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him?’

    asked Shepherd. ‘No hint? No clue?’
    ‘How can you even ask that?’ said Button. ‘I was as much in the dark as you were. Al I was told was that we could have one operative on the team. My understanding was that providing Bin Laden wasn’t armed he was to be held for interrogation and eventual trial.’
    ‘He was unarmed,’ said Shepherd. ‘They al were.’
    ‘There was no firefight? The Americans are saying they came under fire.’
    ‘The only shots fired were fired by the Yanks,’ said Shepherd as he poured wine into the two glasses. ‘They shot one of his wives and then they shot him. A double tap to make sure. Then they al cheered and did that stupid whooping thing. They shot an unarmed man and then act like they’re bloody heroes. Twats.’
    ‘I’m sorry it worked out that way, Spider.’
    ‘You know, it seems to me that we would have been better off sending in the SAS. I said at the time it was a mistake trusting it to the Seals. They like to go in with guns blazing, kil everyone and let God sort them out.’ He shook his head and sneered in disgust.
    ‘At least you’re back in one piece.’
    ‘Yeah, wel , no thanks to the Yanks. You heard about the helicopter they crashed, right?’
    Button nodded.
    Shepherd tapped his chest. ‘Wel , I nearly bought it when it came close to crashing into the chopper I was in. Missed us by feet. I tel you, if it had hit us it would have been thank you and good night.’
    ‘What happened?’ She picked up her glass, sniffed the wine, then sipped it.
    ‘The pilot got too close to the compound wal and the rotor blast got deflected back. Instant loss of lift and down they went. Lucky no one was hurt.
    I tel you, Charlie, from start to finish it was a disaster. The plan was to lower us by rope inside the compound. The chopper crashes so we’re on the wrong side of the wal . They tried to break down the gate and when that didn’t work they had to use C4 to blow it. By the time we got into the compound every man and his dog for miles must have heard us.’ He shrugged. ‘Sorry. It just pisses me off how badly organised they are. And after al that they stil start shooting unarmed men and women. They kil ed Bin Laden’s son and he didn’t even have a gun. For al I know he could have been surrendering. It was an assassination, nothing less.’
    ‘There are those that might say it’s better they didn’t take him alive. Can you imagine what al-Qaeda might have done to try to force the Americans to give him back? At least this way that’s not an option.’
    ‘Yeah? You think there won’t be repercussions? Because I’l take any bet you want to place. If Bin Laden had come out firing an AK-47 there might have been an argument for shooting him, but he was unarmed and they put a bul et in his chest and one in his head.’ He forced a smile. ‘At least they didn’t shoot me. I guess I should be thankful for smal mercies.’ He toyed with his wine glass. ‘So what now?’
    ‘Business as usual,’ said Button. ‘I need you to hand-hold Chaudhry and Malik. Especial y after what’s happened.’
    ‘I’l check in by phone tonight and arrange a meeting.’
    ‘How do you think they’l react?’
    Shepherd grimaced. ‘They’l be pleased he’s dead; they both hated him for what he’d done. But they’l wonder why I didn’t give them a heads-up about what was going to happen.’
    ‘Smooth their feathers,’ she said. ‘Say whatever’s necessary to keep them on track.’
    ‘I’m not going to lie to them, Charlie.’
    She swirled her wine around the glass. ‘No one’s asking you to lie, or even bend the truth. But they’re amateurs doing a very dangerous job and they need the kid-gloves treatment. For instance, probably best not to tel them you were in Pakistan.’
    ‘I wasn’t planning to,’ said Shepherd. ‘They don’t know about my SAS background.’
    ‘That’s the way to play it,’ she said. ‘You’re a regular MI5 intel igence officer