At dawn the cries of “Allahu Akbar” spread out over the city as the muezzin called the faithful to the first of the five obligatory prayers of the day. December mornings can be surprisingly cold, even in Baghdad. I ate a quick bite from the “complimentary continental breakfast”. The concierge, gave me the address of a shop just a few blocks away, where I could buy a tuxedo for tonight. The crisp air and a quick walk felt good.

When you are in the kind of work I am, you develop habits. Little things, like looking for a tail. That is why I managed to spot him. An olive drab military jacket, sunglasses, and earphones. Maybe they belonged to an ipod, and maybe not. If he had a radio, then he wasn’t working alone. I stopped and bent down to tie a shoelace that didn’t need to be retied. He stopped several dozen yards behind me, and pretended to look into a shop window. He brought his hand up to stroke his chin. The microphone must be in his sleeve.

I looked ahead, to see if I could find to whom he was radioing.