Bowman hastened over to the bunk beds. He unzipped his holdall and stuffed his uniform, cap and the bundle of notes inside. Bowman had packed his go-bag before leaving Hereford two days ago. The bag contained all the essential items: his washbag, a spare T-shirt, jeans, underwear and socks, a pair of trainers, a basic medical pack, a pen and notebook, a small HD camera. Everything an operator needed to function for forty-eight hours.

He zipped up the bag and joined Loader and Webb at the breakout area. Casey hurried over to them a short time later. Mallet hovered next to the landline, waiting for the call from Six to let them know the Caravelle had arrived.

The others watched the news. The rolling coverage of the poisoning in Mayfair. A red-headed reporter summarised what they knew so far. Which wasn’t much. Three people had been hospitalised, she said. One of them was in a critical condition. The others were seriously ill but stable. The police were in the process of notifying the families of the victims. The police were appealing to any witnesses to come forward. A Cobra meeting had been called. Buckingham Palace had issued a tersely worded statement condemning the attack.

There was nothing in the report about Lang, or Moscow, or nerve agents.

Loader shook his head. ‘You’ve got to hand it to the Russians. They’ve got some brass balls on them, staging an attack at a royal wedding. Bloody cheek of it.’

Casey said, ‘I didn’t know you were a fan of the royal family, Keith.’

‘I’m not. I couldn’t give two hoots about them. But my Mary, bless her, she loves them. She’ll be upset, watching this with the kids.’

‘What do you think they’re discussing at this meeting?’ Webb said.

‘It’s obvious, ain’t it, Brummie?’ Loader replied. ‘They’re gonna apply the pressure to the president. Get him to change teams. Make him see the light and pledge his allegiance to Moscow.’

Bowman scratched his grizzled jaw. ‘Whatever they’re planning, Lang doesn’t want anyone to know about it.’

‘Why do you think that?’

‘They sent a body double to London. That was a risky move. Could have easily backfired. If the royals had found out the truth, it would have created a big stink. Why bother doing that unless they wanted to keep this meeting secret?’

‘But if this is about changing sides,’ said Casey, ‘why would Seguma turn his back on London? We’ve kept him in power for twenty-four years. He owes us everything.’

‘Money,’ said Loader. ‘It’s always about the readies, love.’

Casey shook her head slowly. ‘There must be more to it than that. Seguma wouldn’t risk everything for the sake of a few million.’

‘I would, if I was in his boots.’

‘You have eight mouths to feed on Special Forces pay.’

‘Meaning?’