‘The GAI? There will be no difficulty, provided your documents are in order. We’ll fix you up with whatever you need for each vehicle – licence, insurance and so on. And I shall give you a number to ring in case any problem arises.’

‘What about your own involvement? Will you be available in the camp?’

‘Of course!’ She gave another brief smile. ‘At your service.’

‘Will you sit in on training sessions?’

‘I don’t know about sitting. I’m planning to take part pretty actively.’

‘Great. We’re going to need you.’

The meeting went so smoothly that it lasted only half an hour. Soon after 4.30, Allway was ushering us out into the courtyard, where a gardener was sweeping up leaves.

‘Your English is fantastic,’ I told Anna as she was departing. ‘Where did you learn it so well?’

‘I give you three guesses.’

‘University?’

‘Well – partly. But really in London. I worked for two years at the Intourist main office in Piccadilly.’

‘Ah! When were you there?’

‘Early eighties. Eighty-two to -three.’

A sudden thought came to me. ‘No chance of your having supper with us tonight?’

‘I’m sorry.’ She gave a little shake of her head. ‘I have a date already.’

‘Oh well – I just thought you could fill us in on background.’

‘When you’re over again, maybe.’

‘Definitely. I’ll look forward to that.’

She made for the Fiat, shoe-horned herself neatly into the driving seat and set off.

‘Well,’ said Allway. ‘So far, so good.’

‘Yes – thanks.’

I’d been looking at the old stables at the back of the yard, and they’d given me an idea. ‘There’s one other thing . . .’

‘Yes?’

‘The security on our accommodation block is . . .’ I was on the point of saying it was shite, but ended up saying, ‘dodgy. What I mean is, I wonder – is there a secure room here in the Embassy that we could use for storage? A garage or something?’

Allway looked up and said, ‘What would you want to store?’

‘Maybe some of our comms equipment. On these team tasks we generally have some fairly sensitive kit with us.’

‘Well – as it happens, we’ve just cleared out part of the cellar, over there.’ He pointed into one corner. ‘It’s a bit rough – really just a garage.’

‘As long as it can be locked up . . .’

‘Oh yes – it’s got a steel door. I’ll get the key and show you.’

He disappeared into the office, came out again, and took us across to a steep ramp leading down to an up-and-over door.

‘Ideal,’ I said after a quick look. The cellar had no windows or other exit and, considering that it was below ground level, it felt remarkably dry. ‘This’ll be perfect.’

‘OK then.’ Allway grinned. ‘I’ll do my best to keep it empty for you. People and things around here have a habit of expanding to fill any space that becomes available.’