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| MI5 report that they are happy with levels of preparation for a code A emergency. A recent EERIE exercise pin-pointed areas that needed improvement, but all its staff performed excellently. It was just another Friday morning for Tom Quinn. He had coffee with his girlfriend Vicky and arranged a lunch date with her. Arriving at work, he was introduced to Harry's guests Bridget and Mark. But Danny was late, and just as he arrived outside the pods a huge alarm went off and the team were thrown into an EERIE exercise. The exercise had to be treated as reality, and as EmEx officer, Tom was now in charge. It was against regulations, but Tom decided to let Danny in. The team quickly set about gathering facts. A dirty bomb had gone off in Parliament Square, and the senior government officials had been evacuated. As they tried to establish communication lines they discovered that the officer in the Duty Room had been affected oddly by the crisis and shut down most of the essential systems. Despite this Malcolm managed to make contact with an emergency response van who tell them that the bomb contained VX. Radio 4 goes off air, and as the team gain access to cctv footage from across the capital, they start to realise that this is not just an exercise. Ruth connects the attack to a known security risk and deduces that there are plans to attack 10 cities in this way. As it became clear that Harry was suffering from VX poisoning, Bridget and Mark got increasingly mutinous. The final straw was when the heard the governmental helicopters had come down, and Tom was forced to declare a state of emergency. Mark and Bridget were determined to make a break for it, believing they could escape to a safe-house in Ashford. Tom knew that leaving the Grid would not only mean certain death for them, but also for the rest of the team, when infected air was able to enter the room. He had no option but to hold them at gunpoint. They were trying to break the seal on the pods, so Tom pulled the trigger. As the shot rang out, the electricity suddenly came back. Harry emerged from his office and congratulated everyone on a job well done. They were stunned to discover it was all an exercise after all. Harry invited them all down to the pub for a liquid lunch. As the last of the workers left, a category A alert flashed out from Ruth's screen, across the empty office |