Having dropped her bombshell, Maddy withdrew. Kate was caught between irritation and despair. Was it that obvious? She’d barely had time to fashion an answer when Julie came in with questions of her own. ‘What was their answer on Mikhail’s offer?’ she asked, as she sat on the desk beside Kate.

‘The foreign secretary wants the weekend to think about it.’

‘Lucky there are no time pressures, then. Do you think she’ll go for it?’

‘Sir Alan didn’t leave her much choice. He was there buying top cover and she was smart enough to grasp that. She seems pretty thorough. I didn’t realize he’d basically kept the original file from her, so I think she just wanted the time to go through it carefully. Ian had been there before us.’

‘What do you make of the Night Wolves pulling out?’

‘It’s confusing.’

‘Convenient, though. I mean, a quick win for us. It makes Mikhail look good.’

Kate was staring out of the window as she sifted the various different explanations for what had just happened in Estonia. None entirely made sense.

Julie stood and went to the glass wall overlooking the rest of the office. ‘I guess you know that Ian’s wife has booted him out,’ she said.

‘I do. I was a bit surprised, to be honest.’

‘Not half as bloody surprised as I was.’

‘What’s your reaction?’

‘I’m horrified. It was just casual sex, and now he’s suddenly saying he wants to marry me.’

‘What will you do?’

‘I’ll have to break it off.’ Julie’s voice betrayed no hint of emotion. She could sometimes, Kate thought, be a cold fish. Her hair was greasy, her T-shirt stained with a coffee spillage, but it did nothing to diminish a radiant, vibrant beauty. ‘I see you gave Suzy the Sigma file,’ Julie said. She was staring at their colleague, who was hunched over it on her desk.

‘I didn’t feel I had a choice. She’d have gone running back to her friends the other side of the river and they’d have made trouble.’

‘Who do you think she’s really working for?’

‘The correct answer is that we’re all on the same team. Isn’t it?’

Julie rolled her eyes and walked out. Kate watched Suzy for a moment. So what if MI5 ended up knowing everything? Perhaps it didn’t matter.

Kate picked up her bag. The foreign secretary’s desire to have the weekend to think about it left open the possibility she could join her children and aunt in Cornwall and she couldn’t think of a good reason to stay behind. But Rose would kill her if she missed her appointment with Dr Wiseman.

Before she went, Kate took the number Mikhail had given her from her pocket and sent him a WhatsApp message. The foreign secretary has asked for the weekend, but I anticipate a positive response. Will keep you posted. K.

Kate thought the mention of the foreign secretary would probably be enough to convince Mikhail they were taking his offer seriously and prevent him from approaching anyone else with his secrets, at least for a couple of days. The idea of the CIA, or indeed any other foreign intelligence service, having cast-iron proof of the prime minister’s treachery – with all the leverage, complication and even humi liation that that would involve – didn’t really bear thinking about, especially as it would come with the knowledge the British had deliberately chosen not to take up the offer.