‘There were a couple of seconds in the middle of Nureyev’s performance when the feed seemed to cut out,’ Laing said. ‘Three sudden bursts of static. Next thing my face was being smashed into my cognac and I was knocked out. When I woke up, Williams and the DG were gone.’

White fired the laser at the painting again.

‘Impressive workmanship,’ he mumbled to himself. Then, to the others, said, ‘It was a message. A code, or an activation signal. I was wrong. Williams isn’t on our side.’

Knox turned to White, angry that he’d voiced the same conclusion he’d reached but still, despite all the evidence to the contrary, didn’t want to completely believe—that his best friend had been working for the KGB all along, and that he’d just kidnapped one of Britain’s most valuable intelligence assets.

‘And where were you?’ he asked.

‘Doing my job,’ White replied evenly. ‘Our ghost submarine reappeared just after you left and Naval Intelligence has got their knickers in a twist.’

‘Jesus,’ Knox said. ‘When did we get so bad at our jobs? And when did the Russians get so bloody good?’

‘If Williams is really working for the KGB, where would he take Holland?’ Bennett asked.

Laing answered her question with another one. ‘How did he get out of the building?’

‘Holland’s Bentley is gone,’ Knox answered.

‘Then we might be able to find him,’ White replied. ‘The car has a tracker. I can give you a remote receiver, but the range is limited.’

‘How limited?’ Knox asked.

‘Ten miles.’

Knox sighed. ‘So we need to be sure where they’ve gone before we chase after them.’

‘And we have no idea if they’ve dumped the car and are lying low, or if they’re already being spirited out of the country right now,’ Bennett added.

White nodded, and Knox shook his head.

‘We’ve got one chance to stop the Russians getting their hands on almost fifty years of our secrets,’ he said.

‘Would Holland talk?’ Bennett asked.

‘Not willingly,’ Knox said. ‘But they won’t give him a choice.’

He thought for a moment, then said, ‘We dismissed the plot against Kosygin when Williams first told us about it. It wasn’t the real endgame but it was part of the bigger plan. What if it wasn’t the only double-bluff?’

‘What else is there?’ Bennett asked.

‘The submarine,’ Knox and White said simultaneously.

‘Where is it?’

‘It’s started popping up by Vauville every twenty minutes or so,’ White replied.

‘Where the hell is that?’

‘Next to the Channel Islands, and just round the corner from Cherbourg.’

‘That sounds like they’re trying to goad the French, not you,’ Bennett said.

‘Except that the French don’t know it’s there and we haven’t told them. They’re waiting for something.’