There was a short pause. Intent as they were, none of them noticed heads turning their way. It is a well-known fact that whispering attracts attention. The best way to keep a secret is to buttonhole someone and scream the words into their face. They can’t wait to get away. Their ears cease to work and thirty seconds later they’ve forgotten every word you said.

Jane said carefully, ‘Are you telling us that Team 8 . . . ?’ She stopped, seemingly unable to find the words.

‘How many?’ asked Matthew.

‘The illegals? About eleven people, I think.’

Jane was watching his face. ‘That’s not what you’re talking about, is it?’

He shook his head. ‘And a couple of the villagers as well. Those that couldn’t get away fast enough.’

‘How many is a couple?’

He leaned across the table. ‘Most of them.’

‘Jesus,’ said Matthew, faintly, sitting back.

Jane had turned as white as the pages of the books in front of her. ‘But why? I thought . . . I mean . . .’

The words, ‘I thought we didn’t do that sort of thing any more,’ hovered unspoken over the table. Her mind filled with images. A few tiny houses, their thatch thick with snow. The smoke from untended fires. A pile of bodies, dark on the ground. Silence, where once there had been the cheerful sounds of people. Emptiness where once there had been life. Blood in the snow . . . Dead people . . . Dead parents . . .

An officer from the next table spoke up. ‘No point in cutting down the tree if you don’t grub out the roots.’

It was Anders.

They turned to look at him. ‘What does that even mean?’ asked Luke.

‘You don’t leave witnesses.’

‘No witnesses to what? The time-slip? Or Team 8 taking out a whole village to cover their tracks?’

‘It’s the 14th century,’ said another officer, packing his gear away. ‘People died all over the place.’

‘Especially,’ said Luke, unable to help himself, ‘when there are the actions of an overzealous Team 8 to conceal.’

The phrase Silence in the Library took on a whole new meaning.

Seemingly unaware, Luke turned back to Matthew and Jane. ‘Hay’s doing her nut. She’s got them all in her office. The team’s being disbanded, apparently. Callen’s in there with them now, trying to calm her down before she goes 14th century all over them.’

Someone out of sight made a rude noise.

‘But why?’ said Jane, still uncomprehending. ‘Why would they do that? Team 8, I mean.’

‘To send out a message to other illegals, stupid,’ said Anders again. ‘People think we’re going soft.’

His tone implied that at least three of them were sitting in this library.

Luke rounded on him. ‘Arresting them would have been sufficient.’

Anders slammed his scratchpad on the table. ‘Sometimes you have to make a point. People get hurt. It happens.’

‘But they killed civilians,’ cried Jane. ‘What was the point?’