Gabriel was resting with her back flat on the wall, head tilted back, eyes closed, her breathing shallow. Greg recognised the state, he'd seen it in the mirror often enough. That relentless enervation which siphoned the vitality out of every cell.

"Morgan, to someone of your age and ex-rank I'm Gabriel, OK? But no, I can't tell if it works with Katerina. That's too far into the future."

"I don't think Julia will give up," Greg said. "Not now."

"No, I don't suppose she will," Walshaw agreed.

"You know Kendric di Girolamo is going to have to be eliminated, don't you?" Greg said.

Walshaw reached up languidly and began massaging his neck. "Eventually, yes."

"No. Not eventually. You've seen what he's done to that girl; and that was just for fun. The guy's an absolute loon. Tell you, I've seen inside his mind. Homicidal psychopath isn't the half of it. Julia needs head of state level protection while he's on the loose, no messing."

"Julia has been badgering me to do the same thing. She is even more intent than you, if anything."

"Hardly surprising, after what she went through with Kendric. Paedophile shit."

Walshaw turned his head very slowly until he was staring directly at Greg. "What?"

"Kendric and Julia; he seduced her. You didn't know?"

"She hates Kendric."

"Not always," Greg said. He couldn't ever remember seeing Walshaw so thrown before, not even the blitz and the possibility of a leak in the giga-conductor project had upset him this much. Another of Julia's secret admirers.

"So that's what is behind this sudden urge for blood," Walshaw said tightly.

"It's not just a wronged girl's lex talionis. Kendric is dangerous, believe me."

"I do." For a second the security chief looked heartbroken. Greg was suddenly glad he didn't have the use of his gland at that moment, there were some secrets people were entitled to keep. He guessed Julia had become a surrogate daughter to Walshaw over the years. That strange character flaw of his, the need to have someone to provide him with a purpose in life.

"Kendric can't be eliminated right now, dangerous though he undoubtedly is," Walshaw said. "Your episode with Charles Ellis at the Castlewood condominium confirms there is someone else involved, the organiser of the blitz. Kendric couldn't have arranged for the sniper at Ellis's penthouse, because he didn't know Wolf. Which makes Kendric our last link with the organiser. And we have to find out who that is."

"But Wolf knew Kendric," Greg said. "Weird."