There was nowhere to run and no place to hide. And even if by some miracle she could disarm the man with a knife – a hundred times more difficult in real life than they ever made it look in films – a single bullet from the other advancing thug would end this encounter in a heartbeat.

She had all but given up and resigned herself to her fate when she heard a single cry: ‘Kate!’

The man with the pistol turned, but he was not quick enough. Suzy pushed his arm up so that a shot pinged harmlessly off the metal strut of the bridge above, then slammed the heel of her palm into the brachial nerve on the side of his neck.

Danny and his colleagues were only half a pace behind her, so that the thug with a knife, who had seemed so menacing only seconds before, now found himself surrounded by four men and a female officer with a pistol trained at his chest. He didn’t need any further warning: he ran for his life.

They all watched him go. Kate leant back against the rail. Suddenly she felt very faint. ‘Thank you,’ she muttered. No one seemed to have heard her. ‘Thank you, Suzy,’ she said. ‘All of you.’

13

13

KATE TOOK THE decision to make a swift exit from the scene to avoid any operational fallout with the German police and their intelligence colleagues, whom they had deliberately chosen not to inform of their plans.

She went straight to her room once they had got back to the hotel, washed her face and sat on her bed. She noticed her hands were shaking violently. Her phone rang: C. She didn’t answer it, but as soon as it rang off, he called again. ‘Yes, boss?’

‘What happened?’

‘I don’t really know. We stuck to the plan. Danny and his team allowed plenty of time for the covert surveillance and he was confident I was clear. Somehow Mikhail got a burner phone into my pocket. I don’t know where or how – I didn’t spot that and neither did the ops team. He called and said I’d been followed. He instructed me to get on to the S-Bahn and off again at Friedrichstrasse. He directed me to a spot under the S-Bahn bridge that did feel as if it had been deliberately designed for an ambush and then . . .’ Kate gathered herself. ‘I thought I was done for, to be honest. Suzy came out of the darkness at them like a wild cat. I wouldn’t be here without her.’

‘Who betrayed you?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Get back here and we’ll work it out.’ Sir Alan ended the call. Within a few seconds, her phone lit up again. This time it was Ian. But hearing his reproachful analysis was the last thing she needed, so she ignored him entirely.