‘Quite an exodus. The big names associated with the project seemed to feel their time in state intelligence had come to an end. They went off in a sulk. Robert Carter ensured that most of them had a soft landing.’

‘Joanna Lake?’

‘Lake, yes. She moved to Vectis.’

I went to the motel window, stared at the car park as my mind reeled.

‘Do you think it was closed down?’ I asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Did they jump ship or just change ship?’

‘I see.’ There was a long pause. ‘I wouldn’t want to speculate. I’ve probably said all I can for now.’

‘I appreciate it.’

‘Hugh was a good friend.’

‘Mine also.’

She rang off. Olivia Gresham had messaged: Is this real? Reza Nikfar: Call me. I returned to the car and began to drive back into the centre. I called Reza first.

‘Got a possible ID for the attacker,’ he said. ‘We’re looking for Emad Sabri, Iraqi from Anbar province. Seventeen years old. Usual story: parents killed, spent time in prison, came out angry and possibly disabled. Next seen in Raqqa, learning how to take apart an AK-47. His brother was arrested last year, but Emad must have had some decent training as he’s been off-radar since entering Kazakhstan.’

‘Where’s he going to bomb?’

‘That’s the question. Would be nice to answer it before he does.’

I closed my eyes, tried not to see the aftermath of a suicide bomb: the body parts, the children, the bones through skin.

‘Listen, Reza, you said Joanna Lake put you on to this attack in the first place when she called. I think she’d just seen the plans – I think she’d accessed something that told her what was going to happen. She judged that it had gone too far. She was going somewhere to try to stop it.’

‘You think she got there? She got involved with terrorists?’

‘I don’t know. You’ve got the cell number she rang you from; you may have her last location.’

‘Give me fifteen.’

‘Five.’

‘Five.’

Gresham was still trying to get through. I answered.

‘Where are you?’ she said.

‘Astana.’

‘You’re on the news.’

‘Ignore the news.’

‘Are you okay?’

‘No. What have you heard about the situation?’

‘The President might be dead.’

‘The President is dead.’

‘What about the deal?’

‘Up in the air.’

‘I’m hearing five billion barrels, I’m hearing three billion, then zero billion; I’m hearing a line into Turkey, then people saying that’s a no-go. Others telling me the field’s sixty million years out, and the oil’s gone.’

‘Who’s saying that?’

‘Smart people. Apparently there’s been drilling around Block Nine for years. The fossils coming up are Cretaceous rather than Miocene – so say people who know about these things. It’s clay all the way down.’

‘Saracen have new remote sensing technology,’ I said.

‘Auracle.’

‘Right.’