“General, I need to talk. Quietly please. If you have a moment, that is . . .”

Allenby, who’d impressed McKinlay by her poise, self-confidence and deep knowledge of her subject, looked concerned.

“Of course. How are we for time, Simon?” he asked his British Army Military Assistant.

“The plane’s not going without you, General . . . take as long as you like. I suggest we head out to the garden. There’s plenty of space and we’ll be able to find somewhere quiet.”

Their GCHQ escort, a middle-aged lady from Protocol, took them into the open-air garden courtyard situated in the middle of the Doughnut and they sat at a bench close to the memorial to the five GCHQ staff killed on active service in Afghanistan: two Cotswold Stone circles, with the bronze heads of a young woman and a helmeted soldier in profile, facing each other.

“You did well back there,” said McKinlay bluntly, once the escort was out of earshot. “I don’t mean just the op you’ve set up . . . but you weren’t fazed by that little weasel with the PM—his Director of Communications, Walker . . . Odious man. Always looking to get something on you that he can trade later.”

Allenby brushed off the compliment with what seemed to McKinlay her trademark briskness, but he wondered as he observed her, was it really shyness?

“Thank you, General, but it happens all the time with those types.”

He nodded at her to continue.

“Look, I know you’re heading back to SHAPE, but there’s something you should know that I can’t pass on via the usual channels . . . Which is why I wanted to grab you before you left.”

McKinlay was intrigued. “I’m listening.”

“It’s about the team of Mercians we’ve got in Latvia—at least they started in Latvia. As you’ll know, they’ve now infiltrated into Kaliningrad from Lithuania. They’ve just completed a close target recce on the nuclear command and control bunker at Pravdinsk, in order to prepare the way for US Special Forces to seize it once we’ve activated Rasputin and established the electronic control I briefed the PM about.”

“OK,” said McKinlay.

“There are two issues of concern you should know about. First, we’ve picked up from the Russian nets that they’ve almost certainly identified the team. Not only that, but the Russians know they were responsible for humiliating the President with the helicopter shoot down at Ligatne. And second, we’ve picked up that the President has personally ordered the Spetsnaz to capture Tom Morland, the Mercian team commander. They want to make a spectacle of him. Before disposing of him, no doubt.”

“How did they manage that?” asked McKinlay.