them talking about?’

‘Just voices. The hood muffled what they were saying.’

‘And definitely more than two people?’

‘I’m not sure. Maybe. It just felt as if there were more. They let me use a toilet once and there were definitely two men then.’

‘And no one reported you missing?’

‘My family’s in Leicester,’ he said.

‘No girlfriend?’

Ahmed smiled. ‘No one wants a man with no money these days,’ he said. ‘I’d really like to go home. I’ve got to work the early shift tomorrow.’

‘What is it you do?’

‘I’m a security guard.’

‘Where do you work, Mr Ahmed?’

‘It varies. They move us around to stop us being complacent. I’m in the East End tomorrow.’

‘Wouldn’t your employer have been worried that you didn’t turn up for work yesterday?’

‘Of course. But they would probably have assumed I was sick.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Really, I’d like to go now.’

‘We’d like you to give us a DNA sample and your fingerprints before you go.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s just procedure.’

‘I’m not being arrested, am I?’

‘No, there’s no question of that.’

‘Because I was forced into it. I had no choice.’

‘We understand that,’ said Barlow.

‘How do you feel about ISIS, Mr Ahmed?’ asked Gillard.

‘They’re a bunch of murderers who give Islam a bad name,’ said Ahmed. ‘They haven’t been released, have they? The ISIS prisoners in Belmarsh?’

‘No, they’re all back behind bars.’

‘That’s something at least,’ said Ahmed. He glanced at his watch. ‘Now, please, I’d like to go home.’

‘It might take us a while to arrange a car,’ said Gillard. ‘And we will need to keep your shoes and clothing, I’m afraid.’

‘But I can get compensation, right? For my clothes?’

‘I’ll make sure you get the requisite forms,’ said the chief superintendent.

‘What about my wages?’ asked Ahmed. ‘Can I have a letter or something that explains what happened? I’m on a zero-hours contract and they’ll use any excuse not to pay me.’

‘I’m sure we’ll be able to do something for you,’ said the chief superintendent.

‘When the vest exploded, I couldn’t believe it,’ said Ismail Hussain. ‘The whole place shook and there was blood and bits of body. I’ve never seen anything like it outside of the movies.’

‘You were frightened?’ said Kamran. He sipped his coffee. Hussain was holding a bottle of water with both hands as if he feared it would be taken from him. Sergeant Lumley was sitting next to Kamran, taking notes.

‘I was terrified,’ said Hussain. ‘He killed the man without even thinking about it. He picked up his phone, pressed a button and bang!’

‘What did he say about the trigger you had in your hand?’

‘He said it wouldn’t work, He said the only way the bomb could be detonated was by phone. But we had to make people think we were going to kill them. That’s what he said. And he said that if we got the six ISIS warriors freed, we would all be able to go home.’

‘How do you feel about ISIS?’ asked Kamran.

Hussain’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why does that matter?’

‘You’re a Muslim. They’re fighting for Islam, so they say. Do you agree with what they’re doing?’

‘Do you?’

‘With the greatest of respect, Mr Hussain, I wasn’t the one caught wearing a suicide vest.’

‘I was forced to wear it,’ said Hussain. ‘I told you that. They knocked me out and when I woke up I was tied to a chair and wearing the vest. I’ve told you that a dozen times. Why does it matter what I believe in? You’re a Muslim too, right? Are you an ISIS fan?’

‘I’m never a fan of people who go around committing murder, who rape women and throw gays off roofs,’ said Kamran.

‘And you think I am?’

‘You’re a member of a group called Muslims Against Crusades. You’ve burned poppies and demonstrated against our armed forces.’

‘I’m allowed to express an opinion, aren’t I? It’s still a free country. I burnt a few paper flowers. I shouted at soldiers. Are you going to send me to prison for that?’

‘No one is threatening to send you to prison, Mr Hussain.’

Hussain held up his arms. ‘Then why are you forcing me to wear this? Are you sending me to Guantánamo Bay so the Americans can torture me?’

‘Please, Mr Hussain, there’s no need to get upset. We need our Forensics people to examine your clothing for evidence. I apologise for what you’re wearing now but it’s all we have. As soon as we’re done with this interview, we’ll get you home, I promise. But at the moment we’re trying to work out why you were kidnapped.’

‘And you think it was because I’m a Muslim?’

‘We’re fairly sure that’s the case. But there are more than a million Muslims living in London and we’d like to know why you were chosen.’

‘So why are you asking me about ISIS?’

‘Because you might have come into contact with this man Shahid before. You might know him.’

Hussain shook his head. ‘No. I didn’t recognise his voice. Now, please, I want to go home. I am a British citizen. I have rights.’

Sergeant Barlow smiled at Mohammed Sami Malik and asked him if he needed anything else to eat or drink. He had been given an apple and a banana and a glass of orange juice. ‘I just want to go home,’ said Malik.

‘Home is Southall, right?’ said Barlow. ‘You live with your parents?’

Malik nodded. ‘They’ll be worried shitless.’

‘We’ve already informed them that you’re safe and well and they’re coming to collect you.’

Malik groaned. ‘Shit.’

‘What’s the problem, Sami?’ asked Gillard. He was standing by the door, his arms folded. ‘What’s the problem with your parents coming?’

‘My mum’s gonna be frantic, that’s what. Especially when she sees me like this.’ He gestured at the paper suit he was wearing. ‘She’ll go mental. She’ll be sure I’ve done something wrong.’

‘We’ve told them you’re helping us with our enquiries, Sami,’ said Barlow. ‘No one’s going to think you did anything wrong. From what you’ve told us, you were forced into it. You were in fear for your life?’

