‘The safe’s in there,’ Abbott told him when he arrived, and Ward already knew the drill. They’d been through how Ward needed to blow the safe but preserve whatever was inside. Ward did as asked, and in two minutes the door to the safe was hanging off, Abbott clearing smoke with his hand to peer inside.

What was he expecting to see? He had no idea. Even so, it caught him by surprise. The sole contents of the safe was a CD. He grabbed it and then together with Ward clattered back along the gantry and down the stairs, covering himself as he approached the factory floor. No sign of Miller.

‘Tango One, be advised Mike One and I are exiting the building,’ reported Abbott.

They emerged to see Miller close by, packing off a guy who was zip-tied, all but slapping him on the rump, yelling, ‘Get out of here,’ sending him darting off away from the site.

At the same time, Abbott saw two children cowering by one of the buildings. He recognised the bruised cleaner girl. ‘You two,’ he shouted to them. ‘You need to get out of here. This place is about to go boom.’

Not far away, Ward shrugged off his rucksack and set to work on the charges. The kids, seeing him at work and knowing for sure that the men in balaclavas meant what they said, emerged from their hiding place, allowing Abbott to hand them off to Miller.

‘Tango One, we need the van down here for extraction,’ said Abbott into his mic, looking around for the one more kid left, needing to find the child because if they didn’t then he couldn’t risk blowing the factory, and if he didn’t blow the factory then as far as he was concerned the job was incomplete. His message was not as powerful as he wanted it to be.

And then he saw him, the last one, the Polish couple’s kid, who like the first two, was hiding in the shelter of a nearby building. Abbott held up his hands, ran over and spoke to him. ‘We’re here to rescue you. You see that man there?’ He gestured towards Miller, who was returning. The kid nodded. That was a relief. At least he could understand English. ‘Go to him. He’ll take you to the others and then we’ll get you out of here. This place is about to explode.’

Miller left, Abbott covering Ward. ‘That’s it,’ he told Ward over the comms. ‘All the kids are accounted for. You’re safe to proceed.’

‘Any enemy remaining?’ said Ward, already working, thumbs pressing a detonator into C4.

‘If there are, they’ll have to take their chances,’ replied Abbott.

An expert and a fast expert at that, it took Ward just five minutes to set dems charges on the four buildings.