It was all, Knox thought, enough to drive anyone mad. And yet Williams was now calm, rational even, despite the incredible strain his mind had been under for God knows how long. Knox knew that by all rights Williams should be recovering in some bucolic country­side facility, having his mental and physical wounds tended to by experts, not caught up in whatever may or may not be about to happen in London. But he also wanted Williams close to him. And needed to finally take the opportunity Bennett had subtly created for him.

‘The Surcouf ,’ he said. It was a statement and a question.

He held his breath, waiting to see what impact the name would have on Williams. Would he suddenly lunge at Knox, crazy with rage, or break down and sob into his lap?

‘That’s still hazy,’ Williams said, after a long, agonising moment. ‘I can feel the edges of it. The water, the cold, the dark. But I can’t hold on to it.’

‘It was my fault,’ Knox said. ‘If I hadn’t sent you on that mission, none of this would have happened.’’

It was a sentence Knox had carried with him for seven years, and it hung between the two men until Williams gently batted it away.

‘You don’t know that,’ he said. ‘And you didn’t send me. I wouldn’t have gone through with the dive if we hadn’t taken every precaution. Precautions you insisted on.’

‘I sent you to your death,’ Knox replied. ‘And you went through something worse.’

‘But I’m not dead, am I, old man? You shouldn’t blame yourself.’

‘But I do,’ Knox whispered.

‘Then stop.’

‘I’m going to find whoever did this to you and make them pay.’

‘I know. You never give up or let go of anything. And I want to help stop this attack on Kosygin. But after that I just want to rest.’

‘That’s what was supposed to happen in Kent. It didn’t exactly turn out as planned.’

Williams smiled. ‘Ah well, gang aft agley.’

‘What?’

‘Robert Burns. Our best-laid schemes sometimes just don’t go the way we want them to. I’ll lend you my copy if it’s still in the library at Rabley Heath.’

‘I’d like that,’ Knox said, finally managing a tentative smile himself.

Then, with timing so perfect it was as if she’d somehow been listening through the soundproofed walls, Bennett opened the door and stepped back into the office.

‘It’s getting late, boys,’ she said. ‘What’s the plan?’

Knox looked at Williams, the piles of paper strewn around the room, and his watch. ‘We get some rest and talk to Holland first thing in the morning.’

‘Do you think he’ll dare pull the plug on the summit last minute?’ Bennett asked.

‘No,’ Knox said. ‘And I don’t want him to.’

Chapter 44

Chapter 44