The feature was probably part of the pay-off for the Fleet Street editors who had held back on the story while the kidnap was in progress. Now that she was safe at home they had obviously demanded, and got, their pound of flesh. Shepherd scanned the article. Katie praised her rescuers and thanked the Somali government. There were no details of what had happened to her while she’d been held hostage other than her saying that it ‘had been a horrible experience that she wanted to forget’. The prime minister had already been down to see her, and there was a quote from the man himself saying how happy he was that the situation had been resolved. Katie was planning to go to university and wanted to put the kidnap behind her. Shepherd wished her well with that, but he knew from experience that trauma wasn’t so easily dismissed.

He looked back at the article on the rescue of the Athena. A reporter had interviewed the captain and several crew members, and had obtained figures from the shipping industry showing the effects the ship seizures were having on freight charges through the Gulf of Aden.

It was a cuttings job, mainly, with most of the information taken from stories that had appeared previously, and the captain and crew hadn’t said much other than that they were glad to be working again. When the captain was asked how he felt sailing back through the Gulf of Aden he’d told the reporter that he didn’t think that lightning would strike twice.

Shepherd finished the first sandwich and took a sip of coffee. As he put his mug down his eyes settled on the photograph of the Athena. He frowned and then his face slowly hardened and he cursed under his breath.

‘Is something wrong, Dan?’ asked Katra, but he ignored her, ripped the picture out of the paper and dashed upstairs. He picked up his mobile and tapped out Charlotte Button’s number. ‘Where are you?’ he asked the moment she answered.

‘Home,’ she said. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I need to see you in London,’ he said. ‘Now.’

‘I’m with my daughter,’ she said. ‘Is it important?’

‘Charlie, this is as important as it gets.’

‘OK, I’ll leave for the office now,’ she said. ‘Can you give me a clue as to what this is about?’

‘Not on the phone,’ he said. ‘But there’s a major problem with the Athena. I need to see the satellite photos of it when it was taken by the pirates.’

‘I’ll arrange it,’ she said. ‘You’re in Hereford, right?’

‘Yeah. I’ll need you to arrange some transport,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to move fast.’

He ended the call and went along to Liam’s bedroom. ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go to London,’ he said. ‘Hopefully not for long.’

‘You said we were going to play football today.’

‘I know, I’m sorry, but this is important.’

‘It’s always important, Dad.’ Liam looked away and concentrated on his iPad.