‘This was a Kurdish area,’ their driver explained. ‘Anyone who wasn’t killed would have fled north, and the battle damage means nobody has resettled the area.’

‘So we’ll be safe?’

‘Stay out of sight, keep a man on watch. But you’ll be safer here than anywhere else nearby. And most importantly, you have this.’

He gestured out of the window as the coach turned off-road, in front of a strip mall. The layout was like hundreds James had seen when he’d been at uni in America. A medium-sized supermarket, a gas station, a run of smaller shops and a pair of fast-food restaurants at the far edge of a two-hundred-car lot.

Unlike the ones James had seen before, the gas station had exploded, leaving a burned-out canopy and a crater with the exposed remains of underground fuel tanks. The supermarket had lost all its glass and been looted bare. There was a hole where a tank had driven in one side and out the other. The smaller shops had fared even worse, with three completely collapsed. The remaining cars were either burned out, or crushed so thoroughly that a tank crew appeared to have decided to have a little fun driving over them.

‘It’s perfect,’ Tovah told the driver, seeing more than enough uncratered tarmac for the microlights to take off, while the shell of the supermarket made a decent overnight shelter.

Bruce, Kyle, Lauren and Ryan started diving into the cargo bay and dragging out the gear.

‘Outstanding,’ James agreed, as he shook the driver’s hand and gave him five thousand euros. ‘The other five will be paid through to your bank in Turkey when we get back.’

‘What if you all get killed?’ he asked, half joking.

‘You’ll get paid,’ Tovah said. ‘My people will see to that.’

As the coach headed off, everyone dragged the equipment inside the corner of the supermarket, to the annoyance of birds roosting in the framework beneath the twisted metal roof. Then James gave out orders.

‘Tovah, Lauren, erect a canopy in case it rains. Then start assembling the bikes and planes. Bruce, Kyle, I want you to secure the area. Take guns. Find the motion alarms and spread them around. Also, when you’re on the prowl keep your eyes out for a working tap. We’ve brought drinking water, but it would be nice if we can wash and flush a toilet. Ryan, how’s your head for heights?’

‘It’s OK.’

‘Great,’ James nodded. ‘There’s a satellite dish I need rigged up so I can download chatter reports. There’s also a UHF aerial, so I can have a go at picking up a signal from the listening devices on the control centre roof.’

‘And what are you planning to do, boss?’ Lauren asked, sarcastically. ‘Put your feet up?’