‘I know where that is,’ I said. Parroting Anna I added, ‘One kilometre north of the River Sunzha, half-way between Samashki and Sernovodsk.’

‘I’ll be damned!’ Tony exclaimed. ‘How in hell did you know that?’

‘A little bird called Anna told me. Seriously, any chance of satellite imagery on the site?’

‘I knew you’d want that. I started to check out orbits. It’s looking good. We’ll have a satellite in the right place two hours from now. Also I got a met report for the Caucasus area, and the weather’s fine: frost in the night, clear sky, no wind – gonna be a beautiful day. We should get some great pictures for you. I’ll fax them just as soon as I can.’

The last person I had to convince was Sasha. ‘Very big search, just for two persons,’ he said doubtfully when he came into camp.

‘Typical of the Regiment,’ I told him. ‘They don’t like losing people. They’ll go to any lengths to get them back.’

As to my suggestion of his own involvement in the recce, he didn’t hesitate: as soon as he knew I was going with him, he was delighted to come.

‘The point is,’ I said, ‘can you get us down there for insertion tonight? What I want to do is join up with the squadron at Kars – here.’ I put my finger on the map.

‘Hars!’ he exclaimed, aspirating the initial letter. ‘But that is in Turoktsiya.’

‘Turkey.’

‘Yes, Turkey.’

‘We need to be there by five tonight. Earlier if we can.’

‘Timing no problem,’ Sasha said confidently. ‘It is three-hour flight, not more. Plane also no problem. We get small military jet. The difficulty is diplomats. Do they give permission to enter Turkish airspace?’ He spread his hands and stuck out his lower lip.

‘Maybe Anna can help on that.’

‘No!’ He bridled. ‘I arrange it through my own bosses.’

‘Think you can manage it?’

‘Zheordie – for you I arrange anything: even to become beautiful!’

When Anna swept in at 7.30 she brought good mug-shots of Usman Gaidar, aka Akula, the Shark – a mean-looking fellow, in his forties, with short, dark hair, heavy eyebrows, lean, hollow cheeks and a prominent jaw. In the photos his teeth and gums seemed to protrude, pushing his lips out – hence his name, maybe? Anna said the man was obsessive about protecting himself, and kept a private army of at least a hundred men to guard him.

She’d also brought telephoto pictures of the house he’d been building – a tall, pale building with a steeply pointed roof, set into the side of a hill.

‘It looks Scandinavian,’ I said.