‘Did you believe him?’

‘It doesn’t matter whether I believe him or not. If the video exists, if it’s real – and he promised evidence of the payments they’ve made to the prime minister, too – then we have no choice. There was more. As a gesture of goodwill, he said we should know the Kremlin is planning some kind of coup in Estonia.’

‘What?’

‘There will be a “threat” to the local Russian population in Narva – protests or riots or civil disorder. The Night Wolves have bought a farm just outside, stacked it with enough weaponry to start a war. They will come to the aid of their “countrymen”.’

‘Why the Night Wolves?’

‘Plausible deniability. A bunch of old army vet bikers. How would we prove they took their orders from the Kremlin?’

Julie contemplated that in silence. Neither of them needed to articulate the fact that this was the kind of confrontation that could spark a third world war. ‘Are you going to call London?’ she asked.

‘No. I was thinking about driving to Rome to file from the embassy, but we don’t have time. Let’s go straight to the flight. I’ll have to drop the kids off at home, but I’ll text Danny now and see what he can find out. The CIA is bound to have good coverage on the border.’

‘I’ve never actually seen the Night Wolves in action, so what—’

‘Just volume at this stage. Any farm with a lot of outbuildings or barns, any sign of lorries moving or parked on a significant scale. Motorbikes, obviously. Any recent transactions recorded in the Estonian Land Registry, otherwise a list of all properties owned by ethnic Russians.’

‘Should I talk to Karen in Tallinn?’ Karen White was their station chief in the Estonian capital.

‘No. And don’t do anything to alert the Estonians either. As soon as I’ve dropped the kids I’ll tackle Ian and the chief and we’ll go from there.’

Kate went next door to speak to her children. Fiona was in the loo. Gus was on his bed, playing Angry Birds on his iPad. Kate came to sit next to him. ‘Was it all right?’ she asked, caressing the back of his head. He pulled away. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘Nothing happened.’

‘You both seem . . . upset.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘Was it nice to see Dad?’

The bathroom door opened and Fiona stepped out. ‘Dad burst into tears. He said he was miserable in Moscow. He has no friends, no money and no life. He told us he had made one terrible mistake and he would pay for it for the rest of his life.’

Kate shook her head slowly. ‘He shouldn’t have said that.’

‘Why not? It’s true.’

‘Because it loads the burden of his mistakes on to you.’

‘He only made one.’

‘Well, that’s not quite true, is it?’

‘It’s absolutely true.’

Kate could see her daughter was spoiling for a fight. Fiona took off her hairband and shook her hair free. It was never a good sign. Kate knew she should walk away. ‘He betrayed us and chose to betray his country,’ she said quietly.