Mickey sighed inwardly and stood up. Turned to find a man of roughly his own age, a hand extended in greeting. Immaculately turned out in army service dress, leather belt and shoulder strap gleaming. Clean-shaven face, brown eyes surrounded with the sort of lines that come from laughing. Either that, or possibly from squinting into brightly lit landscapes looking for targets. Hair cut short, tightly cropped at the sides. Even the facial scar that marked his chin a tidy line of white. Shoes with a shine he could see himself in, distantly. Not a big man, but with an aura of hard-won competence. Mickey shook the hand. Finding the other man’s grip every bit as firm as expected.

‘You’ll be Michael Bale, I presume. Do you chaps do ranks? We can call each other Major and Sergeant if you like, but I doubt that’s the way it usually works.’

‘Michael will be fine, since you’ve asked. Rank obsession usually starts at inspector in my unit. Call me Sergeant when it suits you, but first names are usual in my branch of the Job.’

‘In that case I’m James. Jimmy to a very precious few, none of whom reside within this poorly disguised open prison.’ He laughed softly at the look on Mickey’s face. ‘What, you don’t read the papers?’

‘I make a point of avoiding them. It’s none of my business.’

‘Perhaps not. But a man’s allowed opinions.’

Mickey shrugged.

‘I don’t need opinions. Just this…’ He tapped the Glock at his waist. ‘And the willingness to use it if I have to.’

Cavendish smiled politely.

‘I can respect that. You asked for this role. And you’re good at it, from what your file says. I, on the other hand, did not. The man we both serve, the “principal” as I believe you call him, is known to prefer female private secretaries. Now that it looks as if the sky is about to fall on him, however, that choice has been taken out of his hands. Which is how I come to be looking after him now. Despite my not really wanting the posting.’

‘You’d rather just be crawling round in the mud?’

‘With bullets flying past my ears? Oh God yes. But, as I’m sure you can imagine, the concept of doing one’s duty is quite strong where I come from. So when the call to arms was issued, I wasn’t really in any position to refuse. Anyway, I’ll leave you to your survey of the grounds. Although I can pretty much guarantee you won’t spot any lurking paparazzi.’

‘Are you sure about that?’

Cavendish turned back with a smile.