‘The Boys and the KUF are allies,’ Gregory explained. ‘The Boys will alert General Kakuba’s men as soon as they know where we are. They’ll want to pass on the message.’

‘Bloody great,’ Loader muttered.

Mallet’s hard blue eyes lingered on Bowman. ‘You. Sort your fucking head out. Give Tiny a hand. Then get outside and help the others.’

He marched out of the room, rifle at his side. Gregory followed him. Loader gently pulled the sister-in-law back from her dead daughter, Bowman ushered the boys and the other twin girl to their feet. Seguma’s wife gathered her belongings, and then Bowman and Loader ushered the family down the hallway. The children wept softly, the sister-in-law made a deep keening noise in her throat.

They reached a door off to one side of the central atrium and descended a spiral staircase to the basement. Loader led them down a cobwebbed corridor, past a plain metal door, into a spacious wine cellar with a vaulted ceiling. Rows of wine bottles were arranged in timber racks, the necks coated in a patina of dust. Boxes of wine yet to be unpacked had been stacked against the walls. In one of them Bowman glimpsed a set of electric cattle prods. He wondered what they were doing in the cellar. A mistake, probably. One of the household staff putting the wrong package in the wrong place.

The family sat around the oak table in the tasting area. Bowman jogged back upstairs, and left Loader to watch over the family while he fetched the staff. The two maids, the chef. The gardener. He led them down to the basement. Left them with the family, hurried back up to the ground floor and ran outside. He beckoned over one of the presidential guards, led him into the cellar. Loader told the guard not to leave the room, no matter what. He made sure the guard understood his job, demonstrated the knocking code they would use when it was safe to emerge. Then he stepped out into the corridor with Bowman, closing the door behind them.

‘What the fuck was that all about?’ Loader hissed.

Bowman kept on walking. ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about, mate.’

‘Yeah, you do. Upstairs. Leaving the family alone. What were you thinking?’

Bowman stopped and rounded on his mucker.

‘Have you got something you want to say to me, Tiny?’

Loader gritted his teeth. His face seethed with rage. ‘You’ve lost your edge. You’re a joke. That girl’s dead because of you.’

Bowman half-closed his eyes. ‘It was a mistake. I didn’t know that shooter was out there. No one did.’

‘Don’t take the piss. I’ve heard the stories doing the rounds at Hereford.’

Bowman tensed. ‘What stories?’