The car park, set for security reasons some distance from the house, was unusually full. At the far end were a coach, two army lorries and three police vehicles with people milling around them. But Charles took no notice as he docked the Bristol and hurried up the steps to the lawn that fronted the house. At the security doors he swiped in with his pass and took the lift to the third floor. His office was at the front of the building overlooking the main entrance and the pebbled drive to the distant gates. It was the only private office in the building, the rest being open-plan with meeting areas and glassed smaller offices for temporary use. Normally there would have been only a skeleton staff, plus the odd training course, but for that weekend it was fully manned with virtually every screen live and every desk occupied. Notwithstanding which, the atmosphere was relaxed and chatty. The level of chatter subsided like the trough of a wave as he passed each row of desks, but people smiled and looked up expectantly.

After checking his screen and not finding Gareth’s promised summary, he told Jenny, his secretary, that he would be down with Gareth and set off for the first floor, using the stairs this time. There, he found Gareth’s desk was occupied not by Gareth but by Sonia, head of assessments.

‘Don’t worry, I’m not trying to take over operations,’ she said. ‘Just leaving Gareth a note.’

‘Makes a change to see anyone doing anything with pen and paper.’

‘Quicker than screens but no one realises it.’

He and Sonia went back a long way. She was about five years younger than him and had started out as a secretary, in the days when secretaries were plentiful. Through working together as she rose through the ranks he had learned to trust her judgement and discretion; later she had been instrumental in securing his reinstatement in the Office after expulsion and arrest. He was responsible for her recent promotion to a senior position. Although publicly respectful of his status, familiarity meant she was not awed and could be trusted to speak her mind, which was one of the reasons he had pressured the reluctant HR director into promoting her.

‘You’ll probably find him in the control room,’ she said. ‘He was ringing them every two minutes to check on something.’

‘Has he told you anything of his trip?’

‘No but I’ve seen a summary in draft.’

‘He hasn’t sent it to me yet.’

‘He hasn’t sent it to anyone but he left it on his screen when he shouldn’t have. So of course I closed it for him.’ She smiled. ‘After reading.’

‘Seems very good, from what he told me.’

‘So it seems.’ She ceased smiling. ‘We should talk about it.’

They looked at each other for a moment. Charles nodded.