God, she hoped they were going to lead her to Tony. And that he was still alive. For all she knew, Radecki could have been lying to Carol. Tony could have been murdered before that Polish bastard turned up at the apartment. What she couldn’t work out was how Carol’s cover had been blown. They’d been so circumspect. How had Radecki connected Tony and Carol? And why had he kidnapped Tony? How had something that was in perfect shape this morning turned into a pile of crap by evening?

Well, maybe they’d get some answers by the end of the night. She had confidence in the arrangements she’d made. There were three other cars out there besides hers. The Shark was driving one of the Special Ops guys. There were two others in an unmarked police car. And the Special Ops commander was driving his own SUV. She hadn’t been best pleased to discover he had Larry Gandle and some other British cop called Morgan on board, but she wasn’t in any position to tell them to fuck off and leave this to the locals. At least all the drivers knew the drill about swapping the tail car at regular intervals. She didn’t think there was any way that Krasic could lose them.

The rear entrance of the studio complex opened and three men walked out, clearly in conversation. She spotted Radecki at once. Normally, she would have alerted the rest of the team, but they’d agreed to keep radio silence. With a pair of villains as sophisticated as Radecki and Krasic, it paid to keep risk to a minimum. And even then, as recent events had proved, they could still wreak havoc.

Radecki shook hands with the other two men and walked briskly to his car. Krasic had the lights on and the engine running before he got there. Petra started her engine as the Merc glided out of its bay and headed for the exit. She followed at a discreet distance, catching up as the barrier rose. The Mercedes turned left, and, as agreed, she turned right, flashing her lights at the other cars. They set off in a staggered convoy while she did a three-point turn in the middle of the street and tagged along behind the SUV.

None of them noticed the black BMW Z8 that fell in behind Petra’s car.

‘That’s them,’ Carol said excitedly as the Mercedes pulled out of the car park. ‘Go, Marijke, go!’

‘Wait a minute. We know Petra and her people will follow. We must make sure we don’t get in the way. If she sees you, she’ll send you home.’ Marijke watched intently, noting the car that had followed the Mercedes was turning round to tuck in behind the three vehicles that had already formed a tail.

‘Now?’ Carol demanded.

Marijke nodded and pulled out. ‘Now is good.’