She continued. ‘These days, I want bright, modern officers who can think for themselves. Whose answer is not to shoot everyone on sight and set fire to what’s left. There will be no more Team 8 situations. I want this organisation to be the still, calm centre in any storm. I want people to know that when an officer is attending an incident, it will be correctly resolved. By an officer who is impartial and fair. Whose authority is without question. Believe me, that’s not anywhere near as easy as just shooting people. Could you do that?’

He said nothing.

‘Come and look at this.’

She crossed to her briefing table and waved him to a seat. ‘Computer, play presentation TP/MH/1/1/1c.’

She watched his face as he watched the screen. ‘A complete re-organisation,’ she said. ‘A new Time Police to meet a new threat. You see, Gordon, the problem with organised crime is that it’s considerably better organised than most national governments. And better funded, too. That is the even more difficult challenge we must meet today. I propose splitting us into two main divisions – Intelligence, which will cover IT, the Time Map and Records and Research – and Control, which will be divided into five teams.’

She sat back and waited for him to ask. He had to ask. If he didn’t, then she’d failed. And if she failed with Grint then she’d failed with everyone. She too stared out of the window, and watched a stream of laden barges making their way down the Thames. They were riding low in the water and so must be on their way down to the Princess Mary Docks to unload their cargo.

‘What five teams?’

She kept her voice casual. ‘I’m sorry?’

‘Control. What five areas?’

‘Oh, yes. Five departments to meet the five main threats we face today. The first, despite all my best efforts, will, I am certain, be referred to as Hitler’s Little Helpers. They’ll be a specialist group, drawn mostly from people with a historical background. We both know there are any number of people around who think they can solve the world’s problems by offing everyone with whom they disagree. Hitler’s a perpetual favourite and I suspect most of their time will be spent just keeping him alive. Hence – Hitler’s Little Helpers.’

He nodded.

‘The second will be dealing with the threat from big business. There are powerful people out there, Gordon, convinced there must be a way to pillage the past and they just haven’t found it yet. Or private treasure hunters. Think of the Tutankhamun job. There will be many more like that. And an offshoot of this is Temporal Tourism. You were there. You saw the damage done to the 16th century some years ago.’

She waited and he nodded again.