‘So, anyway,’ said Jules, ‘the Rhino and I had been working together for quite a while by the time Cesky made his first attempt on us, back last April or whenever it was. I guess he decided on a two-for-one deal. As somebody who’s not unfamiliar with the odd scam, I do have to give him credit for how he put it together. He played us like a pair of fools, led us by the nose all the way into New York and put us exactly where he wanted us – right in the middle of a bloody war, where he could have us slotted and nobody would even notice. Unfortunately for him, he should’ve hired a better class of goon. But then, even if he had, I don’t know that they’d have been much chop against the Bond-girl fantasy we ran into. Seriously, Nick, I don’t know that 007 himself would have stood much of a chance against her.’

The waitress returned with a single shot of coffee in a small stainless-steel cup. Pappas nodded before downing it in one swallow and turning back towards Julianne.

‘Yeah, Shah told me a little about this woman. All second-hand from you, of course. She sounds interesting.’

‘Interesting?’ she laughed. ‘I suppose so.’

‘She wasn’t special forces,’ said Pappas, sounding very sure of himself. ‘She must’ve been NIA. Or possibly Echelon. They’ve got some scary fuckers working for them, let me tell you. And they’re all grumpy as hell since the Vancouver treaty dragged them into the light of day. Yeah, it’s interesting . . . I wonder what she was doing there. They almost never operate in-house.’

He seemed so intrigued by the woman who had saved their lives in Manhattan, and surprisingly confident about her possible back story, that it gave Jules pause to wonder whether Nick Pappas’s own background might’ve involved a tad more skulduggery and spooking about the place than was seemly. Even for an old boy of the Special Air Service.

‘I’d very much like to visit Rhino, if I could,’ she told him. ‘Do you think that might be possible? I’ve been sick with worry.’

He thumbed off the power switch on his digital recorder and relaxed just a little, reclining back in his chair and spinning the tiny stainless-steel espresso cup on its stainless-steel saucer. A terrible affectation, in Julianne’s opinion. The stainless steel, that was. Coffee should be served in a proper cup.

‘I’ve got a few things to chase up here,’ Pappas said, tapping the recorder with one finger. ‘If it turns out Cesky’s knocked off half-a-dozen people, it might be possible to handle this straight up. Just turn it over to the authorities and let them sort it out. After all, he’d have a hell of a time explaining the coincidence.’