He hadn’t been flagged by the services. Used false papers to hire a Mercedes 220, attached fake diplomatic plates, drove up to the front of the hotel past six hotel security and almost twice as many members of the presidential guard. That was insane, and suggested inside support, which was currently a high-priority line of investigation. Nine minutes to eleven, Baysufinov parked a few metres away from the entrance. The President went downstairs at 11.03.

Forty-two injured, seventeen dead. If I’d made it downstairs thirty seconds earlier it would have been eighteen.

‘Do we have a group responsible?’ Weston asked.

‘Not yet.’

People kept one eye on the TV screens as it hit: Reports coming in of a bomb … Normal broadcasting ceased. Kazakh channels, KTK News and Channel 31, cut to visibly distressed presenters. The President is reported to have been injured …

Someone had to say it. In the end it was Hayes.

‘Who’s going to be giving the green light now, when it comes to Conqueror?’

‘It’s not clear.’

‘We’re going to have to move carefully,’ Piper said. ‘We know Galina’s been supportive so far. Obviously this will ruffle a lot of feathers. And we don’t want to seem to be taking advantage.’ Something caught in her voice. It sounded wooden. She turned to me. ‘Thoughts?’

‘This is going to plunge their economy into crisis,’ I said. ‘That’s our opportunity. Objectively speaking, they need this deal now more than ever. Show them UK investors standing firm. We won’t be cowed, Kazakhstan won’t be cowed.’

There were nods. I felt like I was watching myself from a distance. Everyone agreed to speak again in an hour. I took Piper aside, removed some of the glass from her hair. She looked at me with a strange smile.

‘Toby, are there any aspects of Vectis that I need to know about? What you do, what’s going on?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean aspects of Vectis that I shouldn’t know about.’

Walker arrived before I could think of an answer.

‘Zhaparov is directing pretty much everything, as far as we can tell.’ He had signals intelligence. ‘The head of the Kazakh Defence Force is on his way to the anti-terrorism HQ. There are calls from Zhaparov’s advisers to senior figures in the Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Russian governments, all made less than an hour after the bomb. The calls lasted five to ten minutes, enough to get guarantees, establish details, chains of command.’

‘And China?’

‘Expressing concern.’

‘That’s screaming fire,’ Piper said, as if we hadn’t just had our inconclusive exchange. ‘For Beijing.’

‘We have a fairly strong indication that there’s going to be another attack in Astana,’ Walker said.

‘What kind of attack?’

‘A bomb. That’s all I know.’

‘Who’s feeding you this?’

‘Reliable sources.’ He wouldn’t say more. I wondered which of his friends in Six were slipping him this information, and why.