‘None,’ said Laidlaw. ‘Even when the two halves of each device are united, nothing can happen until the control box has been interrogated and primed by satellite signal. You need have no worries on that score.’

Thanks, I thought, feeling crushed with a sudden terrific weight of responsibility. The boss was going on again about the paramount need for security; but although I could hear what he was saying I was wondering how the hell I could carry out the training mission with this knowledge in my mind. Every day we’d be dealing man-to-man with our students, instructing and encouraging them, and at the same time, behind their backs, we’d be plotting to annihilate them.

As the main briefing was coming to an end, the CO drew me aside and said, ‘One thing to remember, Geordie: whatever happens, don’t let yourselves get involved in any live operation, like you did in Colombia.’

‘That was different, Boss,’ I protested. ‘When Peter lifted, we had to do something about it.’

‘I know. But what I’m saying is that we don’t want any repetition. Even if the Russians beg you to take on a job for them, refuse.’

‘Will do.’

From the briefing we went into a close-up study of the two sites. Laidlaw produced large-scale drawings with much detail on them.

‘All this information is on compact discs, which you can obviously take with you,’ he said. ‘The discs are programmed so that if anyone tries to get into one without using the correct password, the contents are automatically destroyed. Nevertheless, you obviously want to handle the discs with the greatest care.’

As soon as the brass had dispersed, I called the team together for a Chinese parliament. We got a brew on, and sat round discussing this amazing turn of events.

Rick remembered that, a few months ago, there’d been reports of the Russians losing a whole load of such devices. ‘There was something on the Internet that I downloaded on to our Russian file,’ he said. ‘Wait one, and I’ll pull off a copy.’

While he went to make a search, Whinger and I filled in the other guys on the layout of the Kremlin and the British Embassy, which had suddenly become of critical importance. I felt instinctively that because the Orange site was out in open country, we’d be able to hack it without too much trouble: it was Apple, right under the walls of the Kremlin, that made my neck crawl.

In a few minutes Rick returned with a couple of pages printed off his lap-top. ‘Listen to this,’ he began, reading out his transcript. ‘“A respected Russian scientist and former adviser to President Yeltsin said on Thursday that during the 1970s, under orders from the KGB, Moscow had secretly developed suitcase nuclear bombs. The devices had an explosive capacity of one kiloton – the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT. They could be activated by one person, and could kill 100,000 people. The bombs were designed for terrorist purposes. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, at least 100 such devices have remained unaccounted for.”’