The NRO – the National Reconnaissance Office – was one of the US government’s senior intelligence agencies, and the one most closely responsible for managing that country’s satellite reconnaissance programme on behalf of the CIA, the Department of Defense, and other interested parties.

‘Thanks,’ said Nicholls.

He keyed in his ID number to enter the confidential feed and drummed his fingers on the desk as he waited for it to update.

A minute went by, and then a message appeared from an American inputter.

‘Non-tasked NSO SAT in LEO believed identified MARBELLA attackers’ second escape vessel in MTN,’ it said. ‘First SAT pass believed shows changeover from Vessel 1 to Vessel 2. Subsequent tasked pass shows activity at HOCEIMA, inc Vessel 2. CIA REAPER subsequently tasked to overfly. Images attached.’

The first file showed a large and seemingly empty stretch of the Mediterranean Sea. A white orientation square with a scale along one side had been overlaid in the southern half of the image. The detail of that square showed several small objects at its centre.

Nicholls looked closer.

It was a grey boat, its frothy wake stretching out in the blue waters behind it, suggesting it was travelling at some speed.

And near it… something.

In the top right hand corner of that image was a further enlarged detail.

It was blurred, the product of a low earth orbit satellite sitting in the thermosphere, anywhere from a couple of hundred to a thousand kilometres above the earth’s surface, rotating around the globe at eight kilometres per second, recording everything beneath it on a loop.

He peered at the screen.

It would need further confirmation, but he’d bet his house that the grey boat was the Lucky Lady.

And he’d further bet that the blurred something nearby was a small rigid inflatable.

They must have had another boat waiting somewhere, he’d told Penelope Morgan. You slow down, push them off into the water, and then haul them into the new boat.

‘You bastards,’ he breathed.

He opened the next file.

Taken towards the end of the day, it showed a patch of the Moroccan coast, where the sea met the rocky shore, and the shore gave way to an area of forest.

There was another enlargement in the top right hand corner.

Again, it wasn’t pin-sharp – contrary to popular belief, satellites are not capable of reading the fabled headlines on a newspaper’s front page, for that you need cameras mounted on an aircraft or drone – but it was clear enough.

It showed the RIB, a few metres offshore, and what looked like two bodies – one lying in the water, and other a few metres up on the land.

It was after that second image had been seen that the CIA had stepped in and had sent a Reaper across the Med from Morón Air Base, south-east of Seville, to take a closer look.