Shocked, he tightened his grip on the knife and spun towards her. She reached for the gun behind him and, realizing what was happening, he shoved it away with the back of his arm. As his muscle tensed, the syringe shot from his forearm. He swung back, aiming the hunting knife at her face.

The foot soldier came running and arrived with his weapon up and also aimed at Bloom.

‘Get them inside,’ said George. ‘Now.’

His colleague hesitated and then followed George’s gaze up towards the sky. The helicopter was coming quickly. They couldn’t be sure that it was looking for them, but George wouldn’t want their group to be seen.

George’s eyes met hers. ‘What was that?’

The foot soldier ushered Jake, Karene and Sophie into the cabin.

Bloom shook her head. ‘I’m not sure. It was given to me.’

‘Get inside.’

Bloom was impressed by the man’s clarity of mind. He had been injected with some unknown substance and might only have minutes to live, but he was still working.

93

Harry stared at the pool of blood leaking from Antony Bello. It had been pumping from his neck in a wide arc and Bello had been desperately trying to hold it in, but now he was unconscious on the floor and it simply seeped from him.

‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ Seraphine wiped the blood from her weapon with a tissue. She hadn’t a drop on her white top and jacket. ‘Thank you for your help. That was quick thinking.’

Harry had worked with some unnervingly calm people before. A close friend was an underwater bomb disposal expert and you didn’t get much cooler under pressure than that guy. But Seraphine was in a different league again.

Snapping out of his shock, Harry grabbed the phone from Bello’s desk. ‘Hello?’ The line was dead. How long had it been dead? What had happened to Sophie? He pressed the home button but the phone was locked. ‘What about my kids? You couldn’t have had them released in exchange for what you know?’

‘Oh. Yes. Sorry.’ Seraphine twisted the red cap on the end of her modified pencil and its spike retreated inwards. She put it back in her pocket. ‘But don’t worry. Augusta and Marcus will be on that.’

‘What are you on about? What can they do? They’re civilians.’

‘They look out for each other. That’s why I put Augusta in there.’

‘What?’

‘I sent Augusta to the place Bello had your kids and gave her the means to escape. I can’t do much more than that.’

94

The helicopter was deafening. Bloom leaned forward to see out of the window but all she saw was sea.