Silence. For several seconds nobody moved. I felt as if I’d been skewered to my seat. When the CO continued, I seemed to be hearing him from a distance.

‘We realise, of course, that this action is not in line with overt Western policy. The initiative has come from the United States Defense Department. For some time they’ve been looking at the concept of infiltrating nuclear devices into the former Soviet Union. Now Operation Nimrod is about to provide an opportunity. Any questions so far?’

‘You mean you’re expecting us to plant nuclear devices?’ I went.

‘Just that,’ the CO replied.

‘What – under the bloody Kremlin, I suppose?’

‘Exactly. One of them, anyway.’

‘Boss – you can’t be serious.’

‘I am, Geordie. It sounds outrageous, I know. But I am. Totally serious.’

I felt myself growing angry. ‘I thought we were supposed to be helping the poor bastards.’

‘We are. In the short term, we’re on their side. We’ll go through with the training programme as planned, and I hope we’ll do them a service. The new phase of the operation is a long-term measure designed to keep the lid on things in the event of a take-over by criminal elements.’

‘That’s one way of putting it,’ I said. ‘You keep the lid on things by blowing the whole fucking place sky high.’

‘Geordie!’ The CO’s voice sharpened. ‘Get hold of yourself. The Regiment has received this request from the Pentagon, via the British Government. We’ve agreed to carry it out.’

Already I regarded Sasha as a friend, a comrade in arms, who needed all the help I could give him. Now I was going to have to double-cross him in everything I said or did. All my friendly actions were going to be undermined by treachery. Then there was Anna. Even though we’d only met once, I sensed that I could work with her. From day one I’d be deceiving her too.

I heard myself asking, ‘Does our embassy in Moscow know about this?’

‘No.’ The Boss shook his head emphatically. ‘Not a thing. They’ll never hear of it.’

Immediately I thought, More people to deceive: the Chargé d’Affaires, for a start. ‘Christ!’ I glanced at Whinger and saw he was looking pretty sick. I looked on along the line of faces – Rick, Mal, Pavarotti, Dusty – hoping for back-up, but they all wore blank, puzzled expressions.

‘These devices,’ I said. ‘Are you talking about suitcase bombs – the sort of things that were developed for taking out bridges or dams?’

‘A modern version,’ the CO conceded. ‘Slightly bigger, and very much more powerful.’

‘How are we supposed to handle them? I mean, are they portable, or what?’

‘More or less.’ The CO gestured to his left. ‘Mr Laidlaw is going to give you an initial briefing.’