‘Tochno,’ I went, thinking of Sasha with his eyes on the building and unconsciously slipping into Russian. ‘Exactly. That’s where they brought our guys out of, that lower door. I reckon that’s where they’re being kept. When the assault goes in, we’re going to need to hit that door first. Wait a minute, though. There must be some internal access from the store area to the upper floor. Isn’t anything marked on the plan – a staircase or a lift?’

‘There’s a lift-shaft, yes.’

‘Maybe the lift’s knackered. Or maybe it hasn’t been installed yet. Plan round taking out that lower door, anyway.’

Shortly before 12.30 Sasha buzzed me up again. Toad and Pavarotti had been taken back underground, looking even worse than before. Pav was walking with a limp, and there was blood showing through the bandages on Toad’s hands.

Bastards! I said to myself. Just wait till we get in among them. Bill Chandler had already told me, ‘No hostages.’ Now, after what Sasha had seen, I was going to feel no compunction about taking out everyone in the villa.

The sun never came out that day. The haze of cloud thickened steadily, and early in the afternoon snow began to fall. My problem was exhaustion. I fought it as hard as I could, but I know that I nodded off several times – and when I suddenly came to, just before 3.00 p.m., I couldn’t remember where I was. Then, as I moved, snow slid off the flap of my sleeping bag and on to my face. I rolled over on to my front and looked out. Snow was falling hard – a real blizzard, fine flakes slanting in towards me from my right front. The weather was coming from the south-west, from the high mountains.

When I scanned the summerhouse through my binoculars, I saw that a white blanket of snow lay unmarked all round it. Nothing doing there.

I knew that the helicopter hadn’t taken off: for one thing, I’d have heard it go; for another, it would never fly in this weather. So Shark must still be in residence. Little did he realise that his time was rapidly running out.

Or was it? A new fear began to needle me. If this weather kept up, with its heavy cloud cover, the HALO jump might have to be postponed. Snow on the ground wouldn’t matter – in fact it would make the DZ show up all the better, white in the middle of the black wood – but snow clouds in the air were another matter. I’d better report the conditions to the FMB.