‘He was in a real rush. I followed him all the way into Surrey, right out in the sticks, to this big house.’ Wolf pointed at the holdall where the phone was, and Ben understood that he was talking about the house in the video.

Ben asked, ‘Where is this place?’

‘Karswell Hall, that’s Karswell with a K, a country estate a few miles from Guildford. It was late by the time we got there. I slipped into the grounds and watched from the trees. Cars were arriving and being waved through the gates by a security detail. Some kind of event was going on. I assumed, a social gathering of some kind. High-level stuff, VIPs, rich people. And that’s when I saw them.’

‘Saw who?’

‘They were in a chauffeur-driven Roller. It was just a fluke that I got to see inside the rear cabin, when the driver stepped out to check a tyre and the inside light came on. Two men in the back. One old, really old, looks all wizened and shrivelled up. Always carries a bird-headed cane. Come to think of it, the bird’s head looks a lot like the statue on that damned island. And the beaked masks. What did you call it?’

‘Thoth.’

Wolf scowled in disgust. ‘Right. Anyway, the other guy, you wouldn’t call him young, but he’s not as old. Probably in his mid-sixties.’

‘You know these men?’ Ben asked.

‘My bosses,’ Wolf replied with a nod. ‘The old guy, I don’t know his name. Only laid eyes on him the one time before, at an agency meeting years ago at this posh pad outside London, and he didn’t speak a word. All I know is, he’s a top dog. Maybe the top dog.’

Wolf explained that the other man was someone with whom he’d had the occasional contact over the years. He described to Ben how the ‘assets’, freelance outsiders like himself, were largely kept at a distance from the organisation. They didn’t even know the name of the agency they worked for. It was all highly secretive, with departments within departments. The killers very seldom met one another, except for when they needed to work in teams. Likewise, they seldom had personal dealings with their bosses. Most of the time, when a job came in they were notified by phone, intelligence material was provided by dead drop, and payments were made in cash deposited in lockers or passed on by strangers. Only in particular cases, when the bosses deemed it necessary to meet in person, did face-to-face briefings and debriefings take place, and then only if the asset in question was a trusted member of the circle. Wolf had been one of their top assets, loyal, reliable and utterly efficient.