Abbott nodded approvingly. Just by asking that question, Ward was proving that his head was fully in the game. After the plan, the most important aspect of any operation was keeping that objective in mind. The mission is the goal. And the mission, as he told them, was to infiltrate the camp, locate and terminate Doyle, release the children and extract to safety, neutralising as many of the enemy as possible. That was the mission. The reason that they needed to keep that mission in their heads was because when an operation goes noisy, it needs to follow a process. It’s not about feelings or emotions. It’s about going into your one metre square, focusing on your immediate environment and moving towards your objectives.

Which was to release the children. Terminate Doyle.

The plan. ‘Tom, you’re providing sniper coverage.’

‘Of course.’

‘Ward . . . Sorry, bro, but you’re on your own. You’ll be responsible for setting the charges. Miller, you’ll be my number two. We’ll clear the building and locate Doyle. Once that’s happened, we can get the kids extracted. Tom, you make sure to take out any sentries and obvious X-rays trying to escape. That, gentlemen, is our DA plan.’

Any operation has two plans. First of all, a Deliberate Action plan, known as the DA, which was the preferred method of execution, in which you commanded the incursion, controlled the situation and, most importantly, decided when it got noisy. In addition to your DA, you had an Immediate Action plan, known as an IA. This was for when things had not gone to plan. For when the operation had turned noisy on you ahead of the Deliberate Action plan. It was, in effect, a contingency plan for when things went wrong.

And things always, but always went wrong. No plan survives first contact.

‘OK,’ said Brace to Abbott, ‘what can you tell us about the set-up?’

Abbott told them everything he had learned from his time as a Doyle employee. The sentries, not an especially disciplined rota. The inner sanctum office where on the night of the incursion Doyle would no doubt be located, and the fact that most nights he stayed in the office until at least 7pm, which was when the incursion would take place, darkness having fallen at least an hour earlier. How Cynthia Doyle was often present on a Tuesday and a Friday, when she would turn up with their son, Finn.