Seraphine smiled. ‘Neat, isn’t it?’

Harry stared out of the window at the dense forest. It wasn’t lush and bright like the forests in the UK. The trees were darker, hardier, so that they could withstand the heat and the lack of water. ‘So why did Bello come after me? If I wasn’t the one who hid her.’

Seraphine said nothing. Maybe she didn’t know. Had Marcus known? He must have contacts back in the service. It wasn’t a large community. But somehow Harry couldn’t see it. Marcus struck him as the straight-as-a-die type. Then again, he was embroiled in a romance with a psychopath. And not just any psychopath. He hadn’t missed the undercurrent of her conversations with Abdul. Those two were definitely linked somehow.

Harry’s body throbbed. He leaned back against the head rest and closed his eyes. After a few moments, he sat up. ‘They didn’t hide her until after the bomb.’

‘If I wasn’t driving I’d give you a round of applause.’

‘What’s your involvement in this? You asked me what was in it for you, bringing me out here? It was getting in a room with Antony Bello, wasn’t it? So that you could kill him. I was nothing more than an in.’

Seraphine licked her lips.

‘Are you an assassin then?’

Her laugh was genuine and loud. ‘What is it with you boys? Why are we always the nobody, or the secretary, or the hired help? Do you know there are six species of mammal led by females? The orcas and African elephants, whose ladies keep the peace and preserve group knowledge. The lemurs and hyenas whose scrappy little women rarely lose a fight. And then you have the African lion. We call the male the king of the jungle, but it’s the lionesses who lead the pride, hunt for the food and defend their young against predators. You know which one is my favourite, though?’ Harry shrugged. ‘The bonobo ape. Their females resolve arguments by grabbing the genitals of the males, and they’re not afraid to severely hurt them in order to protect the group. How cool is that?’

‘Very cool,’ said Harry.

‘Sarcasm?’

‘No. Sorry. Headache.’

‘Sleep. That will help.’ The car hit a pothole and rocked violently to one side. ‘Or maybe not.’

Harry tried to focus on what he needed to ask. She had brought him here so she could dispatch Antony Bello and she knew the secret service had hidden Alina. But did she know why his memory had been taken away? ‘Who erased my memories then? MI6?’

Seraphine looked perplexed for a split second. ‘The staged terrorist attack was George Selaisse. He’s one of Bello’s men. Impressive.’