Gus and Rose lay on the floor, bound and gagged but conscious, their faces frozen in a grimace of pure terror. But between Kate and her children stood a nervous young Albanian gangster, tattoos all over his arms, who was using Fiona as a human shield. The lead Special Forces soldier did not hesitate, delivering an instant double tap – two shots – through the lower jaw to the part of the brain that controls the spinal cord. The gangster dropped immediately.

And there, in the middle of the screen, was the face of her bound, gagged daughter, whose mouth was wide open in a silent scream.

Epilogue

Epilogue

IN OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES, Kate might have cracked a smile at the sheer irony of it.

How many weeks had it been since she had sat in that same corner office interviewing Suzy Spencer for the role as her deputy? Four? Five? And yet here she was being questioned in return, their roles – even their seats – neatly reversed.

Alongside Suzy loomed the tall, angular, lugubrious Shirley Grove, the cabinet secretary, a woman so devoid of charisma she might have merged with the wallpaper. Kate was learning too late that these were the most dangerous mandarins of all.

‘So, if we could recap,’ Grove said. ‘In the beginning, you thought Sergei tipped you off about the original meeting on Igor’s super-yacht out of . . . friendship?’

‘Yes.’

‘Though you considered it possible he was also acting on behalf of his bosses in the GRU?’

‘That’s correct.’

‘As a result of a power-tussle at the heart of the Kremlin, as they tried to gain the upper hand on their rivals in the Foreign Service, the SVR?’

‘Yes.’

‘In other words, a win-win for Sergei. He pleased his bosses and the woman he loved?’

‘Something like that.’

‘You therefore thought the conversation you recorded on Igor’s super-yacht genuine?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘And that James Ryan was the Russian spy or agent of influence?’

‘Yes.’

‘So when you were later told that the GRU were coming out on top in this power struggle and that Igor wanted to defect, in return for bringing you hard evidence of the prime minister’s treachery, that seemed perfectly credible?’

‘Yes.’ Kate wondered how long this history lesson was going to last.

‘You were further convinced that Stuart was Viper, the agent mentioned in that original overheard conversation?’

‘I don’t think there’s much doubt that Stuart was working for the Russians.’

Grove nodded. She turned the page, moving on. The issue of whether there was another Russian mole at the heart of Whitehall was a much more open question, of course, but Kate wasn’t going to raise that now. Her priority was to get out of there fast, with the minimum chance of any recall.