Kara sighed. “From what I’ve managed to pick up, it’s the angel who’s been chosen to run the cathedral, along with his groupies. And I don’t think they’re going anywhere. I don’t know if they’re discussing details or what, but they mostly seem to be hanging out in the reception area – that means anyone who goes into the main office has to go right past them.”

“Are they still there at night?” asked Trish, fiddling worriedly with a packet of sugar.

“I don’t know,” said Kara. “It doesn’t matter; after evening service they kick everyone out and lock up – and their security set-up is a lot better than we’re equipped to deal with. Here, look.” She showed the team a series of photos taken surreptitiously with her phone – state-of-the-art motion detectors, and steel doors installed above the ancient wooden ones, which looked like they slammed shut automatically if anything went off, trapping you inside the building.

Alex had seen the photos before, but still found himself grimacing as he scrolled through them. Despite his distrust of the CIA, he wished they had some way to get in touch with Sophie – they could seriously use some of the high-tech toys those guys had right about now. He handed the phone to Sam, who’d been craning to see over his arm. “So even with the security code, it’s not looking great, is it?” he said grimly. “Not if the offices are chock-full of angels now.”

They’d all taken their angel wings off, which were now lying in a small, satiny pile between their table and the wall. Kara still had on the long wig though; she absently twirled one of the braids around her finger. “They haven’t been feeding as much as I’d expect, really, but...yeah, getting past them is definitely going to be high-risk. Between them, I think they’ve sampled everyone in the offices by now.”

Glancing around him, Alex saw that the team looked a little sick. He didn’t blame them.

“But, I think there could be a way,” went on Kara. “Because I don’t get much sense of these angels interacting with humans at all, if they’re feeding from them – so they can’t be that familiar with the workings of the offices. And during evening service, I don’t feel any people back there – just these angels. So if someone walked past them into the office then, and looked sort of official – like they had an after-hours job to do – then I don’t think they’d challenge them.”

“No, just feed off them,” said Brendan with a shudder. “This really isn’t my all-time favourite plan that I’ve ever heard so far.”

Suddenly Alex knew. He dropped back against his seat. “Seb,” he said.

“And/or Willow,” agreed Kara. Her voice was businesslike. Whatever she thought about half-angels, she was hiding it for the moment.