‘Ambulance service say four serious, and sixteen walking wounded. No fatalities yet.’

Tennant breathed a sigh of relief. The TV footage was avoiding close-ups. He could see that stewards and police were trying to keep the pitch clear for the injured, but crowds were spilling on to the grass from all sides.

There was a click on the phone. A familiar voice launched into a tirade.

‘Tennant – what the hell is going on? I warned you to abandon the match. How many have died?’ Hogarth was ranting now. Tennant held the phone away from his ear.

‘Twenty injuries, Home Secretary, and no deaths. As I explained, cancelling the match would have made no difference.’

‘It would have prevented twenty people from being injured watching a football match, that’s the difference it would have made.’

‘Home Secretary, I do need to be brief, but may I point out that police action today, including the decision to focus on Wembley, has prevented many more injuries. We raided the flat at the point the terror cell was about to detonate the drone in the crowd – and that could have killed dozens. As a result, the injuries are relatively light.’

‘Have you got them all yet?’ she said.

‘No, ma’am. We’ve neutralised one of the cell members. Another was found murdered at the scene. That leaves three missing.’

‘For God’s sake, Tennant.’ And she hung up.

Tennant swore under his breath. Of all the times to get a call from that woman. Every time he spoke to her, she made it personal. It was intolerable.

And there was still a missing drone. Why hadn’t it been spotted yet? He had three helicopters circling Wembley and still no sign.

#

CTOC, St Pancras, London

Aside from the body in the cupboard, there had been no other nasty surprises, no booby traps and no other people.

‘If it’s clear, I’m sending in forensics,’ Gabriel told the CTSFO team leader before turning to the counter terrorism ops room. ‘Put me through to Gold.’

Tennant’s face appeared on the screen.

‘Sir, the flat is empty. From what we can see, the explosives were operated by a handheld radio relay and we believe the drones themselves were controlled by a smartphone. The phone that the terrorist was using was smashed in the raid, so we’ve no idea what software they used – and whether the drones were on automatic or being controlled live.’

‘Okay, Sophie. There’s still no sign of the missing drone, but we know it’s out there. We’ve got snipers and observation teams scanning, and we’ve now got three helicopters scouring. We’ve alerted the Pride command team and the marathon team too in case they were targeting two events. But we’re spreading ourselves thinner and thinner. Any signs of Abu Mujahid?’

‘Nothing, boss.’

‘Stay in touch.’

It made no sense. Two drones had taken off from the balcony. Was the second one heading somewhere else?

#

Special Operations Room, Lambeth, London

‘Drone spotted, sir.’ Tennant turned to the young officer in headphones, one of a team acting as a liaison between the pods outside and Gold Command.