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he said he’d dealt with the problem, he meant he’d given Sereyev a pay rise and bonus, but he disappeared shortly afterwards. The plans he was referring to related to a birthday surprise they were organising, and it wouldn’t have been good if Bessonov had been pulled in for questioning and had to miss it.’
    ‘But what about the team they mentioned?’ Cooper persisted.
    ‘It could be a team of strippers for the birthday bash they’re organising,’ Harvey said, ‘and they don’t want MI5 pulling them in and thinking they were prostitutes being trafficked into the country, which is an accusation that has been levelled at Bessonov more than once.’
    Cooper sat heavily in her chair, deflated.
    ‘I’m sorry, Gayle,’ Harvey said, as he stood and headed for the door. ‘I want to bring Bessonov in just as much as you do, but we’re going to need more proof than this. It might be enough to get SO1 off their backsides, though, so email Veronica a copy and she can have a word with them. Hamad and I will try to find Bessonov’s furniture factory, and if we do, we’ll be able to see what he’s hiding.’

    Andrew Harvey munched on a sandwich as his frustration with the search grew. It was already after six in the evening and the office was emptying fast, but he was still no closer to finding any furniture business in Bessonov’s little empire.
    He had been through the maze of limited companies and subsidiaries in the Russian’s file, but none of their names even remotely matched what he was looking for.
    Could Bessonov have started a company in a different name? Unlikely, given the checks that would be made by HMRC and other government departments.
    It is just one subsidiary of one of many holding companies I control.
    The word ‘control’ leapt out at him, and he cursed himself for not spotting it sooner. Bessonov didn’t have to own the company, only have a sizeable stake in it.
    He logged into the Companies House database and looked for all companies that Bessonov had shares in. When the results came back, he was hugely disappointed. Apart from Petrov Holdings Limited, the Petrushkin and another restaurant north of the river, there was nothing.
    Dejected, he went back to the original list and began going through the names once again. This time, he paused when he got to Riviera Investments Limited. The name suggested a property company in the south of France, but when he opened the file he found it dealt with ordinary shares. He quickly typed Riviera Investments into Companies House and sat back, a huge smile on his face.
    ‘I think I’ve found it,’ he said, beckoning Farsi round to his side of the desk to look at the screen.
    The Olde Oak Furniture Company logo was in the top corner, with an address in Wandsworth shown underneath.
    ‘How sure are you?’ Farsi asked.
    ‘About ninety per cent. It isn’t actually owned by Bessonov, but one of his subsidiary investment companies has a forty-nine per cent share in it.’
    ‘Let’s pass it on to Ellis and see what she wants to do with it.’
    Harvey was already up and walking to her office. He knocked on the door and saw his boss typing away on her computer, still looking fresh after a twelve-hour shift.
    ‘We have something we’d like to work up,’ Harvey said, and told her what he’d found.
    ‘What do you propose?’
    ‘A simple drive-by – just me and Hamad.’
    ‘I’d prefer it if you had backup,’ Ellis said. ‘If this really is what we think, things could turn nasty in a heartbeat.’
    ‘That’s why it’s best if just the two of us go,’ Harvey insisted. ‘The fewer people on the scene, the more likely it is we remain undetected.’
    Ellis considered his pitch and seemed to come to a decision.
    ‘Okay, so what do you need from me?’
    ‘Night-vision glasses and comms.’
    Ellis wrote out a requisition form and handed it over.
    ‘This says we can draw firearms,’ Harvey said.
    ‘Bessonov’s already shown us what he does to