Jeremy caught the policeman’s eye and made an apologetic show of compliance as he presented his pass. While his name was being found, he noticed that the officer’s badge was from Thames Valley Police. He was surprised any Berkshire cops had guns. He’d sort of thought that cops outside big cities spent their time directing traffic and carrying shopping for old ladies. The officer drew a line through Jeremy’s name and said tautly, ‘Thank you, Mr Underwood. Move inside please.’

‘Yep, come on in, Jez,’ said the chief. ‘The cops are feeling shirty because the Editor won’t let them in the building.’ Jeremy spared himself noticing the policemen’s reactions. ‘He doesn’t want to expose the free Press to state interference, so they’re having to do their shits in the gardeners’ outhouse.’

There was no acknowledgement of what they’d spoken about on the bus, but he seemed less self-satisfied than usual, more reckless, baiting the policemen instead of ordering them about. Jeremy moved his gaze away from the chief, so as not to need to say anything, and saw that the bunker’s door was a foot thick, inset with rods that could extend into the opposite wall.

The chief saw him looking and said, ‘Isn’t this place fantastic? It’s almost a shame the Kremlin never sobered up long enough to land a nuke on Westminster. Bam-flash, London gone, BBC gone, Fleet Street incinerated, all of us on shift pulverized, everybody in zones one and two just little heaps of white ash being pissed on by radioactive rain. And the next morning, when you’re in your house in Hampshire going crazy because the telly’s black, the radio’s just static and everything’s fucked, what arrives on the doorstep but your Daily Beast.’ There was reverence in his voice. ‘All run off the presses in the cellar of this building and distributed by the van fleet they keep in Thatcham. Front-page headline:

RUSSIANS

DROP THE

BOMB ON

LONDON

‘Subdeck: “Millions dead. War declared. Counter-strike razes Moscow and St Petersburg. PM says: We will not give in to terror.”’

‘That’s—’

The chief could not be halted. ‘World-exclusive picture of the moment Big Ben went down. Twelve pages of coverage inside. Comment: “Is England better off without the metropolis?” Health: “Ten top tips for avoiding radiation sickness.” Personal Finance: “What this means for property prices in the Southeast.”’