'I'm sure he could, but why would he do such a thing?'

Holley said, 'Come on, Sean, the grenade was bad enough, but this is going a bit too far.'

'Really?' Dillon carried on in excellent Arabic. 'As you can see, we haven't been honest with you. Even Major Miller speaks some Arabic. Your men have been loose-tongued, discussing in our hearing how they would murder the stupid Englishmen. Of course, they got that wrong, as I'm Irish.'

Holley turned to the Colonel and said in Arabic, 'Tell me this is not true.'

Dillon poured himself another whisky. 'He's our man in Algiers as far as Al Qaeda and the Preacher are concerned. Nadim and his boys have all taken the oath at his hands. They were talking about it as we were walking to the Falcon.' Hakim's face had turned ghostly pale; he was consumed with uncertainty about what was going to happen next. Dillon added, 'It would seem obvious to me, Daniel, that he's been using his friendship with your partner, Hamid Malik, to no good purpose. This whole thing was an Al Qaeda sting, a ruse to draw us all in for summary execution.'

'So no Shamrock?' Holley said.

'Oh, yes, he landed in a plane on the far side of the Khufra, shortly before we got in, at a place called Fasa. He's with Hamza on Diva now, a puzzle to everyone. He speaks like a Brit and is disguised as a Tuareg.'

'You bloody sod,' Holley said to Hakim. 'I should kill you myself.'

'Don't let's be hasty,' Dillon said. 'He still has his uses.' He picked up the Walther and cocked it. 'If I shot you now, Nadim wouldn't hear a thing, so be sensible. Who is the Preacher?'

'The most powerful man in Europe. If I did know his name, which I don't, and told you, there would be no place to hide. He's the Preacher, a voice on the phone. It's impossible to trace the source of his calls.'

'There's no such thing as impossible,' Dillon told him.

'I thought that, too, and had experts try.' Hakim tried to make it sound convincing. 'They all failed.'

'You bastard,' Holley said bitterly. 'All Malik's years of friendship meant nothing to you.'

'Osama bin Laden meant more.' There were tears in Hakim's eyes. 'You must see this, Daniel. He is the greatest hope for the Arab world since the Prophet himself.'

'Strange,' Holley said. 'All I see are the never-ending bombs, the bodies in the streets.'

'Okay, let's move on from that and discuss what's going to happen.' Dillon was still holding the cocked Walther and smiled amiably at Hakim. 'I am prepared to kill you at any given moment. Your friends outside won't hear a thing. The only way you stay alive is by doing exactly as you're told.'

'So what do you want?'

'We'll go on deck and you tell Nadim you've changed your plans. You've decided to take command here on Evening Star and he can follow in Fortuna. Tell him to leave his six men as arranged. It might puzzle him if you didn't. Tell him you want to handle the situation yourself; say that you might go in earlier, but stress that he keep half an hour behind you.'

'And what do you intend to do?'

'Why, push our way through to Diva and get our hands on Shamrock.' Hakim frowned slightly. Dillon put the muzzle of the Walther between Hakim's eyes. 'This is your moment of truth. I could kill you now, and I'll certainly kill you on deck if you don't do as I say. Once we start on that, Major Miller will start spraying your men, and you know how destructive the automatic version of the AK47 is.'

'Only too well,' Hakim said bitterly. 'So let's get it over with.'

'When you speak to him, make it in Arabic,' Dillon said. 'That way I can hear exactly what he's saying about me without him realizing. Another thing.' He held out his hand. 'Your mobile phone.'

Hakim took it from his breast pocket, put it on the table, turned and went up the companionway, Dillon and Miller following. There were strange birds calling, cicadas, the voices of the marsh and the croaking of bullfrogs. The men were playing cards beside a coal brazier, two armed guards by the prow of the launch, a small fire glowing. Nadim was watching and smoking, and turned as they appeared, and Hakim called him over. He told him exactly what Dillon had told him to say.

'You think this wise, Colonel, exposing yourself in such a way? These people need handling with care, especially Dillon. I wish you would allow me to dispose of them for you. What is to be gained by this farce concerning the man Shamrock? What is he here for? It was not necessary.'

'He wants to have a hand in the killing,' Hakim said, 'so obey me in this. Make the change now, and have one of the men bring me my night robe and toilet bag from the Fortuna.'

Nadim glanced at Dillon, his expression giving nothing away, then turned, moved to the fire. He outlined the change of plan, then went into the hut. He came out five minutes later with his peaked cap on, carrying a holdall, and walked to the Fortuna at the far end of the jetty.

'We'll wait for someone to bring those things you wanted,' Dillon said. 'Have a cigarette, it will calm your nerves.'

Hakim did as he was told and offered one to Daniel, who said, 'Never again. I don't trust myself not to kill you now.'

The policemen playing cards retreated inside and made ready for bed, leaving just the two on guard. An orderly came running along the jetty, saluted Hakim, handed over the robe and toilet bag, and retreated.

'Time to go below,' Dillon said. 'You lead the way.'

Hakim did as he was told. In the saloon, Dillon took the toilet bag from him and emptied it while Miller checked the robe.

'Did you really think I might have a spare in there?' Hakim asked.

'Plenty of people do,' Dillon said. 'Now go and get your head down for a while and behave yourself.'

Hakim went and settled himself in a bunk in one of the stern cabins, and Dillon and his friends had a drink and discussed the plans. 'I'd like to see us move out at a different time than Hakim arranged,' he said.

'That was four o'clock in the morning,' Miller pointed out. 'Any earlier, it would be dark.'

'Would you think there was any kind of chance of slipping away without those six policemen?' Dillon asked.

Holley said, 'We could dispose of the sentries easily enough. There's that long pole on deck for punting the boat when in difficulty in the reeds, so you could float the boat some distance away before turning the engine.'

'And that would be enough to wake the dead.' Holley shook his head. 'That's no good at all. When we did the low approach in the plane, there were a few other boats further upstream from here. I think I'd better go for a walk and take Hakim with me. You two stay and keep the sentries happy.' Ali Hakim, instructed to come for a stroll and smoke a cigarette, did as he was told, and Holley found what he was looking for a hundred and fifty yards along a path beside the river. A shack with the door padlocked and a small jetty just above the water. There were two plastic orange inflatables with both outboard motors and oars. Each inflatable was capable of carrying five or six people. Holley had brought a lantern from the launch and examined them closely.

'Who owns these?'

'The coastguard service, but they hardly ever come. Local people frequently use them illegally, that's why you can smell the petrol. I've travelled in them myself.'

Holley gave him the lantern. 'Check them out.'

Hakim did. 'As I thought, somebody's been using them: both tanks are quite full. It's a push-button engine. Shall I show you?'

'I'll take your word for it. Let's go back.'

They sat at the table in the saloon and discussed it. Holley said, 'That would be the way to do it as far as I can see. It would be suicide to keep to Hakim's time. Omar Hamza would blow us out of the water. With these boats, you can cut the engine and approach with oars.'