‘Very difficult. You’d better stand by to come out. The political situation’s extremely volatile. The Director’s coming here for eight tomorrow morning. We’re going to take a decision then on whether or not we pull you.’

‘We can’t come out with two guys missing.’

‘I don’t know. We might take the view that it’s better to lose two rather than risk losing nine. The shit’s hit the fan in London as well.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘The computer disk you got. The information on it has sent the police ballistic, in London and New York. They’ve made fifteen arrests in London alone.’

‘Russian Mafia?’

‘Leading players.’

I took a deep breath. Then I said, ‘How does that affect us?’

‘Too early to say. Your kidnap could be a reprisal for the arrests in Europe. But losing Orange complicates the issue still more. We’ve got a QRF on standby. We may establish an FMB in Berlin in any case. That would put them within three hours of you.’

I told him I’d be through again if there was any news, and hung up. Seconds later Sasha appeared, and we started going through everything again. He was upset about the disappearance of our guys, and kept apologising.

‘Come on, Sasha,’ I said, forcing myself to smile. ‘They’re not dead yet. We’ll get them back.’

Before he could answer, the satellite phone beeped again. It was Tony.

‘We got it!’ he announced triumphantly. ‘Your hardware’s still with you.’

‘Wait one.’ I looked up and saw Sasha watching me eagerly.

‘Sasha,’ I said. ‘It’s our base in Hereford. This may take a few minutes. Could you get on the local line and set up a police search?’

‘Konechno! Immediately!’ He sprang to his feet and headed for the other phone. I felt a turd, lying to his face –but what else could I do?

‘Tony,’ I said. ‘Carry on. Where is it?’

‘In the south-western sector of the city. We can give you the location within a couple of hundred metres.’

‘Fantastic! Can you give me the co-ordinates?’

‘Sure. Ready?’

‘Fire away.’

He read out a series of figures, which I took down and checked back. ‘Brilliant,’ I said. ‘Let me know if it moves.’

‘Roger – and good luck.’

‘Miracles of modern science,’ I told the lads. ‘Correlate these on to a street plan and we can go right in and get them.’

‘Wait a minute,’ said Mal. ‘How do we know this? I mean, what are you going to tell Sasha?’

Once again a plausible he rose effortlessly to the surface of my mind. ‘Pav has a tracking device fitted into his jacket,’ I said. ‘Some of our guys always do, in case this very thing happens.’

‘Yeah, but if we organise a hit, with the Russians, they’re going to find Orange at the end of it.’