‘Then you don’t know me at all,’ she said quietly, but not unkindly. ‘So, why? Why did you agree to this? If you had your doubts, and you obviously do, why not just take them up the command chain? All the way if needs be.’

They’d reached a major intersection with I-35. Musso took the northern entrance and accelerated as soon as he’d left the difficult conditions of the market road behind them. The highway had obviously been properly cleared and was well maintained. The weather wasn’t much improved, though.

‘I still have my doubts,’ he replied. ‘But probably not of the sort you’d imagine. Frankly, I find the idea of anybody cosying up with the likes of Ozal or Baumer to be anathema. Let’s just get that out in the open. If Blackstone thought to gain some advantage by creating a tactical difficulty for us in New York – and by “us” I mean the United States of America – then he should swing by his neck for the crime of treason. Even if treason was not his intent. Even if he had some other agenda of which we are not aware. I agreed to support your mission here because I believe we need to ventilate this whole septic mess. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If you can break open the seal and let some light in on this, it’ll burn him alive. And it needs to.’

For the first time since turning off the main road from the airfield, Caitlin could see traffic. Mostly heavy haulers, and not very many of them, but it was still reassuring to find they weren’t the only people rattling around on the vast plains of Texas.

‘And your doubts?’ she prompted.

‘My doubts are about the consequences. What happens when you find out exactly what the arrangement with Ozal was? If there was indeed an arrangement. What happens then?’

‘That’s up to Culver and Larrison,’ she said without inflection.

If it was up to her, if Caitlin Monroe found out that Blackstone was in any way responsible, even indirectly, for freeing Bilal Baumer, her first inclination would be to put a bullet in his brain. But she had reasons for sticking to the play book now. Two of them hiding out in Aviemore, Scotland.

‘There is another reason why I agreed,’ said Musso as they came up on a truck stop that was open for business.

‘Don’t leave a lady guessing, sir.’

‘I was in NORTHCOM when everything turned to shit back in 2003,’ he began.

‘You weren’t just in NORTHCOM,’ she corrected him, ‘you were NORTHCOM.’

‘Very flattering, Agent Monroe.’ He laughed a little bitterly. ‘But I gave up smoking a long time ago, so I’ll thank you not to blow any up my ass.’

‘Okay.’