When the shot cracked off Holm thought the report would be the final thing he’d hear, his last conscious thought. Death seemed to take a long time coming though, and in the seconds remaining he considered his lot. He hadn’t been a bad man. In fact, on balance, he’d done more good than evil. He regretted the way he’d treated his wife and was sorry he hadn’t spent more time with his daughters. Some extra R & R with Billie Cornish would have been nice too, but she deserved happiness and it looked as if she’d found it. The one big regret he had was involving Farakh Javed in this mess. He was gay, he had annoying habits like slurping his coffee and cutting his fingernails, and was generally a right pain in the backside, but the lad, in a way, was the son Holm had never had.

Holm turned his head, surprised he was still lucid. There was no pain, no feeling at all. He reasoned the bullet must have destroyed his nervous system. And yet if that was the case, how come he was staring at Javed and thinking all these crazy thoughts?

‘Boss!’

Javed moved sideways and bowled into Holm, knocking him over the edge of the veranda. They fell six feet onto hard earth, the landing knocking all the air out of Holm. Now he did feel pain. A sharp jolt up the side of his arm, his eyes blurring as he spun from consciousness for a second. He jerked his head. That hurt too, but not from a bullet. His forehead had collided with the trunk of a thousand-year-old olive tree.

‘What the…?’ Holm was back in the land of the living. He might not make one thousand years, but he reckoned he’d be good for a few more. ‘What happened?’

‘Sniper,’ Javed said, sounding impressed. ‘Took out Karen Hope. Bam!’

‘Taher?’

‘I heard a vehicle so I reckon he’s gone.’

‘Let’s get up there.’ Holm struggled to his knees and tried to pull his hands from the twine Taher had tightened round his wrists. It was impossible.

‘We should stay out of sight.’ Javed was kneeling too, straining against his bounds. ‘There’s a gunman out there somewhere.’

‘If he was aiming at us, we’d be hit by now. He was either after Taher or Hope.’ Holm paused and craned his neck to try and see onto the veranda. ‘Is she dead?’

‘If she isn’t then I think it’s still unlikely she’ll be running for president. I saw half her brain hit the wall of the house. I don’t think the bit remaining is going to be good for much.’

‘It’s not a joking matter, Farakh. You’re talking about the woman who was going to be the leader of the free world.’

‘And who was about to put a hole in our heads.’