Monday, 21 March, 0221hrs GMT

LUKE FOUND INSPECTOR Newbold standing beside the open door of her Land Rover, dressed in full Kevlar body armour and helmet. Up close, she looked pale and drawn: an officer had been lost on her watch. She handed him her phone. ‘It’s your people at Thames House again,’ she said. ‘Make it brief, can you? I need to keep this line clear. We’re heading straight to King’s Cross.’ She motioned for him to get back in and they set off immediately, driving at speed, racing westwards down the A120 towards Bishop’s Stortford to hit the M11 into London.

Luke looked at his watch as he took the call. God, he was tired. Only three hours since he’d been at the mercy of those fanatics, but already that felt like a lifetime ago.

It was Angela on the line, but they were travelling so fast he could only just hear her. ‘Don’t worry about me,’ he told her. ‘I’m all in one piece. Really shit about the other guy, though.’

Angela didn’t waste time on small talk. ‘Listen, Luke, we’ve got a situation here, one that involves you. Personally.’

It was then that Luke noticed his hands. He saw they were stained dark red with the dead policeman’s blood. Glancing around in his seat to make sure no one was watching, he wiped them discreetly on his trousers. It felt somehow disrespectful and he regretted doing it. ‘Okay, tell me,’ he replied. ‘We’re coming up to the motorway now,’ he told her. ‘We should be on location well inside the hour. Angela, is this something I need to know now or can it wait?’

Outside the window he could see blue motorway signs and lampposts flashing past in the dark as they overtook what little traffic was on the road.

‘Luke, just shut up and listen. There’s going to be an inquest here into how you know Hugo Squires. A lot of people are asking questions. But right now we’re tracking him through his phone. It looks like he’s heading into London. We think Charlotte James – Niamh as you know her – and her people have taken him with them.’

‘I doubt that,’ Luke said. ‘He’s a coward at heart.’

‘He might not have had much choice. Anyway, your partner, Miss Mayhew, has given us his number and the Security Service have done a trace on it—’

‘Wait,’ he interrupted. ‘You’re getting Elise involved in this? She’s got nothing to do with these fuckwits.’

Luke was aware that Inspector Newbold was getting increasingly impatient beside him. She had her hand out, waiting for her phone back, but he held up a finger. He needed just one more minute.