‘I saved one and I took two, which any way you look at it means I’m one down on the deal.’

‘It’s not the first time you’ve taken a life in the line of duty, though, is it?’

Shepherd looked at her steadily. ‘It’s not what I did, that’s not what I’m angry about. It’s the way that it happened. Yes, I’ve taken lives before, but it’s always been because there was no other choice. In Northern Ireland, I was in a situation that could have been avoided if people had been behaving professionally.’

‘And who do you blame for that?’

‘What, you want me to blame Charlie, is that it?’

‘Do you think she was at fault?’

Shepherd frowned as he considered the question. Eventually he shook his head. ‘I think she probably did everything she could, it was the Northern Irish cops that screwed up. They ran their operation without letting Five know. Five is responsible for all anti-terrorism operations in the Province so the cops must have deliberately not shared their intel. And by doing that they put their agent at risk.’

‘Do you think that’s what has made you so angry? You can empathise with the agent?’

‘Probably, yes. That could have been me. I could have been the one facing an execution squad and I might not have been so lucky.’

‘It wasn’t luck that saved him, Dan. It was you.’

‘Did Charlie tell you that one of the Special Branch cops left his phone in a pub and that’s how they found out there was an undercover agent?’ He scowled. ‘Bloody idiots,’ he said. ‘Lions led by donkeys, isn’t that what they said about the infantry during the First World War? That’s what it feels like, Caroline. Like I’m being run by idiots who couldn’t find their own arses using both hands.’

‘Are we talking about Charlie now?’

Shepherd shook his head. ‘Charlie’s sound,’ he said. ‘I trust her completely. But that doesn’t mean to say that I trust her bosses.’

‘Is that what’s happening, you’re losing confidence in the people you work for?’

Shepherd sighed. ‘It’s a worry, but it doesn’t prevent me from doing my job,’ he said. ‘Now it’d be a different matter if I was working for the PSNI and they dropped me in it the way they dropped their guy in it.’

Stockmann smiled. ‘You know that they were going to be called the Northern Ireland Police Service until they realised that people would be grabbed by the Nips?’

‘Are you serious?’

‘It was well down the legislation route before it was pointed out how ridiculous it would sound.’ She took another sip of her beer, watching Shepherd carefully over the top of her glass.

‘I’m not bitching about the job,’ said Shepherd. ‘The job’s fine and I’m perfectly capable of doing it.’

‘I understand that, but you’re clearly unhappy.’

‘You kill two people, Caroline, and tell me that you’re happy about it.’

‘Is there anything you could have done differently?’