‘Mum,’ Fiona said, crying. ‘They kidnapped us, blindfolded us, took us somewhere miles away . . .’ Fiona glanced nervously off camera. ‘They say they know what you’re doing and if that plane takes off with the defeater . . .’ another terrified glance ‘. . . the defectors aboard, then they’ll behead us both. Please, Mum . . .’ She and Gus started to weep. ‘They’ll let us go if you leave the defectors there in Georgia . . .’

The screen went black.

30

30

A MINUTE LATER, Kate stood opposite Ian on the tarmac, an afternoon breeze tugging at her hair. The engines were already running, so they’d had to walk away from the steps to be able to converse. And Ian was shaking his head. ‘We can’t,’ he said.

The panic in Kate’s chest was so intense she felt as if she were about to have a heart attack. Ian forestalled a tirade with a raised hand. ‘We’ll find them,’ he said. ‘We’ll throw everything at it, but this operation is a matter of national security.’

‘They have my children!’ she shouted.

‘And we’ll stop at nothing to track them down.’

She gestured at the plane. ‘We have to leave them here.’

‘Kate—’

‘For God’s sake, Ian. The operation is compromised. Someone has told Moscow when, where and how we were intending to extract them. They are threatening to kill—’

‘And we’ll stop them before they have a chance even to think about doing that, but we have absolutely no indication your children will be any safer if we abandon this operation. In fact, the reverse may be true. We will immediately have lost any leverage.’

‘We have to leave them!’

‘Kate, just think about this for a moment. If we depart without them, whoever has your children will have no incentive whatsoever to keep them alive.’

‘I’m calling Sir Alan.’

‘No! Do not do that. I am in operational charge here and I expressly forbid—’

She walked away from him.

‘Kate! I’m warning you!’

She pulled up Sir Alan’s number and dialled. Ian tried to take her phone away and she rammed her shoulder into his chest. ‘For God’s sake!’ he yelled.

Sir Alan answered. ‘I’m making the assumption this is a matter of life and death.’

‘They have Fiona and Gus. They’ve just sent me a video of them both stripped to their underwear and tied to chairs in what looks like a warehouse. Fiona says they’ll be beheaded if we take off with Igor and Mikhail onboard.’

Sir Alan was silent for a moment. ‘Is there any possibility the video they sent you was faked? Have you tried to get hold of either of them?’

Kate had not even considered this possibility. Her heart skipped a beat. ‘No, I—’

‘Have you told Ian?’

‘Yes, he’s here. He’s trying to insist the operation goes ahead.’