Bowman squinted, his eyes struggling to pick out details in the oily dark. Then he saw them. Three lifeless bodies lay sprawled across the bare dirt ground in front of a food market, their torn clothes stained red. A pack of feral dogs licked at the blood pooling beneath them. A fourth man was slumped face down in a puddle of stagnant water. At the far end of the street a taxicab had been torched. Several more fires raged in the distance to the west. In the orange glow of the flames, Bowman spied bands of looters darting in and out of damaged shopfronts, stealing whatever they could find. Across the road, a couple of kids in football shorts were tugging off the boots from the corpse of a policeman.

‘Looks like Six was right,’ said Loader. ‘This is fucking carnage.’

The passed another large group of rioters, but none of them bothered the convoy. They had other priorities. They weren’t looking to get themselves killed in a contact with a bunch of heavily armed soldiers. A pair of tattooed convicts broke away from their mates and started towards the Land Cruiser, sensing new victims. They caught sight of the hardened faces inside, the weapons they were packing, and quickly retreated. Casey watched them skulk off down the street in search of easier prey.

‘Where are all the rebels?’ she asked. ‘All we’ve seen so far are looters and escaped prisoners.’

‘They must have moved on,’ Mallet said.

‘To where?’

‘The other targets. Mobile transmitters, barracks, border crossings. General Kakuba and his Russian mates will want to gain control of the country as soon as possible. Before the president’s troops can regroup.’

‘Or they might be at the palace,’ Bowman said.

Loader grunted. ‘If they are, we’ll hit them fucking hard. With the firepower we’ve got, we’ll go through them like a dose of salts.’

The convoy rattled on through the main commercial district. Bowman fought to stay alert in spite of his growing exhaustion. The few hours of kip he’d had on the jet had been his only chance to rest in two days, and he wondered how much longer he could push on before it affected his performance. Another six hours, he told himself. That’s all. Get to Mike and the family, secure them until the reinforcements show up. Then you can rest.

He glanced down at the satnav. We’re a mile from the presidential palace. Not far to go now.