‘All the more reason to keep them out of it. Striking back in anger makes for bad tactical planning. They’ll roll in with the tanks and artillery, Nazim will see them coming from a mile off and there’ll be a bloody slaughter. In the middle of which, Nazim himself is liable to slip straight out of our hands and disappear for ever.’

‘Doesn’t have to be the cops,’ Roth said. ‘You know people. I know people. We can do it right. There’s still time to make the arrangements, if we act fast.’

Ben knew that he need make only one call to Jeff and Tuesday at Le Val, and they’d happily rush to Paris with enough personnel backup and weaponry to overthrow a modestly-sized dictatorship. But he had no intention of involving his friends in danger.

‘No. There’s a better way.’

‘Which is what?’ Roth asked.

‘To strike where the weakest link in the chain is. Nazim can’t afford to raise suspicions by posting twenty shifty-looking terrorist thugs at the docks. That’s why he’s leaving that job to Segal, because the transfer of the cargo has to look as innocuous as possible. So you and I will intercept the trucks with the crates on board before they even leave the port. The drivers will have to be bundled away somewhere they can’t kick up a fuss. They might get banged up a little but that’s better than having your head sliced off.’

‘What about Zahran Yasin?’ Segal asked anxiously. ‘He’ll be there dockside as they unload the cargo. He’s supposed to ride along in one of the trucks.’

‘Mr Yasin won’t be making that trip,’ Ben said. ‘One man isn’t going to be a problem, between two of us. Are you able to recognise him?’

Segal nodded. ‘I remember him from the one time I saw him. A small man, very slender and wiry. He has a shaven head and a long black beard. He looks incredibly menacing.’

‘Then stick close to me and make sure you point him out the moment you see him. Roth and I will do the rest. Nobody else gets hurt, and all being well we can pull this off without firing a shot or drawing the slightest attention to ourselves. Then we make for some alternative location where we can smash the Lamassu open ourselves and grab what’s inside.’

Roth thought about it. ‘And what do you plan on doing with nine freakin’ tons of fentanyl?’

Ben replied, ‘Two can play at the hostage game. If Nazim wants to try to get his drugs back, he’s going to have to come and get them on our terms, alone. That’s where we take him down.’

Roth frowned. ‘He won’t go for it. He’ll know it’s a trap.’