‘Never mind about that,’ Angela said. ‘They’ve triangulated his last position as close to Brentwood. It’s heading towards London but the signal keeps dropping out. Thames have got inside his comms,’ she continued. ‘Turns out he’s been on some nasty chat forums. Some really sick extreme-racist stuff. Squires has been part of the far-right movement for nearly two years.’

‘Hang on, Angela.’

Inspector Newbold was tapping his arm quite forcefully. ‘I really need my phone back,’ she insisted. ‘Here.’ She handed him another. ‘Call them back on this.’

It took several attempts to get through to Angela. Precious time wasted, Luke thought, as they sped past Epping doing 92mph.

‘Listen, Luke,’ she sounded breathless now, ‘there’s no time to waste in case we get cut off again. You need to speak to Elise – she’s awake. Our people are with her in your flat.’ Luke frowned. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wanted his private life to stay private. But it was a bit late for that now. ‘Get her to persuade Squires and the people he’s with to give themselves up. It’s the only option left to them.’

Except it isn’t, Luke thought. As long as they’re on the loose they’re going to go ahead and plant the canisters wherever they can do the maximum damage. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. ‘That’s not true, though, is it, Angela?’ he said. ‘Because I’m telling you, they’re going to go through with this. The more we close in on them the more they’ll go for an immediate release of the pathogen.’

Even as he said this, Luke remembered the baby. Elise’s baby. Whose father was now in a van loaded with lethal germs, driving into the capital for some deranged, fucked-up purpose. Hugo Squires had thought Luke was bluffing when he’d told him he was to be a father. Maybe, just maybe, he would listen to Elise. ‘Okay, Angela, we can try,’ Luke said abruptly, and hung up.

He turned to Inspector Newbold, who was just finishing her own call. ‘Really sorry about that with the phone,’ he said. ‘So what’s the plan when we reach King’s Cross? A hard stop? Overwhelming use of force?’

She gave him a look. Gwyneth Newbold may have been nearly a decade younger than Luke, but her face spoke of a career spent at the sharp end; he noticed crow’s feet beginning to show at the corners of her eyes. ‘Think about it,’ she said wearily. ‘The Bravos are travelling with canisters of a deadly pathogen. We cannot risk an accidental release. So, no, we’re not going to use overwhelming force.’ She looked down at the phone in her hand. ‘I’ve just had Cobalt Square on the line. The unit already in place has been authorized to deploy Lomatin.’

‘Lomatin?’