We turned into a tree-lined side-street and came to a halt a hundred yards from the junction. Behind us the grey Volga crawled round the corner and crept under a tree.

‘Turn and park on the other side,’ I told Mal. ‘Face this way, so you can cover us.’

I jumped out and ran across to Whinger’s car. The air was full of the stink of burning rubber. Smoke was rising from the off-side front wheel. Rick and Pavarotti were already grappling with spare and jack, with Whinger standing back on the alert against the trunk of a tree.

‘Tyre’s knackered,’ said Rick. ‘The bumper got pushed into it by the impact. The bastard’s almost on fire. It’s worn right through.’

‘Steering OK?’

‘Should be when we get this wheel on.’

I went over to Whinger. ‘What was all that about?’

‘Ask me another. There were three young guys in it. At least one of them had a pistol, too.’

‘You up-ended them, anyway.’

‘Yeah. I got up to eighty ks and came at them without lights. Took their back end away.’

‘Zdorovo! That party won’t be doing any more driving tonight.’

We could have done without that little episode. It broke our concentration and meant that, as we finally approached the churchyard, we had to go through our mental preparation all over again.

This time Whinger made the drive-past, dropping Rick and Pav off on the embankment to walk in and recce the stable on foot. Only when they reported all clear did we prepare to move in.

Never in my life had I felt more nervous. I kept thinking, Once we get underground I’ll be OK. What I do not want is any confrontation with all this hardware on our hands. We had no plausible explanation to offer if we were caught. We were prepared to shoot our way out of trouble if we had to, above or below ground, and we hoped that if the police found bodies, they would chalk them up as victims of some Mafia feud. But as for being grabbed in possession of the bomb – to that we had no answer. If we were forced to run for it, we might not even get back to the barracks at Balashika. I had visions of a gigantic escape and evasion scenario.

Mal remained perfectly cool, and that helped steady me. He hadn’t seen the yard before but I’d briefed him on the layout, and now I talked him in, yard by yard. ‘Here’s the gateway, coming up. There’s the church ahead. Keep round to the right. Stop opposite the doorway. Here we are – GO!’

Rick materialised from the stable, opened the rear door of the Volga and dragged section one of Apple half-way out. ‘Pav’s done the locks,’ he whispered.

‘Great.’