British soldiers always struggled in the summer heat, and the men in the first car turned the air conditioning up to maximum. The military bases couldn’t afford air conditioning in most of the quarters, and the luxury of the cool car was satisfying. They chatted amicably, discussing the football season that had ended last month with Manchester City winning the FA Cup.

‘You’re an armchair supporter,’ one jibed. ‘You can’t support a team where you don’t live.’

‘You don’t live there either.’

‘I’m on operations! It doesn’t count.’

‘Operations, my arse. You’re an analyst. Don’t tell me you got the Iraq medal for sitting in a chair in a listening station?’

‘Fuck off.’

It was ordinary banter.

‘Who are we getting?’

‘A witness in a British case. He’s wanted back.’

‘So he bolted?’

‘He’s a Cypriot national working in London.’

‘Big case?’

‘No idea. All I know is we need to get him to Akrotiri for the last flight to Brize Norton.’

His partner looked at his watch. ‘Doable.’

‘And his mother.’

‘Why his mother? Is she a witness too?’

‘No idea.’

The officer looked in his rear-view mirror and watched the car behind. The RMPs looked serious and bored.

‘Did you ever consider the military police?’

‘Nah. All that abuse. Worst job in the army.’

‘How did you get into intel?’

‘Transferred from the infantry when I was at Chicksands.’

The car belted out cold air and a few drops of icy water fell from the air-conditioning unit down the dash.

‘It’s getting hot out there.’

Their surroundings grew greener as they left the desert-like conditions around Nicosia and entered the fresher mountain terrain. They followed their instructions and drove deep into a forest. The mountain road wound up and up and they talked about skiing at the army station up here.

‘It’s all right can’t complain. Three runs isn’t much, but it’s one of the only places in the world where you can ski in the morning and sunbathe in the afternoon.’

‘Wait, you missed the turning.’

‘Did I?’

‘Yeah, I’m sure that was a sign to the village.’

‘Right, I’ll back up.’

The RMP vehicle pulled up as they stopped and wound the windows down, allowing the heat to rush in. They explained what they were doing. The RMPs rolled their eyes as if the two intel officers were incompetent. They reversed and took the correct turning. A few minutes later, they pulled up outside a modest villa that you would definitely miss if you didn’t know what to look for, hidden away from the tiny track.