There had been a few hairy moments on his African road trip. He’d managed to find out where he was from the locals working at the airstrip and they’d given him rudimentary directions to get to South Sudan, which was a day’s drive away. He knew there were UN military operations there and that without a passport the British Army was his best bet for getting home. But the roads were bad and some impassable. He’d had to retrace his steps twice and felt lost and disorientated for most of the journey. He knew Sudan was to the east so used the sunset and then the stars to guide him, but there were no petrol stations and his fuel was running low. He started to lose hope and considered stopping at the next sign of civilization to get food and sleep and to rethink his next steps when his luck changed. In the early hours of the morning, he came across a group of British Army engineers repairing a road bridge.

After that, he’d just had to wait for authorization to travel home without his passport and the next scheduled trip for the Hercules. All in all, he’d spent over five days in the humid hospital and it felt good to be back in the grey drizzle.

‘We’re off to Peterborough, then.’

‘We figured you’d appreciate another couple of hours’ travelling.’ Jameson pulled out of the car park on to the road through Brize Norton village and towards the A40.

‘I’d certainly appreciate finding out what’s in that box and putting this whole mess behind me.’

‘What happened out there with Seraphine?’ said Bloom.

‘We met Antony Bello. He was the man hunting for Alina Maree and her mother, Naomi, who it transpires was his first wife. He was a character. He gave me my makeover.’

‘Bello, as in Jacob Bello?’ said Jameson.

‘Yeah. Antony’s uncle is the renowned warlord.’

Jameson grimaced.

‘What did he want with these women?’ said Karene.

‘Not entirely sure. I think he simply regarded them as his.’

‘He sounds charming,’ said Bloom.

‘Not any more,’ said Harry. ‘Your friend Seraphine saw to that.’

There was a prolonged silence.

‘How?’ asked Jameson eventually.

‘With a spike she’d inserted into a pencil.’

‘She stabbed him in the carotid artery?’ said Bloom.

‘How do you know that?’ Harry put the sun visor down and opened the mirror so he could see Bloom behind him.

‘It’s a thing of hers.’

Harry told them what he’d learned from Seraphine: that the secret service had heard Harry’s name and job mentioned in their surveillance of Bello.

‘Of course,’ said Bloom.

Harry looked at her in the mirror again.

‘I’d been wondering why someone was looking for this girl two whole years after you helped her in 2015. And it was that Facebook picture.’