“I’m being deadly serious here, Marina. I don’t know what the Americans are planning, but I reckon that the Russians in that compound are going to get the shock of their lives tomorrow night. If we keep to the plan, keep quiet, we should be in and out. After that, of course . . .” As he said it, Morland was all too aware that, while they had been living almost cheek to cheek, they had hardly spoken to one another properly since they came into the forest; the consequence of living and operating tactically and on the run for weeks on end.

He looked around and saw that, for a brief moment, they were alone. “I’ve been wanting to thank you, Marina. I saw how pissed off Jānis Krastiņš was, when he handed us over to Arvydas Lukša and the Lithuanian Forest Brothers. I didn’t understand a word he was saying but, from the look he gave me when he left, I’m guessing you insisted on staying and looking after us.”

“Yes . . . Well . . .”

For a moment there was a softness in her eyes when Krauja looked back at him and Morland thought he detected the faintest of blushes beneath the green-and-brown camouflage cream smeared over her cheeks. Then it was if she caught herself before giving him her normal, no-nonsense look.

“When you and I first met in Riga, Juris Bērziņš, my boss, ordered me to stay with you and look after you . . . whatever happened. He had predicted something like this years ago. He had no doubt about what he was witnessing when he asked you to visit him and he assigned me to be your liaison officer. I told him yes, and I am fulfilling my word to a man I respected. Major Krastiņš’s view was that with Bērziņš dead and Latvia overrun by the Russians, my promise no longer applied. I disagreed. That’s all.”

“Is that so?” said Morland, unwilling to pursue the matter further. She was with them and that was that, and he certainly didn’t want her anywhere else right now. Then another thought struck him. “Please don’t say this to anyone else, Marina, but I’m guessing we are going to get pulled out of here sooner rather than later. Although I have no idea how or when . . . If we are extracted, I think you should strongly consider coming back to the UK with us. You’ve more than done your bit and, what’s more, you’re much more useful alive and helping our Int people back home than stuck in the forests and being hunted down by the Russians. And something else I’m sure everyone is very aware of but they don’t want to articulate, I think it’s going to get very hairy around here once we complete this mission.”