In he went with a wild yell, head-first through the gap. I heard a thud as he hit the floor and scrabbling noises as he scuttled sideways. Then Nikolai was at the opening, hammering long bursts into the room with his Gepard. He was screaming obscenities too.

Hardly had he opened up when there came a second explosion as Whinger blew the door from the corridor. More rounds started going down inside the flat – bursts of seven or eight. Too long to be properly selective.

Empty cases cascaded on to the floor of the balcony beside me. Nikolai threw down an empty magazine, smacked home a full one and continued to fire. For a moment I felt a bit of a prick, lying there against the safety of the wall while guys were risking their lives inside.

Then the bursts of fire died away. Single shots cracked out – one, two, three, four. I knew what they meant: the assaulters were using their pistols to pop rounds into the heads of their victims, making certain they were dead.

One more single shot, then silence – except for the wind.

‘Boris!’ I shouted. ‘Yestj?’

‘Da, da.’

‘Khorosho!’

I held in my pressel and called, ‘Red to Blue – all secure at your end?’

‘Blue,’ came Whinger’s voice. ‘Affirmative. All inner rooms secure.’

‘Red. Roger. This side secure also. You can come on through.’

Standing up, I walked in through the shattered window-door. The air in the living room was hot as hell and thick with cigarette smoke, shot through with the sharp reek of cordite. Something had caught fire, ignited by the stun grenade. The blaze wasn’t serious – just enough to give flickering illumination and light up the gory scene. The lights had gone down and for the time being I let it burn.

The Mafiosi must have been in conference round a rectangular table. Now, overturned chairs and five bodies lay all round it. Igor, crouched in the left-hand outer corner of the room, was still covering Nikolai as he scurried round checking each one. The door into the hallway was closed, so I went straight over and called through it, ‘Whinge?’

‘Yeah, yeah. We’re here.’

‘OK. I’m opening up.’ I turned the handle and pulled, to find the door was locked. Peering down, I saw the key was in the lock, spun it and pulled the door towards me. The two teams were safely reunited.

‘Red leader to Control,’ I called. ‘Target secure.’

‘Vas ponyal,’ went Anna. ‘Roger.’

‘Piece of cake!’ said Whinger. ‘What’s the Russian for that?’

‘I don’t know. How many have your guys taken out?’

‘Four. The bodyguards. Two in the passage, two more watching TV in the end bedroom. We got them as they came out the door.’ He flashed his torch into the bedroom doorway, and I saw two bodies lying across each other on the floor.

‘No casualties on your team?’