St. Thomas’ Hospital, Emergency Ward, 11:20am
A swarm of doctors and nurses are huddled around a row of beds, silent. Behind them are a couple of gentlemen wearing suits, looking rather formal. One of them speaks:
“Are you going to tell them, or should I?”
One doctor goes over to the men, and whispers something in their ear, which prompts a frantic phonecall elsewhere.
*****
BBC News, 11:24am
Lewis: -in his statement, President Bush expressed sympathy with Britain for today's events, saying that “no form of terror will ever be tolerated by the people of the United States”, adding that he knows that the Prime Minister is a strong man and will pull through undeterred, ready to take on the challenges ahead of him. Now, I believe we have an update following this morning’s attack, the first official comment from the Prime Minister’s spokesperson. It reads: “The Prime Minister and several colleagues were caught up in today’s events. Three of them have since passed away in hospital, including Douglas Hurd, and the Prime Minister himself is in a stable, but critical condition, and is waiting to undergo surgery.”
*****
Elsewhere in Television Centre, 11:24am
“You know full well that I can’t just put that out there. Not after the statement we’ve just read.”
“Jonathan, we have to tell them at some point. We would wait for an official statement-“
“Then wait. Wait for the facts.”
*****
Smith Square, 11:30am
Baker, Patten and Mellor are now huddled around a television set, waiting for the latest updates.
“Do you think John will pull through, Chris?”
“I’ve seen more unlikely things happen. We’re just getting started, Kenneth?”
“We’ll have to come down hard on whoever’s done this-“
“Now is now the time for that. We cannot lose our heads in the heat of the moment.”
A phone call comes through. Patten answers it, hums and sighs for a number of minutes and then turns to white, the words at the end of the phone ringing in his head.
“They took a few in for surgery, but it was too late. None of them have survived.”