His hand was still on the taller officer’s shoulder. ‘Switch on your weapon torch and keep aiming at him all the time. Centre mass of his head. Don’t aim at the body. If he’s got a device and the explosives are homemade, a round will detonate it. And don’t come in. Get an angle into his head from the doorway.’

Tom turned to the other policeman. ‘Okay, what I need you to do is get down on the ground right on the threshold, and use your torch to check under the body when I move it. You okay with that?’

There was a nod.

So far, so good.

‘I’m going to lie down on his right, right against him – almost spooning him. I’m going to grab him and lift him up, almost over me, so you can check there’s nothing underneath. All right?’

He faced the taller one. ‘That’s when you’re going to come into play. If anything is under that body, your mate will shout, “Device!” I’ll drop him and roll out the way, and you just get rounds into his head. You need to drop him like liquid so he can’t detonate. Easy . . .’

Tom gave a little smile. These lads were doing thirty-seven-and-a-half-hour weeks; they went home; they had mortgages; they had loans on their cars – and they’d be going on holiday with their wives and kids. If they didn’t get blown up.

‘Just one thing. If I shout, “Fire!” that’s what you do. All right? Let’s go.’

Tom let the two officers take position as he waited to the right of the doorframe. As soon as the body was illuminated once more, he started in.

‘If you’re injured, show me. Move your leg, move your foot, move your toe. Just use your feet to show me that you understand. Move nothing but your feet. Can you hear me? Do you understand?’

There was no response as Tom moved to the right side of the body. The two police torches shone on it, illuminating the left wall of damp and pitted concrete.

He moved to the right of the ripped and soiled mattress to be out of the taller one’s arc of fire. His torch picked out the mass of hair on the head and the beard. He checked the floor for any tell-tales, any wires, any tape, anything that could indicate there was a device, even under the body. As he got closer, the smell became more rank. The guy hadn’t washed for weeks, maybe months.

Tom could finally see parts of his face in more detail. The beard was matted, wet with saliva that dribbled out of his mouth. Tom lay down to his right, hard up against him so the body would partly shield him from any blast that came from under him. He didn’t bother trying for eye-to-eye.

‘Ready!’