‘Not really. Say, for instance you had been the mole. Then you’d have known I knew. I also wanted you to work discreetly, and I was pretty sure you’d try to keep your hunt for Taher hidden from me as well as everyone else.’

‘Right.’ Holm conceded the point. ‘But who put you on to Ben Western and SeaPak in the first place?’

‘Jawad al Haddad’s young wife, Deema. We recruited her years ago when she was at boarding school here and she’s been feeding information to us ever since she was forced into the marriage with Haddad. The intelligence she provided has been limited to bits and pieces she managed to overhear, but one such snippet was the name Western in connection with Taher. However, there was no context until a flag came up a few weeks ago about a man of the same name going missing in Suffolk. The Western case seemed to me to be a long shot, but I backed you to discover if there was anything in it.’

‘And Karen Hope?’ Holm leaned forward and, without thinking, dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘She was in cahoots with Taher, ma’am.’

‘We don’t need to explore that aspect, Stephen. Not for now. To be honest I haven’t got my head round everything yet, but we’ll see how things pan out. Take it from there.’

‘What about the sniper? Palmer seemed to think Hope was killed by the people who rescued us, but they were British so it doesn’t seem likely.’

‘You didn’t speak with them?’

‘Only briefly. They gave us a lift back to our car and then high-tailed it.’

‘Need to know, Stephen.’ Huxtable tapped her nose with a finger. ‘You know the why and the when. You don’t need to know the who.’

‘This was officially sanctioned, wasn’t it?’ Holm realised the question was one he should never have asked so he avoided her gaze. ‘Bloody hell.’

‘In the next few days Thomas Gillan will be tending his resignation. Ostensibly he’s going for personal reasons, but in reality his departure is down to a misinterpretation of instructions from the cabinet secretary and the national security adviser.’

‘They’re passing the buck.’

‘Put it this way, Thomas Gillan took one for the team, for the country. Something, I’m afraid, politicians almost never do.’

‘A hero, then.’

‘As much as anyone.’ Huxtable smiled. ‘As much as you and Farakh.’

‘Taher got away.’