Casey stared at him, then took a couple of lumbering steps back towards Mayer, towering over the smaller man. ‘Tell you what,’ said Casey. ‘When you go running back to your bosses, make it clear there’s only so far you can push us before we start to push back. Got that?’

‘Damn right,’ I heard someone say. It sounded like Randall.

Casey turned on his heel, pushing at the door on his way out with sufficient force that it slammed against the wall with a loud bang.

‘He’s right,’ said Selwyn, getting up from his own seat. ‘We’re getting treated more and more like prisoners, Mr Mayer. For those that have been here the longest, our retirement dates have been pushed back so much we’re starting to wonder if it’s ever going to come, and that’s not to mention the increased risks we’re facing on every new mission. Asking us to submit to random interrogations and be happy about it is a step too far, I think.’

I watched as he left, somewhat less dramatically than Casey had. Yuichi soon followed suit, his expression sullen, although he clapped me on the shoulder as he passed me by.

Mayer looked around the rest of us. ‘It’s in your best interests to keep Casey in check while all this is going on,’ he said. ‘Believe me.’

He looked as if he was trying to think of something else to say, then simply shook his head and exited without another word.

I didn’t see any reason to leave until I’d finished my coffee, and the few others remaining didn’t look to be in a hurry to leave either. After a minute, people drifted outside to the pool area, and I heard the low murmur of conversation.

Rozalia slid onto the stool next to mine. ‘So you’re still not going to tell them what we found,’ I asked her, ‘even after everything Mayer just said?’

‘I ran some tests,’ she said. ‘It’s just what I thought it was.’

‘You’re not telling me anything the both of us don’t already know.’

‘We could get accused of faking the evidence. It’s possible the SUV was scent-marked by a night patrol after the crash. And it’s like you said: we don’t have any explanation for how the drones and the communications could possibly have been screwed with. Who’d have the means to do all that, and somehow not get caught?’

‘If it was up to me,’ I said, ‘I’d tell someone anyway.’

‘Your predecessor had his reasons for not talking,’ she replied. ‘So did Nadia. Let’s try not to wind up the same way before I can figure out how to nail whichever bastard turns out to be responsible for all this.’

‘Rozalia . . .’ I started to say.