‘But if I’m right, we’ll be putting Kate and her team in danger if we allow them to proceed. Their entire operation could be compromised before it has even begun.’ Suzy sounded almost plaintive.

All three looked at Kate. She shrugged. ‘You raise an interesting question over Rav’s murder, Suzy. We shouldn’t and won’t sweep it aside lightly. But I’m ultimately confident my husband was Viper. And I agree with Sir Alan: nothing can be allowed to stand in the way of this operation.’ Kate was aware of the formality of her language. It almost sounded like she and the chief were in a police interview, but perhaps that was what having a member of Five around did to you.

The foreign secretary nodded. ‘All right, we’ll leave it there for now. Kate, you and your team will go to Berlin and we’ll assess where we stand on your return. But, I repeat, I want to take this step by step.’

It was clear their audience was over. Kate and Suzy both stood, though Sir Alan did not move. Kate turned back at the door. ‘Would you like us to wait for you, sir?’

‘No, thank you. We have other matters to deal with.’ He smiled again at Kate.

She wished them both goodnight and walked out to the car waiting by the fountain in the driveway. Suzy got in with her. Neither spoke for some time, though even the driver must have sensed the tension in the back. Eventually, Kate could contain her curiosity no longer. ‘How come you know the foreign secretary so well?’

‘I don’t.’

‘Then why did she call you “Suzy”?’

‘I don’t know. I only met her earlier this afternoon.’

Suzy was staring out of the window to avoid Kate’s gaze, but she was plainly lying. ‘I think you tried to go a bit far in there, if I may say so,’ Kate suggested.

‘I wasn’t trying to do anything except my job.’

‘You could have fooled me.’

‘I was asking a question you should perhaps have asked. And I think you know that.’

Her sanctimony stung Kate into a response. ‘Don’t they throw a spell at Charm School into the training programme for the Security Service?’

Suzy was visibly upset. ‘I’m really sorry, Kate. I know my manner can be tactless. My last boss at the Security Service said as much and couldn’t wait to approve my transfer.’

If the vulnerability in Suzy’s eyes was not genuine, then she was a damned good actress. ‘Look, forget it. You’re right on both counts. I should have asked the question and I do know it.’ Suzy smiled at her. ‘Let’s talk about it when I get back from Berlin.’

‘I really think I should accompany you to—’

‘I need you here.’

‘I have to be there. I mean, I want to be. This is exactly why I asked for the transfer from across the river. Please.’

Suzy’s transition from snake in the grass to vulnerable young woman and back again was bewildering, but Kate no longer had the energy to fight it. ‘All right,’ she said, but it didn’t stop her train of thought. If Suzy knew the foreign secretary much better than she was letting on, then the question was how? And was she Simpson’s eyes and ears inside the Service? Was that why she had been foisted upon them? Kate resolved to treat her with still more caution.