For Kobus Steyn, the job was clear enough: put together a team to locate and surveil a vice admiral in the Thai navy and then, when the opportunity arose, kill him.

Steyn, a gruff 60-year-old with a slightly greying full head of hair, tired deep-set eyes and a square jaw, had spent more than three decades in clandestine security work. In his native South Africa, the former policeman had been involved, by his own account, in some shady operations as the country transitioned from apartheid.

Financial Times