The man gestured at the wall at the far end of the arch and Anna moved further into the room to where she’d have a clear line of sight. She held the weapon up to her eye, picked a spot on the wall through the scope, and gently squeezed the trigger. She hit her target perfectly and silently.

‘This is wonderful,’ she said as she slipped the double tube into her trouser pocket. ‘Absolutely ideal.’

‘Good, good,’ the man said. ‘It was a pleasure to create.’

‘Now, your fee.’

‘Oh, yes, yes.’

The money in Anna’s coat was to pay the old man for his expertise. But he wasn’t going to get it.

Anna smiled again as she picked up a heavy spanner that had been discarded on one of the workbenches, walked over to the old man, and drove it into his stomach. Then, as he doubled over in pain, she brought it down on the back of his neck, smashing it into his cervical vertebrae and crushing his spinal cord. His legs fell away beneath him and, as he hit the floor, Anna raised the thick length of metal over her head and swung it at the man’s head with enough force to crack his skull.

She left the dead man in his workshop, closed the door to the shop behind her, and stepped back out into the market.

The rain had stopped, but she kept her coat on all the way to the tube station. Then she took the Central line four stops east to Lancaster Gate, where she hailed another taxi and told the driver to take her to Bond Street.

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Eight hours after Bennett had gone back to her hotel in South Kensington and Knox and Williams had briefly argued about who would take the bed and who would sleep on the sofa in Kemp House, the three of them were back together in Knox’s office, steeling themselves to go next door to see Holland.

‘Is he an early bird?’ Bennett asked.

‘Usually,’ Knox replied.

He was sure of the plan he’d run over and over in his mind as he lay in the awkward crevice of his sofa, but for some reason he found himself suddenly worried about putting it into action. Seemingly intuiting his anxiety, Williams gave him an encouraging smile. Knox smiled back.