‘We’re worried there’s been a leak. I was going to tell you last time, but I didn’t want to frighten you. The Libyans caught a British agent operating in the training camp where we had our briefing sessions. Under torture, he admitted that he had bribed a Libyan friend to go to London and tell his control. The Libyan was tracked down and silenced, but not until after he arrived in London. We know who he contacted, but we don’t know how much he managed to tell. We know it can’t have been a great deal, because the specific details hadn’t been decided then, and I advised we should let the matter drop. But now there’s been a real fuck-up. Wojara didn’t agree. He wanted to have the person the Libyan contacted silenced as well – someone at MI5. They had a go at him and screwed up. You probably read in the paper last week about the bomb in a taxi?’

Whalley nodded.

‘Well, if that MI5 man’s got half a brain, it can’t take him too long to put two and two together and figure out a connection. I knew there was going to be trouble dealing with niggers. You’re going to have to keep your ears to the ground and a careful eye out.’

‘Yes,’ said Whalley unhappily. In the gloom, his face looked as cheerful as the inside of an empty curry house.

‘It could open up a whole can of worms, this screw-up, and this operation has to succeed, Mr Whalley, it has to succeed; and you’re the man that’s going to make it succeed, aren’t you?’

Whalley nodded silently.

‘And you know what will happen if this operation fails for any reason, any reason at all, or even if it has to be aborted, you know what your wife is going to get through the post, don’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m glad we still understand each other. Now, we have a date: 4 January – provided the wind is right: westerly. If not, it’s the first day after that that it is right.’

‘I can gear for a specific day – but I don’t know how I can delay after that day.’

‘That’s your problem.’

‘I also don’t know if I can be ready by then.’

‘You’ll have to be.’

‘Can you give me to the middle of next week to confirm it?’

‘You can have until next Tuesday.’

‘All right,’ Whalley sighed, ‘how shall I let you know?’

‘You’ll send a postcard to Oxford University with a picture of Westminster Abbey on it. Now, write this down: you’ll send it to Ben Tsenong – I’ll spell that for you: B-E-N T-S-E-N-O-N-G – Balliol College, Oxford; and you’ll write the message: “You’re right, London is beautiful. See you again soon. Marsha.” Got it?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’ll contact you again soon. Goodbye.’