Westminster Abbey
What it is
The Abbey is the decoy the whole book is aimed at. C02 has Whelan ordering security checks for a memorial service there; C06 has the cell putting a bomb on a train; C11 has Taverner and Flyte deciding the last item on the list must be a media event, and settling on the Abbey with the Abbotsfield memorial service afterwards. C12 fills the streets around it with armed police, barriers, crowds and bells.
The attack happens elsewhere. That is the joke the book plays on its own Service — and on the reader, who has been given every reason to watch the Abbey too.
Book 5 — London Rules
- C02 — Whelan asks for security checks ahead of a service at the Abbey, before anyone knows what the list is.
- C06 — A bomb is found and made safe on the Bristol–Paddington line; the pattern points at a public, televised target.
- C12 — Flyte and Taverner name the Abbey as the likely event; the Service starts protecting the wrong building.
- C13 — Noon: police on the streets, barriers, crowds; Taverner works the hub while the cell drives north.