Allenby looked around. The restaurant was near empty and there was no one close enough to listen in to their conversation, but she still lowered her voice. “You and the Forest Brothers certainly played a part in undermining him.”

“Really?” Morland exclaimed.

“Really,” Allenby answered. “But don’t expect anyone to thank you. For us to even acknowledge your contribution would invite the Russians to investigate how we might know what they are thinking . . . After his OTT reaction to the falling helicopters we started picking up chatter about potential successors and how best to replace him. The one thing that keeps you in power in Russia is a reputation for strength. Once he started losing that, it was only a matter of time. In fact, we don’t believe he’s been in control for some weeks now.”

“Are you saying that the helicopter was pushed, rather than fell?”

“That’s what I think. Of course, helicopters do fall out of the sky . . .”

“Please tell me this is this good news and that someone who’s less of a bastard will take over.”

“Maybe not,” replied Allenby. “We’ve been picking up that his likely successor is even more of a hardline nationalist, which is a real worry. He’s been ranting about enemies within and the stab in the back; the need to take revenge on NATO for the Russian defeat and the fact that they had to return the Baltics to get Kaliningrad and their missiles back.”

Morland was thoughtful. “Yes, I can see how that must have hurt Russian pride.”

“Well, that was the NATO plan.”

“I hear that you might have had something . . .”

“Enough, Tom. You know I can’t go into any of that. Anyway, you’ve certainly been through the mill. You were lucky to get away with it after the President put that Spetsnaz guy on your trail.”

“Yeah, so you told us at GCHQ.”

“Did you know he set up the ambush at Pravdinsk?” said Allenby.

“I didn’t, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I saw him order the snipers to open fire on those Russian girls in Riga and then, there he was, leading the camp attack in Latvia. It seemed a pretty massive coincidence and I began to wonder if he had been told to track us down. When I saw the compound lights had gone out, I suspected we might be walking into a trap, but it was far too late to back out by then. Tell me. Was he killed in the air strike?”

“We don’t know. It’s strange. We’ve not picked up anything on him at all, although we were able to track pretty much everything else. It’s as if the Russians are deliberately not saying anything to cover his tracks.”

The atmosphere chilled slightly, as they both contemplated the possible consequences of that.