Taher lunged at the man and grabbed him by the shoulder. He jerked him round and at the same time brought the butt of the gun up and smashed it into the white, sweaty face. The man staggered backwards and tripped. He went down hard.

‘You do things differently?’ Taher spat on the ground. ‘In the Iraq War my family was incinerated by a missile launched from a British ship by a British commander. A British prime minister gave the order to attack. Over the centuries you have decimated whole continents and then scuttled back home and ignored the mess you left behind.’

The younger man bent to help the older one. Taher waved his gun and gestured that they should climb the steps to the veranda.

‘It’s over, do you understand? We are in a new age now. No longer can you treat foreign policy like a game. There will be consequences to your actions.’

‘Problems?’ Hope slipped out of the door as they reached the veranda. Her gaze moved to the two men.

‘They’re from the UK.’ Taher had to keep himself from laughing. If this was the state of the country’s secret service it was no wonder they hadn’t had much success in catching him. ‘So-called British intelligence.’

‘You were expecting them?’ Hope’s eyes showed a flare of anger. She lowered her voice so the men couldn’t hear. ‘You should have warned me. You know I like to be informed of everything. Especially with Greg out of the picture.’

Taher grimaced. The deputy ambassador, along with two of his bodyguards, had been involved in a car accident a few days ago. It appeared Mavers had been drinking and had insisted on driving. The car had left a winding country road and ended up upside down in a river. There’d been no survivors. Taher didn’t buy the story, of course, but at this point the fate of Mavers was inconsequential. The man didn’t know the details of the smuggling route, didn’t know anything about Taher, and wasn’t much more than Hope’s well-paid lackey, someone who’d grovelled at her feet in expectation of a reward when she became president.

‘Greg told me the girl must have had high-level backup.’ Hope was speaking again, her voice harder and laced with anger. ‘So these two could have been part of the team that tried to kill me in Italy.’

‘It’s possible.’ Taher turned his head. The older man could barely stand. Blood ran from a cut above his left eye and he was breathing heavily. The younger man stood muscles taunt, like a cat about to pounce. Taher pulled out the Glock from his holster and handed it to Hope. ‘Cover them.’