Brandeis flicked through several more shots of the mosque under construction, the Houston Chronicle photo-op Tom had seen, the house and neighbourhood: it all looked very suburban-American, all incredibly normal.

‘There’s nothing ostentatious about his lifestyle. This is his car, a ’ninety-eight Chevy Impala. He lives a very low-tech life. Just a landline into the home, no Internet on site. And no email ID that we’ve found so far. We think this is significant.’

Mandler peered at Brandeis doubtfully. ‘There’s a lot of “maybes” to this story.’

Woolf came straight back. ‘Doesn’t that strike you as odd? That he’s in charge of the biggest new mosque in the area, the focal point for the Muslim community across Houston and for miles around, yet the guy has no email account? Terror networks are bypassing electronic communication altogether to the extent that they’re using messengers and couriers. His lack of visibility makes him all the more suspicious.’

Brandeis was clearly relieved to have his point endorsed. ‘And as Tom told us, before Carter inconveniently jumped to his death he said Zuabi was a conduit, didn’t he? That he had some kind of network.’

Mandler’s impatience, which Tom had been aware of all through the briefing, was starting to make itself felt. ‘Well, thank you for that rather inconsequential appraisal.’

Brandeis, cowed, sat down again as Mandler took the floor. ‘So, if I might sum up, we have Rolt and Invicta handsomely financed by an American benefactor, with deep links to the military industrial complex, whose company is also pioneering – what was it?’

‘Predictive tracking,’ said Tom.

‘Which, frankly, strikes me as voodoo but there you are, call me old-fashioned. And Lederer and Stutz seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet as Rolt – that some kind of mass deportation is the answer to all our ills. We have Stutz’s dark hints of something around the corner but we’ve no idea what, and tenuous links to an obscure cleric with no form who seems to be a virtual recluse yet has apparently nothing particular to hide. What’s more, there’s nothing whatever to connect Zuabi to the UK or Rolt and Invicta. I’m sorry to have to bring you all back to earth, people, but if it’s not domestic, it’s not MI5’s responsibility to chase it up. Can we please move on to more pressing matters closer to home?’

‘Suppose Rolt is just an appendage of Stutz’s operation? Stutz is where the finance is coming from.’

Mandler eyed Tom wearily, then unfolded his arms and raised his hands heavenwards. ‘Which strengthens the case for briefing the Americans about what we have.’