‘We’ll hang around and wait for the smoke to clear,’ said Shaw. ‘They might pull out the bodies. Muslims like to bury their dead within twenty-four hours.’ He took out a packet of cigarettes. ‘Time for a quick smoke.’

‘Just give me a minute or two, will you, Alex?’ asked Shepherd. ‘Let’s see if we can work out what the sniper was aiming at.’

‘No problem,’ said Shaw, dropping back into his seat.

‘Start at about three hundred metres and work out,’ said Shepherd.

‘Are you on it, Steve?’ asked Shaw.

‘Heading two-five-zero,’ said Morris, slowly moving his joystick. ‘What are we looking for?’

‘Anything a sniper might be interested in,’ said Shepherd. ‘Military installation. Army patrol. Government building.’

‘It’s mainly residential,’ said Donoghue, peering at the main screen.

Shepherd stared at the screen. Donoghue was right. The area was almost all middle-class homes, many with well-tended gardens. Finding out who the occupants were would be next to impossible, and there were dozens of houses within the sniper’s range. There was movement at the top of the screen. Five vehicles, travelling fast. ‘What’s that?’ he asked.

Donoghue changed the camera and zoomed in on the convoy. Two army jeeps in front of a black SUV with tinted windows, followed by an army truck with a heavy machine-gun mounted on the top followed by a troop-carrier. ‘That’s someone important, right enough,’ said Donoghue.

Shepherd nodded. ‘How far from where the sniper was?’

‘A mile or so.’ Donoghue wrinkled his nose. ‘That’s a bit far, isn’t it?’

‘Not for a good one,’ said Shepherd. ‘And he looked as if he knew what he was doing.’ He pointed at the screen. ‘They’re probably running because of the explosion. Whoever that guy is, he’ll probably never know how close he came to taking a bullet.’

‘Or that HM Government saved his bacon,’ said Shaw. He grinned. ‘Well, not bacon, obviously.’

‘Can we get back to the house, see if the smoke’s cleared?’ said Shepherd. He stood and went over to Shaw’s station. ‘Can you get me close-ups of the sniper and his gun?’

‘No problem. It’ll take a few minutes. I’m not sure how good the images will be.’

‘We’ve got technical guys who can clean them up,’ said Shepherd.

‘Denis, could you handle that for our guest?’ said Shaw, then to Shepherd: ‘Thumb drive okay?’

‘Perfect.’

‘Put a selection of images on a thumb drive, Denis, while I pop out for a smoke.’ Shaw pushed himself up out of his chair.

‘I’m on it,’ said Donoghue.