Most of the security cameras throughout were basic domes, with a few distinctive box-style cameras at intervals. A company called MicroDigital made a lot of money around 2014 installing security cameras across Central Asia. Cameras were sold with remote internet access enabled, and default passwords that rarely got changed, and even if they were, still allowed infinite password guesses without locking you out – all of which meant you could remotely tap into the video feeds. From there, it was a back road into the whole network, including archived footage. MicroDigital’s slapdash approach to password security had opened up plenty to me over the years, from branches of AT&T in Ankara to the Golden Times Bath House in Tblisi.

I opened my laptop, downloaded a port scanner, scanned for the ports. A quick browse gave me cameras and routers. Default passwords didn’t work, but they were susceptible to brute force attack. I found the router’s IP address and model number, sent a message to Marius at Evotec: I needed Stefan Janikowski. He confirmed that Stefan was still in Riyadh and I was authorised to make direct contact. They gave me a new job code and contact protocol.

I called.

‘I hear we’re back in business,’ Stefan said. ‘Your people change their mind?’

‘I guess so. I want you to take a look at something.’

Within half an hour Stefan had control of the router and was reconfiguring the network rules. Another fifteen minutes and I was sitting in my Hyundai Tucson with the control board of the security operations centre on my laptop. Twenty-one cameras in total. Archived recordings went back two weeks. I checked for KFC. Three cameras covered the area around the fast-food restaurant. It was straightforward enough to search by time and date.

I didn’t notice her at first. She wore a short blonde wig beneath a knitted hat, with heavy-framed glasses. She carried a shoulder bag and the package from Zara. She bought her coffee and sat down, opened a HP notebook, glanced towards the entrance.

No one came.

Five minutes later she was still sitting there, scanning the place from behind her laptop. She checked her watch, then closed the device, got up and left.

I watched it again, disappointed and puzzled. Then I went back to the control board.

Several years ago MI6 realised physical brush passes – an agent handing a file over hand to hand – could be unnecessary in an age of short-range wireless data transfer. They devised technology akin to Bluetooth, using a particular radio frequency to transmit the data. It gained popularity when encryption became strong enough to neutralise the risk of interception, and receivers became small enough to fit into regular-looking devices. Enabled devices needed to be within a range of twenty metres.

Who was around?