‘There is a standard German-issued tactical body armour vest here which can be worn overtly or covertly depending on what you’re looking for. Latest Kevlar formation: won’t stop a big, high-velocity round but it will stop most handguns. I’d certainly wear it if doing something dangerous.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind.’

‘Last thing is this.’ He handed over a small, seven-inch tablet that looked similar to a mini iPad, other than it had a chunky, robust-looking black surround making it resilient.

‘It’s a direct communications tablet which will allow Pet or Mike to send you documentation or link you into various types of imagery. It has its own GSM transmitter that can either use cellular phone systems or satellite communication if necessary. If you can use an iPad, you can use this.’

Tom turned the tablet over in his hands, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the equipment that had been handed over to him. It was favour payback like he’d never seen. He now had two powerful firearms, 140 rounds of sub-machinegun ammunition, and 118 rounds of 9mm handgun ammunition. If the Brankos wanted a war, he was now armed to take part.

He fixed Bill with a direct, even gaze. ‘Thanks for this. And send my thanks to Mike. I don’t know what I would have done without him.’

‘Don’t worry about it. Just don’t lose it, we’d like it back. Everything you have is untraceable and will either show up as lost or stolen, so Uncle Sam can deny it and you. Now buckle up: we’re landing any time now.’

As Tom sat back into the luxury of the leather chair with its endless legroom, Bill reached into an overhead locker and produced a couple of pre-packed sandwiches.

‘You want these?’

‘Sure,’ said Tom, ever aware of the military doctrine: eat when you can, drink when you can, sleep when you can. You never know when your next meal is coming.

Tom ate the cheese and chicken sandwiches as the plane descended. He looked out of the window at the familiar sights of the small Highland airport. He checked his watch, which showed 1830 hours: less than two hours since he had received the call from Branko, and at least eight hours sooner than he could ever have been expected to get to Scotland. He just had to hope that Donnie could come through and get him to Cameron and Shona’s as quickly as possible. He wanted to see the house in daylight to do a close-target recce before planning an assault and rescue.

*

The HS215 landed smoothly and quickly taxied to the terminal. Tom was conscious that, since getting on the plane, he’d heard nothing from the pilot or anyone from the crew: probably as he was on a fully-deniable flight. He wondered what had been done to keep the aircraft off any official records.