Ben stood up as Carstairs came in. More to meet the man eye to eye than out of courtesy to an officer of superior rank. The colonel was in his seventies now. His hair had whitened and thinned since their last meeting. His face seemed longer and more gaunt with liver spots and pronounced bags under his eyes, and he walked with a slight stoop. He stuck out a large, bony hand and Ben took it. Carstairs might have aged shockingly but he still had a grip like a mangle.

‘It’s good to see you again, Benedict. Sorry to have pulled you away at such short notice. Please, take a seat.’ Carstairs walked around the desk and settled his angular frame opposite him. His expression was severe and he looked tired and under pressure, but he was obviously doing everything in his limited power to appear cordial. ‘I trust you’re keeping well. Look fit and healthy, at any rate. Haven’t changed a great deal since I saw you last.’

‘I wish I could say the same about you, Colonel,’ Ben could have replied, if he’d wanted to be antagonistic. Instead he said mildly, ‘Let’s cut to the chase. I don’t suppose you brought me here for pleasantries and chit-chat. What do you want?’

‘As I say, I apologise for the suddenness of this meeting. But as I’m about to reveal to you, or as much as can be revealed at the present time, we’re dealing with a specific situation that has come up on us quite suddenly too. A situation in which your involvement was considered, ah, desirable.’

Ben looked at him, trying to make out what the man was thinking behind those inscrutable grey eyes. ‘Desirable?’

The colonel shrugged. ‘Necessary.’

‘Sounds like I’m being given an order,’ Ben said. ‘Thing is, last time I checked, I don’t work for you lot anymore.’

‘Nobody ever really leaves the regiment, Major,’ Carstairs said with deliberate emphasis. ‘Especially not a man of your stellar qualities. You think we would have invested so heavily, both in terms of manpower and money, in forming you into the perfect fighting machine you became, just to let you go prancing merrily off into the blue any time you fancied?’ He gave a dry little smile. ‘Doesn’t work that way. Face it, we made you. We own you. You’ll be one of us until the day you die.’

Ben shook his head. ‘Now I remember why you people make me so sick.’ Maybe that was antagonistic.

‘Come now, Major. What a way to talk about the unit you were so proud to serve in for all those years. Do I detect a note of resentment, hostility even?’

‘You know why I had to walk away. I didn’t like being asked to do certain things.’

‘It’s what you signed up for.’