‘We took one down,’ she told him, ‘but the other was gone before we arrived. It looks like he was warned.’ ‘Warned?’ ‘We identified the first one as Erik Houtman, a Dutch national. It seems his last text messages were sent a couple of minutes before SO15 shot him.’ ‘Did they have to take him down?’ Harvey asked. ‘He would have been more useful alive.’ ‘They appreciate that, but when they burst in he opened fire. One officer was hit, but his vest saved him. Houtman wasn’t so lucky.’ ‘Who were the messages sent to?’ ‘One turned up on the phone the kid claimed to have found. The other was to suspect number three, but he’d skipped by the time SO15 got there.’ Harvey raised his eyebrows at that. ‘I’m surprised they weren’t synchronised raids. That’s pretty standard operating procedure.’ ‘In normal circumstances, yes, but the second team got caught up in some trouble on the way, and the commander of the first unit decided to go in. Not the best decision he’s ever made.’ Bit of an understatement, Harvey thought.
