‘No rest for the wicked,’ Cale said with a grin.

‘What development?’ Ben said.

Buchanan said, ‘Faazel got back in touch.’

‘Still in the land of the living, I see.’

‘He knows they’re onto him but he managed to give them the slip,’ Buchanan explained. ‘He’s also got some fresh information on the whereabouts of Spartan. There’s been a reported sighting of the target at a small town called Harafi. We’ll load the kit into the vans and proceed to the village of Ghurdak, twenty kilometres north-west of the city. That’s where we’ll RV with four more of Saleem’s people, who’ll have the Humvees ready for us to transfer into. Then onwards to Harafi to meet with Faazel, and he’ll take us directly to Spartan.’

‘So Spartan is there with him?’ Ben asked.

‘He’s close by,’ Goffin replied.

‘And you confirmed this on the phone with Faazel?’

‘He didn’t phone, he texted me. But yes, we have a positive ID and a confirmed location.’

‘Then why don’t we just go straight to him?’

‘This is how it’s going to get done,’ Goffin said irritably. ‘The deal goes through Faazel.’

Ben asked, ‘Do we have any intel on the strength of local Taliban forces at Harafi?’

‘Shouldn’t be a problem,’ Goffin said. ‘The occasional patrol passes through, but nothing heavy.’

‘And Ghurdak?’

‘Place is just a sleepy little village,’ Goffin said. ‘We won’t run into any trouble there.’

‘Okay,’ Ben said. ‘So assuming all goes according to plan. What then?’

Buchanan replied, ‘Once we have safe possession of the asset we head back west to the original DZ, where an RAF Chinook from Al Dhafra air base in Abu Dhabi will touch down to pick us up. With any luck we’ll have this whole thing wrapped up in a few hours and be on our way home.’