McCutcheon didn’t look like he was getting angry, but he was deeply invested in his theory, and he wasn’t about to abandon it to undergraduate scepticism. For Caitlin, and Colonel Murdoch for that matter, it was irrelevant.

‘Gentlemen,’ she said riding in over the top of them, ‘you are both confusing data with meaning. It is an occupational hazard of intelligence analysis.’

She took the piece of paper from Musso, and scanned it quickly.

‘What we have here, is data. President Morales summoned a cadre of retired officers from the former Argentine military to his palace in Santiago. Five of the six officers stayed on in the capital. They have since been observed working at the Federation’s directorate of naval intelligence.’

She put the paper down, and looked from one man to the other.

‘That is information, gentlemen. Verified. And nice work, by the way,’ she added, nodding to McCutcheon. ‘The NIA will be thrilled to discover that Texas has its own foreign intelligence service, and that they’ve been scooped.’

‘Whatever. We don’t like to brag, Colonel.’ The aide gave a shrug.

‘Uh-huh. Moving right along . . . But the meaning of this information is not yet established. I could suggest any number of interpretations of the data. You have suggested one. General Musso has suggested another. I’m going to recommend that this matter be put into the channel. You said before that you hoped our current visit might provide an opportunity for a new start between the two administrations. If you mean that, a team of federal marshals could be here tomorrow morning to take custody of the prisoners, and you could nominate some of your people who had carriage of Florida and your surveillance operation in Santiago to return to Seattle, and maybe on to Vancouver, to debrief Defense, NIA and Echelon.’

Both of them looked surprised, but it was McCutcheon who spoke first.

‘I don’t know that the Governor would be very happy about involving a lot of foreigners in this, Kate.’

‘It’s not my call to make,’ said Caitlin. ‘We have responsibility for this region under the Vancouver agreement, and that will necessarily involve Echelon. Sooner rather than later.’

‘But still . . .’

‘Still nothing,’ she countered. ‘If you want to make Morales a priority, and particularly if you want to get to the bottom of what he’s doing raking over the coals of the Falklands with the Argentinians, then Echelon will have a stake. It may be nothing to do with us, Ty. Did it ever occur to you, to either of you, that the meaning of this information is what it is? That Morales is looking to grab up the Falklands and their offshore deposits? If that were so, there would be no avoiding Echelon’s involvement. Because the Brits would need to know.’

McCutcheon shook his head, but not in denial. It was more a gesture of surprise. As though the idea had never occurred to him.