‘Killers come as friends,’ Ben said. ‘That’s how it works in your organisation, I suppose.’

‘I wouldn’t call him a friend, exactly. You haven’t seen him in a long time.’

‘Who is he?’

‘His name is Wolf. Jaden Wolf.’

‘That’s some name for a stray lamb,’ Ben said. But he recognised it immediately, and it was clear to him why he’d been picked for such an assignment. That didn’t make him any happier about it. ‘So what’s Wolf done to deserve this?’

‘The whys and wherefores are not your concern,’ replied Saunders. He pointed at the tablet phone. ‘You can hang onto that. It contains all the information you’ll require, on an encrypted data file that is programmed to self-destruct two minutes after opening, so I suggest you read it carefully and commit it to memory. Shouldn’t be a problem for a clever chap like you.’

‘What’s the decryption key?’

Saunders smiled. ‘We selected one that would be nice and easy for you to remember. The password is “Ruth”.’

Ruth was Ben’s sister and only surviving relation. She lived in Switzerland, and they were in touch from time to time. When Ben was in his teens, Ruth had been kidnapped by Arab human traffickers during a family holiday in Morocco. He’d devoted many years of his life to finding her, and never wanted to lose her again. He understood that the use of her name as a passcode was another not-so-subtle warning of the hurt these people could inflict if he failed to obey them.

He asked, ‘When did this happen?’

‘Five days ago.’

‘That’s a long time for someone like Wolf to be running. I’m presuming you’ve had your own people out looking for him.’

Saunders nodded. ‘We were able to track a few of his movements. His vehicle was found abandoned in a village in Surrey, where a car was reported stolen the same night. The stolen car was discovered the next day in a street in London. It’s all in the file.’

‘And you have no idea where he is now.’

‘If we did, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation.’

‘Which means he’s either still in the country, or he’s travelling on a false ID.’

‘He’s a resourceful sort of chap. Almost as resourceful as you are. You and he had the same teachers, after all.’

‘Then he could be anywhere. Sitting in a cave in outer Mongolia or sailing a fishing boat around the Florida Keys.’

‘Why else would we have seen the need to enlist the very best man for the job of tracking him down? Few people have ever known Jaden Wolf as well as you. I have every faith that you can find him, Major Hope.’

‘Don’t call me that.’

‘Why not?’