‘Two; for a man and a woman. Both in fake German names.’

This explained the lack of ID on the dead body. He’d stripped himself of identity before coming to meet Joanna. They were about to run.

‘What name do they use for this woman?’ I asked.

‘Vanessa McDonald. It’s believed she stole a car just before disappearing.’

‘What make?’

‘Chevy Equinox. Grey. There’s no sign of it.’

That changed everything. Gave me simultaneous hope she’d got away and a vertiginous awareness that she could be anywhere.

‘Checked car parks?’

‘I assume so.’ Astana’s underground car parks added up to a city’s worth of concealment in themselves. No easy way to search those.

‘Do cars often just disappear?’

‘It’s a big country. Could be she headed east.’

‘What’s that meant to mean?’

‘I saw them studying a map, talking about the possibility she went east, that she had connections there.’

‘East like eastern outskirts? East like the border with China?’

‘I’ve no idea. Did she have connections outside of Astana?’

‘Possibly.’

‘Well, possibly that’s something you want to look into.’

‘Who is in charge of the investigation?’ I asked.

‘Anti-Terrorism.’

‘Rakim Zhaparov.’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘Fuck knows. Maybe she’s a terrorist.’

‘It’s been kept off the news. I would have thought this was a big story.’

‘The news is controlled. This is clearly too sensitive.’

I showed him a screengrab of the man in the CGI clip.

‘I think he is codenamed Catalyst. Zhaparov also has a picture of him. Who is he?’

Shomko took a while studying it before shaking his head. I saw him check the newspaper in the background, frown.

‘What is this?’

‘That’s what I’d like to find out.’

He ashed his cigarette nervously, flicking until I thought it was going to break.

‘So what do you want?’ he said.

‘I need you to get closer to the investigation into Vanessa. Recruit someone inside anti-terrorism. They would be rewarded as well. Anti-terrorism comes under the National Security Committee, doesn’t it?’

‘Technically. But they have their own facilities and security clearances, and a separate network for communication.’

‘You must know people inside it.’

‘I know people everywhere. Most of them like being alive.’

‘What’s Zhaparov’s vice? Does he like guys? Little girls?’

‘He likes power. And he’s getting more of it.’

‘He’s on the rise?’

‘Yes.’

I opened the laptop on a map of Astana.

‘Which buildings belong to Anti-Terrorism?’

Shomko dropped his cigarette to the floor and pointed out five locations, three in official state buildings, two black sites.

‘Which have cells?’

‘All of them.’

‘Any chance that Vanessa McDonald is in one of them?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Where’s the main investigation being run from?’

He showed me the main anti-terrorism headquarters on the map. It was housed within the National Security Committee building.

‘And the investigative databases – who gets access to those?’