Collinson had already opened the door, and was pointing them inside. Porter stepped through. There was a coal brazier in one corner filling the small room with cosy warmth. A kettle and some cups were stacked up on a table next to the fire, and there was a bucket with some water in it. Otherwise, the room was empty.

With a slow movement of his hand, Collinson shut the door.

Porter and Katie were standing next to the wall. Collinson was standing next to the door, and the two soldiers were standing by the window.

‘You come with me, young lady,’ said Collinson, gesturing towards Katie. ‘We’ll make sure you get safely home.’

His voice was smug and self-satisfied: a mocking tone, with a note of vindictiveness threaded through it.

Only a single word was rattling through Porter’s mind.

Bastard.

Collinson’s eyes rested for a second on Porter’s face. ‘And this bugger can die right here.’

‘Just so you can take the credit like you did last time, you bloody coward,’ said Porter.

Collinson took a pace forward. His two soldiers were standing rigidly to attention, both their guns pointing straight at Porter. ‘You know about that, do you?’ he said.

‘I know exactly what happened,’ Porter snarled. ‘Steve, Mike and Keith died because of you. And you let me take the fall for it.’

He could see the edge of Collinson’s lip twitching. ‘I might be a coward, but at least I’m not a bloody loser,’ he said, his voice sombre. ‘And I’m not scared of killing a man in cold blood either.’

Slowly and deliberately, Collinson took from his belt a Beretta 9000S compact handgun, the first lightweight polymer gun the company had ever made, with twelve rounds stored in its clip. He motioned to Katie to come towards him.

‘How the hell did you know we were here?’ Porter snapped.

Collinson smiled. ‘It was a nice trick sending your tooth to Jordan,’ he said. ‘But once we reached it, we knew you’d found that tracking device. That meant you were coming here. It’s the only place to get across the border. The Israelis let us come through, and we took out the men on this side of the gate. So long as we checked every vehicle coming through, and there aren’t many of them at this time of night, we knew we’d find you eventually.’

‘Just like you got the Israelis to drop a bunker-busting missile into the mine,’ said Porter. ‘To kill us both.’

‘Quite so,’ said Collinson curtly. ‘You’ve figured everything out. Just a shame it’s a bit late in the day for you.’

He looked back at Katie. ‘Now come here, and we’ll get you home. There’s a camera crew that can be got ready to record the moment when I rescued you.’

She was still standing next to Porter. She glanced into his eyes, but Porter already knew there was nothing she could read there. They had been emptied of all emotion. Slowly and painfully, she started to move away from him, hobbling across the ten feet that separated the two men.