He updated them while the INMARSAT secure VTC was removed from its case and set up. The team signaler Corporal Steve Bradley, a giant New Zealander with a Maori mother, who had traveled across the world to join the British Army, adjusted the frequency and the Ops Room at the Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood appeared on the screen. Wild and the other two team members, Corporals Paddy Archer and Jezza Watson, sat at the back to listen in.

“You’re on, Sir,” said Bradley and Morland took a seat in front of the 6.4 inch color screen. “Evening, Jerry,” he said as Major Jerry Dingley, the PJHQ desk officer responsible for supporting training teams in the Baltic states, sat down in front of the camera and asked Morland to start.

Morland told him the team training was going well and the Special Tasks Unit was making good progress with their hostage rescue skills. Next week the focus was to shift to long-range reconnaissance and patrol work, but given the innate toughness of the Latvians and their familiarity with their specific forest environment, Morland didn’t think they could add much to improve their capability. In fact, he thought the Latvians could teach his team a trick or three to bring back home. Then he backbriefed Dingley on Bērziņš’s request.

“On the face of it the murders were carried out by Latvian nationalists. But the view here is that it is too clinical for them; they’re pretty crude at the best of times and this isn’t their style. The carving of Latvian Legion insignia and cleanly snapped necks all point to the guys who do these things best, the Russians; FSB or Spetsnaz. The Latvian security service has some leads but needs support in pinning down the network. We’re also concerned about threats to a big pro-Russia demonstration planned for tomorrow. We think Latvian nationalists may attempt to disrupt it. It’s politically difficult for the Latvians to follow up on their own people. Doing so may cause further tensions. They’ve asked if we can do it for them.”

“Roger, Tom,” came Dingley’s reply. “We’ve been warned off about this from J2 Intelligence here at PJHQ. I’ve got our GCHQ liaison officer with me. She’ll brief you on what the Government Communications Headquarters can do.”