“About to get busier.” He clicked and the display changed. The title now was OPERATION VENTRILOQUIST. The screen showed a line across the South Atlantic, captioned TA 3 Meridian subsea cable. “As of 2022, Ascension will be a landing point for a new transatlantic fiber-optic cable. It has some history in this role—the island’s provided landfall for communication cables since 1899, when the Eastern Telegraph Company exploited its position for their first transatlantic line. But Meridian will be a game changer. There’s never been so much data set to travel through one cable.

“Rory Bannatyne was over there to draw up plans for interception, to establish how we might achieve equivalent access as we’ve enjoyed elsewhere. Superficially, he was a UK government telecommunications consultant, liaising between the island administration and the cable company. In reality, he was drawing up proposals for a restricted processing facility. The cable company isn’t one of the cooperative ones, so the process of establishing access is a little more complex. But it hasn’t stopped us before. By all accounts, the assessment went smoothly. Bannatyne got us comprehensive intelligence on the company, the island, the individuals there, and he drew up plans for access that will work, we believe.” Bower sat back, as if this was where his concerns ended and the responsibilities of MI6 began. “I’m not sure how much Kathryn has told you.”

“The day before he was due to return, he hanged himself,” Taylor said. “Close to where he was staying.”

Bower watched Kane for his response. Kane merely nodded, trying to picture the melancholy end of a man he’d barely known.

“I’m sorry to hear that. What’s it got to do with me?” he asked.

“We need to move to the next phase,” Taylor said. “That means we need to know Rory wasn’t compromised, and that he didn’t encounter any complications that may connect to his death.”

“So you can proceed with tapping the cable.”

“Yes.”

“Are you saying you want me to go out there?”

“I’m not comfortable committing more personnel to the project without an investigation,” Taylor said. “I’d like someone to take a look.”

“We’re ready to go,” Bower said. “The engineers are selected. The operation is poised to start.”

Kane studied the map of the island again, which was taking on new import. He had come here braced for questioning of some kind. It seemed there was only one question: Will you go?

“Are you aware,” he said, “that I’m not currently allowed to leave the country?”

“We know,” Taylor said. “Leave that side of things to us.”

This created the first itch of temptation. But Kane was conscious of being steered fast into a scenario no one knew very much about.

“Any suggestions that Rory did have trouble over there?”

“No, nothing.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to leave,” Kane suggested.

Taylor and Bower both stared at him.