‘… bear with me, I …’ While young buck struggled with his notes, I struggled to stay conscious. ‘Right, OK. Yes … this is really interesting because – sorry, hold that for a sec, would you? – his wounds have already been treated. You see here, just below the clavicle, and here, above the knee.’

‘Pretty tidy.’

‘Whoever patched him up changed his clothes, too.’ He pointed to a plastic bag on a chair by the bed. ‘There was no bullet hole in his jeans.’

‘Quite the sleuth, aren’t we, David?’ I felt the hands of the consultant on my chest, right arm, lower legs. ‘Whoever he is, he’s been in the wars, all right.’ She was talking to herself more than her sidekick. ‘Scar tissue all over him.’ She pressed her thumb into a depression in my left calf. ‘I bet that one tells a story.’ And then to me: ‘Soldier, are you?’

I wanted to tell her that, if I’d been a soldier, someone would have been looking out for me. As it was, General King and whichever queen bee was now running MI6’s hive at Vauxhall Cross wouldn’t even bother to disown me: you can’t deny knowing someone that doesn’t exist. I said, did, nothing, except pretend to sleep.

‘X-ray?’

‘Came up clean – no drugs, no bullets, nothing up his bum.’

‘Thank God for small mercies. Bloods?’

‘Normal.’

‘Lucky us. GCS?’

‘Thirteen. Spark out since he got here. The paramedic said he came to briefly en route. Fought like hell when they tried to cut his jeans off. Kept muttering a woman’s name. “Rachel”, he thought. Next of kin, maybe?’

My heart jumped involuntarily. Pause. They were both distracted by the ECG trace.

‘Right, well, while the inestimable intelligence that is Kent Police untangles that little riddle, let’s make sure Mr Mystery here doesn’t shuffle off this mortal coil on our watch, shall we? Though, given everything, he’s in good shape. Let’s keep him that way.’ She dropped her voice. ‘And keep those vultures out of here. I don’t want anyone questioning him till he’s fit to talk.’

‘Yes, Rose.’

There was a long pause.

‘What are we missing here?’ She spoke quietly, distractedly almost.

‘Sorry?’

‘I said, “What are we missing?” Head, abdo and pelvis CT, please. Let’s make double sure there are no bullets in him. Admit him under the medical team until he’s less drowsy.’ I heard her heels make for the door. ‘Oh, and David?’

‘Yes?’

‘The monitor. Switch that bloody beep off.’

I closed my eyes completely and their voices morphed and merged into a blur of undifferentiated data. The room pressure shifted as nurses came and went. I realized in a passing moment of lucidity that I’d been asleep for hours and then drifted back in and out of consciousness, clinging only to one certainty: it wasn’t a question of if they would come for me, but when.