‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It’s a 7.62 mm Dragunov SVD. First produced in competition with Kalashnikov, in fact. It was adopted by the Red Army six years ago.’ I picked it up and placed Pritchard in the crosshairs. He didn’t flinch. Once again, it crossed my mind that I should kill him while I had the chance. But I was on a knife-edge already - another corpse would leave no doubt in London’s mind. I didn’t fancy running for the rest of my life or rotting away in Moscow, so I leaned down and placed the rifle back on the floor.

‘Why didn’t your man on the golf course use this to kill Slavin?’ Pritchard was saying.

‘I’ve been wondering the same thing myself,’ I said. ‘I reckon killing Slavin must have been a last-minute idea. The killer was out here on another job when he was told he had to take care of a defector as well, and fast. He didn’t have time to go to the club to pick up the rifle, so he used an unmarked pistol instead.’

‘“Another job”?’

‘He had an L-pill on him and he used it. He had to be protecting something pretty major to take his own life.’

‘Perhaps he was simply a well-trained servant of the Motherland.’

‘I don’t think even the Russians are that brainwashed,’ I said.

‘All right. If he didn’t need a rifle to kill Slavin, what would he need it for?’

I nodded. ‘I thought of that, too. What if Slavin was killed, not because someone was afraid he was going to reveal the identity of Radnya, but because he might reveal the identity of another target? The man on the golf course was no ordinary thug - he knew hand-to-hand combat, and he was a crack shot. Ever heard of SMERSH?’

He nodded. SMERSH had been the Russians’ method of dealing with those they felt might escape justice after the war. They hadn’t bothered burying their bodies.

‘Officially, they were wound up in ’48,’ I said, ‘but we have some evidence that the new KGB chief, Andropov, has reformed them. Remember those chaps who took over Prague airport last year? Very similar m.o.’

‘I don’t remember seeing any reports on this,’ said Pritchard.

‘We’ve not had solid proof of it. I’ve mentioned it to Chief a few times, but he keeps - kept - putting me off.’

‘Assassination units in peacetime? Isn’t that stretching it a little?’

‘Have you forgotten, Henry?’ I said. ‘You helped my father set one up.’

He didn’t say anything to that.

‘Slavin was shot with a pistol,’ I went on. I pointed at the rifle. ‘So why was that waiting for him in the Afrospot?’

‘Could be a number of reasons,’ he said. ‘The country is at war, after all . . .’