‘Shut it,’ said de Payns, pointing a threatening finger in the soldier’s face. ‘You tell Manerie I might be on the hook, but I’m not walking around with some random phone in my pocket, and I won’t have these approaches made around my life zone. It’s not happening.’

Jim nodded slowly. ‘Manerie asked me to give you a message. Wanna hear it?’

‘Do I have a choice?’

Jim stood, wincing slightly as he tried to straighten. ‘He hears you’re about to travel. He wants to know where and why.’

De Payns could have hit him again. ‘I don’t know what he’s talking about.’

‘You sure about that?’

‘Sure,’ said de Payns.

‘Not what Manerie is hearing.’

‘Tell him you have to be careful with what you hear in public toilets,’ said de Payns, feeling his pulse reduce slightly.

‘Okay,’ said Jim, opening his hands at de Payns in an appeasing gesture, smiling.

‘Something funny?’ asked de Payns, breathing through his nostrils.

‘I was wondering when I was going to see the great Aguilar cut loose,’ said Jim, sounding genuinely amused. ‘But, shit, a knee in the balls?’

‘I was improvising,’ said de Payns, not wanting to get into a discussion about violence. The ‘great Aguilar’ reference alluded to a fracas in Cairo in which de Payns had allegedly beaten up three bad guys when a fire door in an old hotel failed to open and left him trapped. The truth was simpler—it was initially two people who came for him, but the passageway was so narrow that they could not attack at the same time. The third person was waiting in the lobby as he left the hotel. So while he did beat up three people, it was a case of one-on-one each time. But soldiers being soldiers, they’d turned him into the French Chuck Norris.

‘Tell Manerie,’ said de Payns, turning to go.

Jim cleared his throat. ‘You wouldn’t have one of those flashlights on your phone?’ he asked, pointing at where de Payns had thrown the Beretta. ‘You seen the paperwork if you lose a firearm?’

He crawled into bed at 1.07 a.m., thankful for a wife who liked a blacked-out bedroom to sleep. But his head spun: Manerie? What did he know about Operation Alamut? Why was he interested? And was his altercation with Jim going to cause trouble? It might lead to repercussions, but it was just as likely Jim wouldn’t mention it; soldiers could be funny like that.

He lay in the dark, head buried in the pillows, and felt Romy turning into him.

‘You okay, hon?’ she whispered.

He breathed in her soap brand and felt soft blonde hair on his face.

‘I’m fine.’

‘You’re grinding your teeth,’ she said.

‘I’m fine but not relaxed.’

‘You’re not going to make my graduation ceremony, are you?’

His heart banged against his chest. ‘I’m working on it. Promise.’