‘Like I keep telling you, Shahid was running the show. He was the only one who could detonate the vests, using his mobile. He said if we didn’t do exactly as he said, he’d blow us up.’

‘And you believed him?’

‘Fuck, yeah.’

‘Because?’

‘Because he killed a guy, blew him to fucking smithereens.’

‘Where was this?’

‘Some factory or something. The place where we were being held.’

‘Tell me about that place.’

‘I didn’t see much,’ said Malik. ‘Most of the time I had a hood on.’

‘But when the hood was off, what did you see?’

‘It was an old place, concrete floors and metal girders overhead. There were pigeons in the roof. They scattered when the bomb went off.’

‘Could you hear anything outside? Traffic? Trains? Planes overhead?’

Malik shook his head. ‘He only took the hood off that one time to tell us what we had to do. I don’t remember much about the place. After he’d killed the guy he put the hood back on and put us in the van.’ He sipped his juice and grimaced. ‘This tastes like shit.’

‘We’ll get you something else,’ said Barlow. ‘What would you like? Tea? Coffee? A Coke?’

‘I’d like to go home,’ said Malik.

‘Just a few more questions, please,’ said Barlow. ‘What time were you taken?’

‘About midnight. I’d been out with the lads and was on my way home. Someone shouted my name and when I turned something hit my head.’

‘Did they shout Mohammed or Sami?’

‘Sami. Like I said, no one calls me Mohammed.’

‘So whoever it was, they must have known you?’

‘I suppose so.’

‘And you didn’t recognise them?’

‘I didn’t see them. I just heard my name, turned, and bang.’ He reached up and rubbed the back of his head. ‘They could have killed me.’

‘And when you woke up?’

‘I was in a van with a hood over my head. They drove me to the warehouse and I spent most of my time lying on the floor before they tied me to the chair. Then I passed out, and when I woke up again I was wearing that fucking waistcoat.’

‘Your parents didn’t report you missing,’ said Barlow.

‘They probably didn’t realise I hadn’t come home. I usually get in late and leave for work before they’re up.’ He sat back in his chair and sighed. ‘It’s fucked up, isn’t it? Why me? Why the fuck did they pick on me?’

‘That’s what we’re trying to work out,’ said Chief Superintendent Gillard.

‘Wrong place, wrong time?’ suggested Malik.

‘No, they chose you,’ said Gillard. ‘They knew your name so it was you they wanted. You were all chosen, but the question is why.’

‘Yeah, well, when you finally do find this Shahid, give me a few moments alone with him, will you? I’d like to give him a good kicking for what he put me through.’

‘What time did they take you?’ Kamran asked Faisal Chaudhry. ‘You said it was after prayers at the mosque, but what time was that exactly?’

Chaudhry took a sip from his water bottle. ‘I was at the mosque for sunrise prayers,’ he said. ‘I was walking home at about six thirty. A man asked me for the time. As I looked at my watch, another man grabbed me from behind and put something over my mouth.’

‘The man who spoke to you, what did he look like?’

Chaudhry shrugged. ‘Asian, bearded … He had a woven skullcap and he was wearing a grey Pashtun, the long tunic and pants. But I didn’t get a good look at him.’

‘How old was he?’

‘I don’t know. I didn’t really see him. He had his head down when he spoke.’

‘Do you think it was Shahid?’

Chaudhry frowned. ‘Maybe.’

‘And what happened then?’

‘The next thing I remember is waking up tied to a chair with a hood over my head. Then he told us all what we had to do and that’s when he killed the guy who was arguing.’

‘But you didn’t argue? Or put up a fight?’

Chaudhry tilted his head to one side, frowning. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You didn’t resist?’

‘Are you fucking serious, man? I’d just seen a man blown into a million fucking pieces. We were all in shock. He killed the guy without a second thought.’

Kamran nodded. ‘I understand. But walking into a pub and holding dozens of people hostage, that’s a ballsy thing to do.’

‘Ballsy?’

‘It’s not easy, is what I meant. You had to control a lot of people. You had to get them to do what you wanted them to do.’

‘Hey, now, let’s get this clear,’ said Chaudhry. ‘This wasn’t my fucking idea. I was following Shahid’s orders and he said I was being watched and that if I didn’t follow his instructions he’d detonate the vest. I’d have been dead. Do you get that?’

‘I get it,’ said Kamran. ‘And the people you were holding hostage, they were scared?’

‘Of course they were scared. They knew what was happening. And then that YouTube video started playing. That was heavy stuff. So, yeah, everyone was scared.’

‘What’s your opinion of ISIS, Mr Chaudhry?’

‘Idiots,’ he said.

‘Really?’

‘They’re fucking nutters, seriously. You’ve seen what they do, right?’

‘But you’re sympathetic to Al-Qaeda, aren’t you?’

Chaudhry’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘It’s a feeling I get,’ said Kamran. There was nothing to be gained from letting Chaudhry know that MI5 were aware he had been in an Al-Qaeda training camp.

Chaudhry leant forward, his face so close that Kamran could smell the man’s stale breath. ‘You’re a Muslim, right?’

‘I am.’

‘Then are you telling me you didn’t feel any pride when the Sheikh struck back at the Americans?’

‘By flying planes full of innocent people into office blocks? Why would I take pride in that?’

‘Because finally Muslims were fighting back. For years America helped Israel destroy the Palestinians and the world stood by. But when the Sheikh launched his attacks, the world took notice.’

‘So what happened today, you’re happy with it, are you? You’re happy with what Shahid was trying to achieve?’

‘No fucking way. I was scared shitless. And, like I said, ISIS are nutters. They kill people for the fun of it. You’ve seen what they do to gays? That’s just fucked up. I’ve got gay mates. You don’t go around killing people just because they’re gay. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight for our religion.’