‘A few more things to add in,’ said Jameson. ‘Augusta is facing a tribunal case for fictitious professional misconduct and I was hospitalized by a mystery cyclist. Both in the last week. Then yesterday, the most senior member of our task force was promoted and suddenly half the team are too busy to attend this call.’

‘You think that’s all related, do you?’ said Green’s droll voice.

‘I’m just stating the facts.’

Bloom continued with her summary. ‘Our primary theory is that this game is targeting functional psychopaths. This is based on evidence from interviews with those who knew Lana, Faye, Stuart and Grayson, and from our meeting with Clive Llewellyn too.’

‘We didn’t see anything other than a pretentious prick, did we?’ said Green.

Jameson responded, ‘I analysed the recording and Llewellyn’s manner suggests psychopathic tendencies, such as superficial charm, manipulation and deceptiveness.’

‘Like I said before, just your typical criminal,’ said Green.

‘Psychopaths do make very good criminals, you’re right,’ said Bloom, ‘and I take your point. If this game is not targeting out-and-out psychopaths, at the very least it’s targeting people with a potential for committing crime and evading capture.’

‘On that point,’ said Jameson, ‘while I was relaxing at the NHS’s expense I kept an eye on crimes reported locally and nationally. Even if we ignore all possible terrorist activity, there’s arson, burglary, harassment, intimidation – there’s a lot of noise. And plenty of fraud. People being defrauded of their life savings, online bank accounts hacked. And most have yet to result in an arrest.’

‘Well, yeah, that’s the nature of crime. What are you suggesting?’ said Green.

‘That our players could be out there committing crimes without being detected.’

‘Why are you dismissing terrorist activities? What if ISIS has decided to radicalize natural-born killers?’ said Kaye Willis.

Bloom and Jameson looked at each other.

‘Don’t tell me you’ve not thought of that?’ said Green in response to their silence.

‘No, we have,’ said Jameson. ‘But radicalized terrorism is highly emotive, based on a sense of injustice, or a response towards core religious principles.’

Bloom added, ‘Your average psychopath just doesn’t care enough about other people. Everything is about them. If they’re getting what they want, all is good. It’s highly unlikely they’d be interested in a cause, let alone be willing to sacrifice themselves for it.’

‘What about organized crime then?’ said Akhtar.

‘Now you’re talking,’ said Jameson.

‘This comes right to the core of what we need to know,’ said Bloom. ‘Why is someone doing this? Creating this game would require huge resources, so the pay-off needs to be worth it. So who would benefit from having one hundred con artists, manipulators and morally bankrupt operators without a conscience sitting in their pocket?’

‘I can think of a few answers to that,’ said Green with a laugh.

‘Me too,’ said Jameson, but he was frighteningly serious.

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