‘Yeah,’ he agreed in a flat voice. Musso was concentrating fiercely on the road now, what little he could see of it. He didn’t look directly at her as he spoke, but he spoke very carefully. ‘That’s why I worry about your investigation, Agent Monroe.’ It was the first time he’d used her real name. ‘I had to fly back to Seattle to receive a personal briefing about your mission from Jed Culver. He gave me to understand that knowledge of what you’re doing goes no higher up the command chain than his office. The President knows nothing of this.’

Caitlin nodded. ‘You would also know, sir, there’s nothing unusual about that. Presidents don’t know everything. It’s often better that they don’t.’

Judging by his stern facial expression, Tusk wasn’t much impressed with that line of argument. ‘You can serve me up that horseshit on the finest bone china, Ms Monroe,’ he shot back, ‘but I’m still not going to eat it.’

‘And yet you agreed to allow the mission to go ahead with the support of your office, General.’

‘No,’ he corrected her, ‘with my support. My personal support. That’s not the same thing. Mr Culver, Deputy Director Larrison, yourself, you’re all running a black operation with no plausible deniability, in complete contravention of a law that prohibits Echelon operations on US soil. My office cannot support that. That’s why I’m the only person here who’s been fully briefed. But you need to understand, as I have given Deputy Director Larrison and Mr Culver to understand, that if this goes wrong, I will not be covering up for you.’

They had slowed almost to a crawl as Musso picked his way through a section of road where the tarmac had been partially washed away.

‘If this goes wrong,’ said Caitlin, ‘I doubt congressional inquiries and criminal charges will be the worst of it. Getting out alive will be the first challenge. And as for the prohibition on operating within the boundaries of CONUS, that applies to start-up and stand-alone missions. But I didn’t start working on Baumer when I got off that plane just now. I’ve been on his case since well before the Disappearance. He may be dead, and his network may no longer constitute a clear and present danger. But the investigation of that network and how it effected its operation in New York – which killed a couple of thousand American personnel, you may recall – is ongoing. That’s why I’m here, sir. I have no doubts about the legality of this mission or the justness of this cause.’

Musso smiled slowly as they cleared the ruined stretch of road. ‘From what I know of you, Agent Monroe, you very rarely have doubts about anything.’