The significance of this final piece of information wasn’t lost on McNab. It wouldn’t take long for someone to work out how he’d got away from his captors and who had likely helped him.

He ended the call, telling Ollie he’d be back in touch and to make sure the boss was kept fully informed.

‘What is it?’ Firash said, eyeing McNab anxiously via the driver’s mirror.

‘Just get us to the Combat address and fast,’ McNab ordered.

‘You have to tell me what’s happening, otherwise I can’t do my job,’ Firash protested. He hadn’t said, ‘like with Mark’, but it was clear that’s what he meant.

McNab relented. ‘Ava Clouston released the Go Wild story worldwide and she included a bit about my incarceration,’ he told him. ‘The guy who set me free may well be in serious trouble because of it. We need to check out Combat and then, if necessary, the place where I was held.’

He’d figured out the warehouse location with the help of Google Earth and his drugged memory of the Scottish BrewDog Clerkenwell pub which he’d visited.

Firash nodded. ‘Okay, but now I think we should bring Harim, in case we need him.’ When McNab didn’t immediately respond, he added, ‘They killed Mark. They won’t hesitate to kill us too.’

Seeing his fearful expression, McNab relented and Firash made the call. McNab couldn’t interpret what was being said, but it was definitely going to make something happen.

If the Kommandant was at the Combat address and this news was circulating, he would be the one in danger now, McNab thought. And if he wasn’t, then, ‘We check the old warehouse where they held me,’ he told Firash. ‘Just in case.’

Glancing out of the car window, he registered that they were back in the area of his abduction.

‘How long now?’ he asked, irritated at how slow the traffic was.

‘According to the satnav, we’re two streets away,’ Firash told him.

As they slowed down for yet another red light, McNab threw open the car door and jumped out, much to Firash’s dismay.

‘Meet me there,’ he said, closing the door, ‘and make it quick,’ aware that he might well need backup.

McNab realized he was now close to where he’d hung about in the rain, waiting for Cleverly. Ahead of him, the usual crowds were milling around the entrance to the Underground. Weaving among them, he emerged to see the doorway into which Cleverly had apparently darted.

Approaching, McNab noted that it was a sex shop, but the entry to the neighbouring building was via a double glass door, with the name Preston House and four buzzers to allow access, the top of which indicated it was Combat’s office.

Steeling himself, he pressed the button.