Ben stepped out of the study onto the upstairs landing and peered down the stairway. The angle wouldn’t let him see the front door, but Abbott’s body and most of the entrance hall were visible. To the shattering crash of the sledgehammer, the front door burst inwards. Voices as the entry team stepped inside the doorway. They walked by the corpse as though it was just part of the furniture. The guy who’d breached the door left his sledge by the entrance. The big guy with the kit bag set it down, unzipped it and started unloading its contents. A pair of long, thick steel wrecking bars, which he lifted out one at a time and handed to his colleagues. A short, black autoloader shotgun with a stockless pistol grip, which he slung around his neck before picking up a wrecking bar for himself. Tools of the trade. The perfect equipment for smashing up someone’s house and blowing out the brains of any unfortunate caller who might happen to pass by. There was little in the way of conversation as the crew got ready to set about their business.

Ben retreated back along the landing, expecting at least one of the men to head upstairs. They’d have been provided with the same plans of the house as Wolf had, and Abbott’s study would be their first port of call. He signalled to Wolf, communicating Enemy approaching. Wolf nodded and motioned down the passage from the study door, indicating This way. At the same moment Ben heard the creak of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. Just one man; the other two had already started their banging and crashing down below: glass shattering, furniture being toppled over. Ben and Wolf slipped quickly away before they could be spotted, Wolf leading the way, Ben bringing up the rear with his pistol drawn and the laptop under his arm.

The landing led into a passageway with several burnished wood doors along its length, gilt-framed paintings hanging between them. Wolf ignored the first door, on the left. Ben guessed it was probably a bathroom, with nowhere to hide. Wolf led the way to the next door on the right, and they hurried inside and closed the door behind them without a sound just as the man reached the top of the stairs.

They were inside a bedroom with a fine antique bed, plush carpet and another picturesque view of the West Sussex countryside through a French window leading out to a balcony with mature ivy growing all around it. The sloping gable roof of an orangery was visible below. Ben moved close to the door and pressed his ear to the wood. Down the passage he could hear the man entering the study. He pictured the guy looking around him for the evidence the crew had come to retrieve. Getting his bearings. Gravitating straight towards the desk. Noticing the empty space where the laptop had been.