So far, so good. But from that moment things persistently went a little bit wrong. The first shock came when, as we pulled up in the Embassy’s rear yard, the Chargé himself came out to greet us. I’d assumed he’d be off duty by now.

In fact Allway was harmless enough – he’d obviously had a couple of drinks, and was braying in a loud, hearty voice that he’d only emerged to wish us well. But his mere presence outside the lock-up was a pain.

‘How are you doing?’ he boomed. ‘All tickety-boo?’

‘Yes, thanks.’

‘Getting enough to eat out there? Hope they’re not starving you.’

‘No, no. We’re fine. Just come in to pick up a couple of items of kit.’

‘Ah! Some of those ammunition boxes, what?’

‘Those are the ones.’

‘Want a hand?’

‘No thanks. We’ll manage fine.’

‘Well – any problems, just let me know.’

‘Thanks.’

I thought the bastard was going back indoors, but he turned and said, ‘Oh, by the way, the security forces had a big success against the Mafia the other day.’

‘Is that right?’

‘Caught several of the godfathers in a flat, right here in the middle of town. Killed four or five of them. It was on the news next day. Surprised you haven’t heard about it.’

‘No . . .’ I shook my head. ‘We’ve been pretty busy – don’t have much time for watching TV.’

‘Maybe the Russians are getting better at Mafia-hunting, what? Maybe they don’t need you fellows so much after all. Or maybe you’ve taught them something already? Well – ta ta!’

I took several deep breaths, forcing myself not to utter a sound until the door had closed behind him. Then I just whispered, ‘Jeeesus Christ! Let’s get moving.’

Unless you were colour-blind there was no way of muddling the components, because Apple’s three pieces were all marked with a light green circle, Orange’s with orange. We backed the black Volga as close as we could to the cellar door and carried the three green-marked cases out, four men on each of the heavy ones. Once again they pushed the car right down on its springs. Toad removed the Rat from its lair and clipped it on his belt.

As soon as we’d secured the up-and-over door of the cellar, we drove off. I’d felt as if my exchanges with the Chargé lasted for ever, but still we had fifty minutes to kill; so, rather than hang about in the area, we followed our plan and drove up to the terrace in front of the univerity, on the edge of the Sparrow Hills. Sasha had taken us there during our first visit, and I remembered it as a favourite view-point, popular with tourists and sightseers, where strangers hanging around wouldn’t attract attention.