‘Senior personnel only.’

‘You’re senior.’

‘Not senior enough.’

‘Password-protected?’

‘Yes.’

‘How often do they change the password?’

‘Daily.’

He talked me through the building, the security on the doors, the offices and the integrated IT system.

‘Are you searched when you go in?’

‘No.’

‘Searched leaving?’

‘No.’

‘You have access to the report that’s been circulated.’

‘Yes.’

‘For now, send me everything that’s on the open system.’

‘That is simple.’

‘Let’s start with that then. And find out where she’s gone if she’s not in Astana, whereabouts in the east people are looking.’ I promised him the equivalent of two hundred pounds for every new lead, five thousand if he established where Vanessa McDonald was. The curiosity was too much for him.

‘Who is Vanessa McDonald?’

‘Someone very valuable.’ I gave him the number for a clean phone. ‘When you need to contact me, text the number of whatever phone box you’re at. I need to know what’s going on inside anti-terrorism. In Zhaparov’s inner circle.’

He shook his head.

‘How much do you want?’ I asked.

He retrieved another cigarette but didn’t light it. His face bore an expression I had seen more times than I wanted: the discomfort of a man calculating what his life was worth.

TWENTY-FIVE

I let him leave first, then went down to my GL5 escort.

‘How did it go?’

‘Peacefully.’

‘That’s what we like.’

I was driven back to their office, where I put a deposit down for any further work. Purvis liked the cash. He didn’t ask for the gun back.

‘If someone wanted assurance that they could get out of here in a worst-case scenario,’ I said, ‘one, maybe two people tops, quick and quiet as possible out of Kazakhstan – how feasible does that sound?’

‘Informal arrangement?’

‘Cash in hand.’

‘It’s feasible. I’d have to get some names together. I’m guessing it would be a last-minute kind of business.’

‘Very. Would you go across the Caspian?’

‘The Caspian gets icy, so probably not. We can get to a drill site; there are helis there, a Lynx that will get you to Baku, easy. Five-seater Airbus if the weather allows. We control two helipads in Baku. I’d rather steer wide of Russian airspace.’

‘Jets?’

‘An Embraer Tucano. But I’d rather not use it for commutes.’

‘Where do you park that?’

‘Away from prying eyes.’ He winked. Embraer was a Brazilian company. The Tucano was marketed as a light combat aircraft.

‘Registered to GL5?’

‘Not exactly.’

‘What sort of price are we talking about?’

‘For a civilian?’ He considered. ‘The heli’s thirty k. Personnel another ten per day, or two grand each. They’d want a retainer, maybe ten up front. For a mate of Jimmy’s, call it seven.’

‘And how much warning would you need?’