‘Do they belong to the Islamic Movement of Kazakhstan?’

‘I’ve never come across any such group.’

‘Where did you get the guns?’

‘The usual places.’

‘You’re using Chechens and Syrians as hired muscle. That’s an unfortunate look. It’s not going to win you friends.’

‘Who would you like me to use? Or shall I tell the Russians that Block Nine is all theirs?’

‘Block Nine?’

‘What do your bosses say to that? Is the UK government backing Saracen?’

‘I don’t know about Block Nine,’ I said.

Satayev looked puzzled. ‘Why do you think Saracen are here?’

‘Tell me.’

‘Because it’s big. Their big new discovery.’

‘How big?’

‘According to their estimates, around 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, over 5 billion barrels of oil.’

I stared at him in astonishment as my brain did the calculations. If what he was saying was true, it was the biggest discovery of the last twenty years. Satayev, at least, seemed sure of the numbers.

‘You’ve seen data?’

I asked. ‘I’ve seen data.’

‘Where did you get it?’

‘Friends in Russia.’

‘Where did they get it?’

‘Stolen from Saracen. Hacked, leaked, I don’t know.’

‘I need to see that data.’

‘Of course – if you’re in a position to help. Saracen have been buying up every square kilometre of land around. They use front companies, but we’re not stupid. Nor are the Russians. You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by speaking to me in the first place.’

He reached into his pocket and tossed over a dog tag: four digits, no name. The numbers given to soldiers by the Russian defence ministry usually have a single letter of the Russian alphabet followed by a six-digit number. Russia’s PMCs – Private Military Contractors – only had four.

‘Sigma Group,’ I said.

‘You know them?’

They’d turned up in Ukraine aiding the separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Then we picked up the same men in Syria, fighting on behalf of the Syrian government. Their chief mission was capturing ISIS-held oilfields. A former special forces brigade commander was in charge, and the company was named after his old call sign; he headhunted elite troops, some from the Russian army’s Nefte polk, the Oil Protection Regiment created to protect Chechnya’s oil infrastructure, some Spetsgruppa A, a counterterrorist sub-unit of special forces. The company was registered in Argentina, offices in St Petersburg. By our estimations it controlled between over six thousand men. They got good pay. In return, they signed ten-year confidentiality clauses, handed over their phones, received a nameless dog tag with a four-digit number. I handed it back.

‘Private military. Possibly used as cover for Moscow, possibly more renegade.’