Tunnels 05 - Spiral

cables, and these twitched as he fiddled with something behind his laptop. “If I can just get this redundant piece of junk to work,” he muttered, waving a hand in the direction of a large screen on the wall above him, “we’ll all be able to watch in glorious Technicolor.”
    The screen suddenly swam with rapidly moving jagged lines. “Almost got it,” Danforth said as the image of a person loomed from the static, then was gone again. Changing a setting on his laptop, Danforth announced, “And if we apply a little attenuation . . . hey presto!”
    “CNN?” Parry asked as he frowned at the picture on the screen — a news anchor behind a desk — although as yet there was no sound. “Is this what you wanted us to see?”
    “Yes,” Danforth replied. “The item’s running on all the news channels over in the US CNN, Fox, ABC — take your pick.”
    Sergeant Finch was gawping openmouthed at the picture. “Is this the TV? I’ve never ’ad the TV down ’ere before.”
    “The whole electricity pylon up top was designed to be a powerful radio antenna, but there are also a couple of satellite dishes concealed in it. I managed to tap into the feed from one of them,” Danforth said. “And . . . with a bit of Heath Robinson ingenuity . . . finally . . . we should have sound.” There was an earsplitting screech from the speakers around the walls as he tweaked another setting on his laptop.
    Everyone had gathered before the large screen except Mrs. Burrows, who was kneeling beside Colly as she kept the overzealous kitten away from her.
    The anchor wore a grim expression.
“Only now are details being released by the Department of Homeland Security about the explosion that killed three members of the Senate and four other people outside a government building on Capitol Hill late yesterday. Erroneous reports had been circulating that a car bomb was responsible for the explosion.”
    There were shots of American military personnel manning a barricade across a road. Then the camera zoomed past them for a close-up of several burned-out cars around which people in white forensic suits were milling.
    “But this is now known not to be the case. Security footage has revealed that the explosive device was carried by a middle-aged man who appears to have been operating without accomplices.”
The anchor came on-screen again.
“A few hours ago at a press briefing, Homeland Security released this statement.”
    A woman was at a podium, a sea of reporters in the long room before her.
“The alleged bomber has been identified as an American citizen —”
A loud ripple of amazement went through the reporters as hands shot up.
“Please — I’ll be taking questions in a moment,”
the spokesperson said, and waited for the reporters to quiet down again.
“Thank you,”
the woman continued as the clamor subsided.
“Identified as an American citizen who has resided in Great Britain for the last five years, where he worked on television documentaries.”
    Mrs. Burrows was on her feet.
    “A recent photograph of the alleged bomber has been released,”
the spokesperson continued as a picture flashed up on the screen.
    “Can you see him? Will you describe him? Please!” Mrs. Burrows demanded anxiously.
    Everyone in the Hub was looking at her, except Parry.
    “Late thirties, about two hundred pounds, longish curly hair, beard . . . ,” Parry began.
    “Ben,” Mrs. Burrows gasped, realizing it had to be the American television producer she’d befriended in Highfield.
    Parry didn’t need to complete the description as the spokesperson continued.
“According to the passenger logs at JFK, Benjamin Wilbrahams arrived on a flight from London in the early hours of yesterday morning, and then drove a rented car from the airport to Washington, DC. Although all commercial flights to and from the United Kingdom have been suspended for the past two weeks, Wilbrahams was on one of the special US Air Force repatriation flights. He was subjected to a full security check before being allowed to board. A device was not detected in his luggage or on his person; however, it is believed that he might have had it concealed inside his body, similar to the Human Bombs dispatched from England to other European countries, which have been all too numerous in recent weeks.”
    The reporters at the media briefing in the long room were now completely silent.
    The news anchor reappeared on the screen.
“Following the oil spill debacle on the