“Gemstone was never identified. I was called back a few months after leaving and questioned by a team from the US. They clearly hadn’t made any progress. I know the Space Force turned themselves inside out, even fired a few people. I’m sure they changed all their passwords too. And it’s true, the leaks stopped for a bit. But that’s what you’d expect. Do they have the skills for a mole hunt? No. Due to Ptolemy’s unique sensitivity they weren’t prepared to draw on established resources or expertise. A supposedly select handful of security officers blundered in. All they achieved was to alert the Chinese that someone had been leaking from their side. And the Chinese were more successful in their hunt. Zhao was executed by firing squad last year. Now they’ve come for Jerry Lau.”

Latham stared through the trees. Taylor allowed him a moment’s reflection, but she had her own potential tragedies to avert and needed to keep him focused on the present.

“I think Gemstone killed my officer there.”

“I suspect you’re right.”

“Did you ever establish any identifying details for them?”

“None.”

The obscurity was maddening. But this in itself told her a lot. Spies operating successfully deep behind enemy lines for more than a decade were a rare breed. It took years to train them, years for them to get into position. In that time they might do nothing but live their cover. She remembered being talked through the principles during training: placing someone so that they grew with their environment, ready to be activated after a decade or more. These were already antiquated skills at the time, belonging to a world where you knew who you were targeting one month to the next. The art of living deep. But at some point, you had to deliver. That was the pinch point: contacting your handlers. Somewhere in their life there had to be that umbilical cord, or the whole thing was for nothing.

“How does Gemstone transfer information from the island?” Taylor asked.

“It’s a good question. Ascension’s too remote to be passing anything physically on a regular basis, so Gemstone must have a communications setup. We wanted to assess all radio signals, but with the amount going on there, it proved impossible. I think Gemstone has an advanced system hidden somewhere, well away from the bases.” Latham shook his head regretfully. “I reckon we were a few weeks away from uncovering them.”

“How did HQ react when you told them you’d been seeing Ptolemy documents?”

“I was told to forget it all, of course. The following week I got a call from the Russian desk suggesting that someone I’d crossed paths with in Moscow had put a price on my head. The message was clear enough: Speak out about this and everything is in place to have you silenced.”

“Jesus.”