‘Who are you? I don’t recognize you.’

‘Captain Samuel Johnson,’ he said. ‘I arrived from Lagos this afternoon on the Colonel’s orders.’

The guard weighed this up, then looked at his watch. I could almost read his thought: ‘Is it too late to call through to the main house and check?’

‘Call the Colonel now if you like,’ said Gunner, who was evidently on the same wavelength. ‘But he will not be pleased by interruptions now - he gave me the express order to chop-chop.’

The guard nodded and saluted Gunner.

‘Go on with one Nigeria,’ he said.

‘Go on with one Nigeria,’ said Gunner soberly.

The guard turned his back and pressed the mechanism to open the gate, which slowly started to swing back on its hinges.

I felt the air move before I heard the shots. I looked in the rear-view mirror - they were coming over the far lip of the hill, bearing down the road. Dozens of men and a Ferret armoured car, its two lights blazing and its black snout rapidly growing larger as it came towards us.

As I reached for the Stechkin, I shouted at Gunner to put his foot down, but he already had - we were heading straight into the gates. The guard turned, took in the approaching men and car, and began shouting to alert his colleagues inside the hut.

I aimed for the ground just in front of him as I opened the car door and bundled out onto the tarmac. I saw him throw himself flat, and I rolled over and fired off several rounds into the lever controlling the gate until I saw sparks, and then the first flickers of flames. I could hear the others behind me as I got to my feet, then squeezed through the gates and pounded my feet down the tarmac, until I realized what I was doing and veered off to the left, down a steep bank towards the bush. I had no idea what direction I needed to go in, but that wasn’t important now. They had a Ferret, and it was bearing down on us at a rate of knots. I could feel the heat of its lights on my back, and the shots were thundering in my brain.