Putin gets out of the car, followed by Cara, who hands him the remote then gets back in, behind the steering wheel. Putin opens Kate’s door. She thinks again about making a break for it. Her only chance of escape is if she can put enough distance between herself and the remote. It must have a limited range. She just doesn’t know how limited. And the pain…

Run.

‘Do exactly as I say,’ Putin says, gesturing for her to get out as he looks around. Why have they chosen to fly her out of the country from here? Presumably there will be checks like any other airport and her name will trigger an alert of some sort.

‘Do you need my passport?’ she asks.

‘It’s not necessary.’

‘Why not?’

He doesn’t answer.

Twenty minutes later, she’s watching London below her turn into a diminishing patchwork of houses and roads, laced through with the glistening thread of the Thames. Her chances of escape are diminishing too. She prays that Jake and Bex are down there somewhere, looking for her. Will Jake have contacted DI Hart? There were no Border Force officers at the heliport, no last-minute intervention by the police. It will be too late if anyone notices after she’s left the country.

She’s terrified of what will happen when they arrive in Brest, who will be there. The airport represents her last chance of escape. Crowds, people, police. She suspects she’ll be on her own once she gets to Rob’s house. Just her and…

‘Who’s Gilmour Martin?’ she asks Putin, recalling what he said to the policeman who stopped their car.

‘No questions,’ he says. ‘No names.’

She hopes Rob’s safe.

93

Silas

Silas parks up in Queen’s Square, north of Holborn, and waits. He needs to calm down. They are here to see Dr Varma, who works out of a private practice in the square.

‘You want a coffee, boss?’ Strover asks.

‘I need something stronger than that.’

A moment ago, he hung up on a liaison officer with Border Force, the law enforcement command within the Home Office that’s meant to patrol all gateways into the UK via air, sea and rail. The officer rang Silas in response to his earlier request for an all-ports marker on Kate. According to the officer, Kate left the UK via London Heliport in Battersea ninety minutes ago – information that’s only just been relayed to Border Force in a general aviation report that was filed by the pilot once he’d touched down in Brest.

‘And there were no Border Force officers at the heliport?’ Silas asked incredulously.

‘We keep no permanent presence there,’ the officer said. ‘Only at times of heightened security.’

‘Glad to hear it.’

It wasn’t much consolation and it still rankles with Silas now as he gets out of the car and walks across Queen’s Square with Strover.