Morland quizzed Krauja on the way back to Ādaži. If they were to work together, he wanted to know something about her. He quickly discovered that her English was the result of a degree in English Literature at Durham, where she’d won a scholarship. She’d then worked for Goldman Sachs in London for a couple of years, before tiring of the City and heading back to Riga to serve her country.

Morland asked her about Ukraine, Russia and the threat to the Baltic states. Again, he got the same line. “There’s no question,” she replied. “The President is working up to something. All the indicators are there.”

Morland was surprised by how emphatic she was, but after only three weeks in country, he was also developing an uneasy feeling that when highly intelligent and cosmopolitan Latvians like Bērziņš and Krauja were so convinced of the President’s bad faith, then they might just be right.

“Our history has made us deeply suspicious of Russian intentions,” she continued. “Another time you should visit the Museum of Occupation in Riga. Then you’ll understand that there’s not a family in Latvia which wasn’t affected in some way by the Russian occupation of Latvia during World War Two, or the Soviet occupation that followed. My mother was born in a Siberian labor camp after my grandparents were deported in the 1950s. They were eventually released, but my grandparents never recovered . . . and tens of thousands never came back.”

Morland was humbled into silence as he realized that as a Brit, he could not begin to understand what the Latvians had been through in the not-so-distant past.

She paused to reflect. “You’ll never have a better friend than a Russian. And I have a number. They’ll give you their last kopek if you need it. They’ll laugh with you, cry with you and drink with you to the end of time. But as a nation . . . as a neighbor . . . they’re horrible.”

They drove into Ādaži. Morland pointed her to the training wing where the Mercian team had been given an office. As they walked in, Wild looked up from the laptop on which he was recording that day’s training data. “Hi, Sir. How was Riga? Pick up any useful info?”

The three other team members looked up at Krauja as she entered. She, in turn, appraised them coolly.

“Guys, we’ve got a new task. Meet Marina Krauja, our Latvian security service LO.” Morland was relaxed, inclusive and very much part of the team. But he was also determined to keep this focused and professional.