'Don't let any press photographers see you doing that, Mr President.'

'Hell, I'm entitled to one weakness. These things got me through Vietnam and you through the Gulf.'

'They surely did,' Clancy agreed.

They smoked in companionable silence, then ground out their cigarette butts. 'Let's go,' Cazalet said, and led the way out into the rain, breaking into a run again.

Hidden in the reeds beside the main road, Bell saw them coming. He whispered loudly across to Casey, who was on the other side.

'There they are. Get ready. You take the Secret Serviceman, I'll have the President, and don't be too eager. Take your time.'

He waited. There was no need for a long shot when it could be done virtually at point-blank range. He raised the AK to his shoulder, and Cazalet ran directly toward him.

And as Bell had told Kate Rashid, how often the best-laid schemes could go wrong. He'd planned meticulously, every contingency foreseen, except for the instincts of a flatcoat retriever named Murchison. With that special extra facility known only to dogs, he sensed something wrong, took off like a rocket and plunged into the reeds on the other side of the road.

Casey lurched out into the open, struggling to cope with the fact that Murchison had him by the left ankle, and his AK discharged.

Jake Cazalet stopped running some twenty-five yards away and Aidan Bell stayed hidden and took aim, but Clancy Smith was fast. In the same moment, he knocked the President sideways and took the bullet that Bell had intended for Cazalet in his right shoulder.

He staggered but never wavered. 'Take coyer, Mr President,' he cried and shoved Cazalet down into the shelter of the reeds.

Cazalet gave a piercing whistle and, a moment later, Murchison joined them. There was blood in quantity pouring from the rent in Smith's yellow oilskin jacket.

'Is it bad?' Cazalet asked.

'I'll be all right. You'd better take this, Mr President,' and he passed the Browning across.

Bell called softly across the road, 'Stay out of sight, Liam,' and then he loosed off several bursts in the general direction where he'd seen Clancy Smith and Cazalet disappear.

Clancy was already calling in and Cazalet fired back twice.

In the Communications Room, Blake Johnson was seated next to Harper working through some signals when Clancy's voice crackled over the loudspeakers with the shocking words. 'Blake. Empire Down! Empire Down!' At the same moment came the sounds of gunfire.

Blake reached for the mike. 'Where are you?'

'Halfway along the main road. I've been hit, but the President is okay. He's doing the shooting back.'

'I'm on my way.' Blake turned to Harper. 'Give me your piece. You know what to do.'

Harper, face wild, handed him a Beretta. Blake slipped it into his right-hand pocket, ran straight out onto the porch and to the barn. A moment later, he rode out on the Montesa and hurtled along the road.

Peering through the reeds, Clancy and the President could see him coming when he was still some distance away. So, of course, could Bell and Liam.

'Crazy damn fool,' Cazalet said. 'He'll get himself killed. Why couldn't he wait till the cavalry got here?'

'That'll be the day,' Clancy Smith said.

Blake pushed the little bike up to sixty, a ludicrous speed on the narrow road, and Aidan Bell fired through the reeds, a short burst that exploded the front tyre and sent the Montesa into a long sliding skid on one side as Blake kicked free.

Liam Casey made a bad mistake then, and emerged from the reeds, AK raised.

'I've got you now, you bastard.'

Blake's hand came out of his right-hand pocket holding the Beretta, and he shot the big Irishman in the chest. Casey cried out, his AK discharging, and plunged headfirst into the reeds beside Bell.

Further along the road, Cazalet stood up briefly. 'Over here, Blake. I'll cover you.'

He dropped out of sight and Blake staggered along the road, limping.

Liam Casey said, 'Can you get the bastard who shot me, Aidan?'

Bell watched Blake go and disappear into the reeds. 'It's not worth it, Liam.'

'God, it hurts, Aidan.'

Bell took in the bullethole in the stomach of the diving suit. 'Yes, it would.'

In the far distance, there came an ominous rattling sound. 'Oh dear, here comes the heavy brigade. Time to go.'

'What do you mean?' Liam demanded.

'What I mean is you win some and you lose some, and this one is very definitely down the plughole, thanks to that damn dog. Cazalet will buy him a gold collar after this. I'll just keep their heads down over there and be on my way.'

He sprayed the reeds in the general direction of the President's party, emptying his AK, dropped it into the mud, and picked up Casey's.

'But what about me?' Casey moaned.

'That's a problem, but I have a solution. Our friends didn't see two of us, only one. So, if they find one, that should keep them happy while the other one gets away.'

He stood up and took his Browning with the Carswell silencer from inside his diving jacket. Liam Casey said, 'You can't leave me, Aidan.'

'I'm being practical.'

Aidan Bell aimed for a heart shot, the Browning coughed once, Liam Casey jerked and lay still.

'Sorry, old son,' Aidan said softly, then he put the Browning back inside his jacket and slipped off through the reeds. Four hundred yards away, the Dolphin waited; that wasn't too far, and then he'd be back underwater before the security helicopters started to blanket the area. On the other hand, they'd find Liam soon enough, and that should hold them.

After that long final burst, there was silence. 'Maybe he's down,' Cazalet said.

'Or out of it,' Clancy observed.

Murchison whined, then snuffled, nose up. 'Something's getting to him,' the President said.

The helicopters were close now, two of them. 'He won't wait around for this lot,' Blake said. 'He's either on his back or on his way. I'm going out.'

He stepped out of the reeds before the President could order otherwise and stood on the path and waved with both arms as the two Hawk helicopters swung down. They made their landings, each one disgorging six Secret Servicemen in navy-blue assault gear, each one carrying the new Parker-Hale machine pistol. They crowded round, and the President emerged, helping Clancy Smith, who had lost a considerable amount of blood.

'The President's fine,' Blake said.

'Only because Clancy took a bullet meant for me,' Cazalet said. 'Two of you get him into one of the choppers.'

'And you, Mr President, you know the rules. We take you straight out of harm's way till everything is sorted out,' Blake said.

'All right, damn you.' Cazalet whistled to Murchison and followed them as they took Clancy Smith.

One of the Hawks lifted off and Blake turned to the others. 'There was one man wearing a black diving suit. He tried to shoot me with an AK. I shot him for sure and he sort of dived into the reeds on that side down there. Don't come back without him.'

About the same time, Aidan Bell, back in his diving gear, was sliding the Dolphin into the water. He switched on, climbed on board and took her down to twenty feet as a precaution. Within ten minutes, he was moving out to sea.

'Always the great survivor, Aidan,' he told himself. 'Always the great survivor.'

They found Liam Casey and at first thought he was dead. One of them went for Blake, but by the time he'd arrived the situation had changed, and they were carrying him out of the reeds toward the second Hawk.

Campbell, the agent in charge, said, 'He's got a real bad stomach wound – your shot, I'd say, but you did say you only fired once.'

'Absolutely.'

'Then there's been someone else around. Someone tried a heart shot, probably to finish him off, but he had a Browning inside his jacket and it turned the bullet. I think he's on the way out, mind you.'