Harry shouted, ‘No, don’t do it. I’ll get you anything you want. Do you hear me? This is Captain Harry Peterson of the Royal Navy and I will get you whatever you want. Don’t hurt her.’

Bello took the phone, retrieving his knife from the floor while Harry was momentarily distracted.

‘I’ve told you everything I know,’ said Harry. ‘This won’t change that; don’t you see?’

‘I will cut off her other hand and then her feet until you understand that you have to comply.’

‘You sick bastard.’

Bello brandished the knife at Harry. ‘You think it wise to insult me.’ He lifted the phone to his ear.

‘This is intriguing,’ said Seraphine. ‘Why do you continue to bully a man who doesn’t know anything? All of this time I have been standing here knowing exactly where Alina Maree is.’

Harry and Bello turned to stare.

‘All you had to do was ask. But I suppose you assumed that a silly little woman wouldn’t know anything.’

Bello lowered the phone and pointed the knife at Seraphine. ‘Tell me.’

‘Mr Bello, Antony, you may have spotted that Captain Peterson here does not respond well to being threatened. Well, that makes two of us. You can stop waving your little knife in my face and speak to me with respect.’

Bello moved closer, the tip of the blade hovering directly in front of Seraphine’s eyes. ‘Where is she?’ he insisted.

Seraphine tutted and took a few steps backwards. ‘Shall we try that again?’

‘I will kill you.’

‘And how will that get you the information? It makes no sense.’ Seraphine smiled; she seemed genuinely amused.

‘Are you laughing at me?’

Harry couldn’t take his eyes off the phone. He hadn’t heard anything; no one was saying anything. Was the man still waiting for the go-ahead?

‘Not you specifically.’

‘Do you know who I am?’ Bello’s voice had taken on a deep throaty tone and sweat was glistening on his forehead. ‘I can make you disappear like that.’ He threw the phone on the desk and clicked his fingers in Seraphine’s face. ‘Nobody would know where you were.’

Seraphine held the man’s gaze. Her sweet smile was fixed but something in her eyes changed. ‘Do you know what the real difference is between you and me?’ she asked. She waited. ‘The world would miss me. The world needs me.’ She lifted her left hand from her trouser pocket where it had been the whole time. She held a yellow pencil with a red-capped end. ‘You on the other hand …’

She looked at Harry and winked.