Holt took up the baton from there, and was more forthcoming about the events that had led to the launch of the NEO volunteer mission and their spectacular, if short-lived, run of success getting people out of Kabul. Both Madison and Father Bugnolio were full of praise for their accomplishments, while Aziz in particular was full of questions. He was deeply worried about his brother and his family, who were loyal Muslims but deeply opposed to what they regarded as the reactionary jihadist ideologies of the Taliban. The last time he’d spoken to his brother they were trying to get a place on the very last plane out; he’d heard nothing since.

‘Wish I could help you there, bud,’ Holt said. ‘A lot of people were in the same situation.’

‘I admit I was tempted to leave too, at first,’ said Father Bugnolio. ‘I knew about the evacuations, of course, but I resisted, feeling I should remain behind to mind my duties. What shepherd would abandon his flock to the wolves? But the chaos and violence of the ensuing persecution of Christians made me realise what little I could do, and I came to question the wisdom of my choice. Even then I was still undecided, until I was pursued through the streets by a gang of their fighters who had identified me as a Catholic priest. Perhaps if I had thought to remove my cassock before venturing outside …’

‘That would’ve definitely been a smart move, mate,’ said Scraggs. ‘Look how we’re decked out. Imagine if we were to go wandering about Kabul in British or Yank army uniform, how that’d go down.’

‘Talk about a red rag to a bull, man,’ Nielsen agreed.

‘Anyhow,’ the priest continued, ‘I managed to evade them but I knew they would reappear at any moment and catch me. That was when a Jeep appeared, as if by Divine intervention, and a voice called, ‘Father! Get your behind in the car, quick!’

‘Actually I might have used slightly stronger language,’ Madison admitted. ‘We could see he was in trouble.’

‘Indeed I was. Which is why I can say with all conviction that she and her friends saved my life.’