Under Fire: (A Dan Taylor thriller) by Rachel Amphlett

him.’
    ‘Perhaps that’s why he was chosen,’ mused Dan.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Well, the Iranians couldn’t attend the gala themselves,’ said Dan, ‘so perhaps they sent a messenger?’
    ‘That’s a very strong claim to be making without any hard evidence,’ said Porchester, holding up his finger in warning. ‘We are certainly not going to jump to conclusions.’
    ‘This could ruin me forever,’ said the Sheik. ‘My family’s reputation…’ He fell silent.
    ‘With all due respect, Sheik,’ said Porchester, ‘I don’t think we can assume that to be the case until we’ve investigated other possibilities.’
    ‘It seems highly circumstantial,’ said David. He turned to the Sheik. ‘How long will supplies of LNG be interrupted by this accident?’
    The Sheik shook his head. ‘It depends on how long it will take to remove the tanker and ensure there are no pieces left in the seabed in the port area that could damage other ships.’
    He sighed. ‘In the meantime, our clients are going to start checking the wording of our export contracts very closely and will probably start charging us for late supply. There are already three LNG super-tankers waiting in the main breakwater to enter port – their owners will be talking to their insurers about our culpability in them losing money while they wait. We also have one fully-loaded tanker in port which has to be checked for damage. We were able to get one Q-Max tanker out of the port and on its way to the UK before the attack.’
    ‘If I could interrupt,’ said Fletcher, ‘we’ve looked at weather projections for the next three months and the UK’s current gas reserves are not going to withstand a prolonged delay to its supply chain. The demand on our ability to provide sufficient gas for industry and domestic use is going to be immense.’
    David glanced across the table. ‘How bad could it get, Richard?’
    The other man looked at his hands and Dan heard him sigh before he answered. ‘Based on what happened a few years ago when our supplies were diminished beyond our expectations, we can expect a significant loss of life – mostly in the aged population percentile and those deemed “at risk” by the medical profession. Existing hospitalised cases of pneumonia, that sort of thing. Also, if we factor in the probability of increases in cold and influenza cases due to the cold weather, we’d have to start expecting fatalities in the very young too.’
    Dan shook his head. ‘We take it for granted our homes are going to be warm every time we flick a switch,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t seem possible that we’re faced with such a crisis.’
    ‘Rationing would have to start within days,’ said Fletcher. ‘We can’t predict how long Ras Laffan is going to be out of action.’
    Porchester signalled to the civil servant standing by the door. ‘I’ll have my department make some phone calls – we’ll ask the Tunisians to release a tanker to us. At least that will buy us some time.’
    He murmured instructions to the civil servant, who nodded once before hurrying from the room.
    Dan leaned forward. ‘We should get a team to look into the reports coming out of the preliminary investigations. I’ve only heard of ships this size collapsing in port when they’re fully loaded with ore – I’ve never heard of an empty tanker just sinking, have you?’ He turned to the Vice-Admiral, who shook his head.
    ‘It does seem strange. I’ll help you with that investigation – we can’t rule out sabotage at the moment. We’ve currently got two destroyers travelling through the Atlantic. I’ll send them to meet the Q-Max tanker – that should stop any attack at sea on those supplies.’
    Dan nodded. ‘This might not be a personal attack against the Sheik, but an attack on the United Kingdom’s gas supply. If this isn’t an accident, the perpetrators of such an attack will have put the UK in a very vulnerable position.’
    Porchester blanched.