‘Grint, you couldn’t hit a barn door if it stood three feet in front of you.’ She clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Good luck.’

The door swung shut behind her.

Back in Commander Hay’s office, Captain Farenden was ­carrying out his instructions.

‘Major Callen is here, ma’am.’

‘Thank you, Charlie. Ask him to come in, please.’

‘Do you want me to remain?’

‘I think this is something we don’t need a witness to.’

‘I shall be just outside in my own office, ma’am.’

‘Where you can usefully spend your time corralling Grint and the others. You have my permission to turn a hose on them if they become unruly.’

‘With pleasure.’ He stepped back. ‘Major Callen to see you, ma’am.’ He closed the door behind him.

‘Come in, Major. Please sit down.’

‘Thank you, Commander. I’d rather stand.’

‘Then so shall I.’

They faced each other across her desk.

‘Don’t ever pull a gun on me again, Major.’

‘Commander, it is very possible I saved your life. One wrong move today and there could have been a bloodbath. I don’t know who would have survived but you wouldn’t. Nor Farenden. Nor Ellis. And most importantly – from my point of view, anyway – I saved my own life. I doubt I would have survived the crossfire either and then where would we be? A radiation scare, closely followed by the unfortunate deaths of the commanding officer and her senior staff. Time Police firing on Time Police. What a gift to our enemies.’

‘And you saved us from all that?’

‘Well, modestly, of course – yes, I did.’

‘I know you, Callen – you don’t have an altruistic bone in your body.’

‘That’s very true. I disagree – sometimes quite vigorously – with your plans for our future, but that is part of my function. I am a member of your senior staff and it is my job to challenge you when appropriate. What I prefer, however, is that you and I maintain a strong and united front by arguing these things in private, rather than lose autonomy and have future initiatives imposed on us by a remote third party. We wield enormous power, and I, like you, would not be at all happy about losing that to people who might not share our way of thinking.’

‘You shot Anders.’

‘Yes, I did.’

‘Deliberately.’

‘I’m sure he would have had plenty to tell us, but do you really want to know?’

‘The names of his fellow conspirators? Yes, I rather think I might.’