‘We’ll play that one when we get to it . . .’ I broke off because Sasha reappeared.

‘General police alert,’ he announced. ‘All Moscow forces to search. I give car number. And Zheordie, I make suggestion.’

‘What’s that?’

‘We can stop training course, freeze everything. Instead of lessons, we make students rescue your hostages.’

‘Great idea!’ I went. Privately I thought, Christ!

Luckily I was distracted by yet another beep from the secure phone.

This time it was the Chargé. Hell, I thought when I heard his voice. I can’t send Sasha out again. Then suddenly I realised I didn’t need to: the Embassy knew nothing about Orange.

I started into the whole spiel again. I said that Sasha had got a search under way, that I’d been through to Hereford, and that we were expecting a decision about a possible pull-out in the morning.

‘Yes,’ said Allway. ‘Your people were talking to us earlier in the day.’

He nattered on for a minute about the general situation, which he described as ‘jittery’. As he spoke, I was thinking, Do I tell him we’ve traced the signal? No, I decided. If we get our guys back, yes, of course, we tell him, but there’s nothing definite enough yet.

It was just as well I didn’t bother, because within five minutes of that call Tony had come through again to say, ‘It’s moving.’

‘Ah Jesus!’

‘Yep. I’ve got it on a computerised map screen. Heading south-west. It’s already five miles out from the location I gave you. You want to stay on the air till we see what’s happening?’

‘Sure. I’ve got the map in front of me.’

‘OK. It’s coming up to a place called Vnukovo. Hey – wait a minute. That’s marked as an airfield.’

‘Vnukovo,’ I said to Sasha. ‘What is it?’

‘Main airport for southern departures.’

‘Tony,’ I said. ‘It’s Moscow’s airport for the south.’

‘Then I guess they’re putting it on a plane. Target now stationary. Can you organise an intercept?’

‘What – in the air?’

‘No, on the ground.’

‘I’ll ask.’

I put the question to Sasha. He frowned at the size of the problem, but headed back to the local phone.

‘How far are you from that field?’ Tony was asking.

‘At least an hour. Our Russian contact’s phoning the police down there.’

‘Target still stationary. If it is Mafia, they’ll have a big armed escort round it.’

‘Precisely.’

‘There’s a major highway heading out of the city due south-west. Which side of that is the airfield?’

‘Immediately to the north.’

‘That’s it, then. They’re on the field.’

He went quiet for a few moments, then added sharply, ‘Signal lost. Wait a minute . . . no. Confirm signal lost.’

‘What does that mean?’