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critical. Fourteen adult deaths that we know of at the school, seven more at the synagogue. Six police officers dead too.’
    ‘Shit,’ Mason said, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘Sixty-eight dead, that’s got to be the most from one of these crazed lone wolf attacks so far.’
    ‘By a long way,’ Abrams confirmed. ‘A long way.’
    Nobody had to say that it was the first time that children had been specifically targeted too; it was too obvious – and perhaps just too painful – to mention.
    A phone rang then, and Noah Graham reached into his pocket to retrieve his cell. The Director of the FBI looked at the screen and mouthed the words – My contact at MI5 – and Abrams nodded her head, allowing Graham to take the call. In such a fluid situation, protocol was the last thing she was concerned about. Graham started to greet his friend from Britain’s internal security service as he left the room.
    ‘We’ve got our people talking to SIS too,’ said James Dorrell, Director of Central Intelligence, ‘we should have some usable information from them before too long.’
    Abrams nodded. The Secret Intelligence Service was Britain’s foreign intelligence agency, the equivalent of the CIA, and they might well have further details about the three men – if they’d traveled abroad, who they might have met with, if they’d received training in any of the myriad terrorist camps spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
    ‘We’re already reviewing security protocols at elementary schools, high schools, kindergartens, colleges and universities,’ said Dylan Crow, Secretary of Homeland Security. ‘We’re mobilizing resources so that we can protect the most vulnerable sites, just as a precautionary measure.’
    Abrams nodded her head. ‘Do it,’ she said, knowing that some of her political colleagues might object – it could be seen as a knee-jerk reaction, a sign of weak leadership. But where children were concerned, she just wasn’t willing to take the risk. Despite it appearing to be only the lunatic actions of three British radicals, there was always the small possibility that it was part of a bigger plot, a plot which might include similar attacks within the United States. If she didn’t authorize extra protection in light of the events in London, and then something happened here at home, then Heaven help her.
    ‘Might I suggest closing schools for the day?’ Crow said next, and Abrams didn’t respond immediately, giving the idea some thought.
    Rosalind Warren, Secretary of Education, cut in quickly before the president had time to answer. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ she said. ‘Schools open in under an hour, most already have staff in, plus kids at morning clubs, pre-school care and so on. Parents will have left for work already, it’d be a logistical nightmare getting in touch with them, arranging pick-ups. I just don’t think it’s workable.’
    Abrams nodded her head again. ‘You’re probably right, Rose,’ she said, ‘I don’t think it would work right now. Dylan,’ she said, turning back to Crow, ‘authorize whatever resources you have right now, get schools covered right away and report back to us at nine in the situation room, at the meeting.’
    ‘Yes ma’am,’ Crow said, standing to take his leave.
    ‘Besides which,’ Warren said as he left, ‘I think there’ll be plenty of parents who’ve heard about this on the news who’ll be keeping their kids at home today anyway.’
    ‘I know my grandkids aren’t going in,’ confirmed General Pete Olsen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. ‘Why take a chance, right?’
    ‘Why, indeed,’ Abrams said, knowing that it was an entirely different decision with children than it was with adults. Adults might choose to confront the threat head on, go to work to show the terrorists that they wouldn’t – couldn’t – be cowed. But with kids, it was something else altogether.
    ‘Sons of bitches,’ Abrams said