‘That is correct,’ Klaus answered, in a pronounced German accent. ‘At seven in the morning we will be alerting the media that an explosive device has been planted inside the NEC conference centre in Birmingham.’ He seemed to be looking at Luke as if waiting for a sign of approval.

‘Good call,’ Luke said. ‘That’ll keep them busy.’

‘There is no such device in Birmingham,’ Klaus added. ‘But now we can show you the real devices. I must ask you not to approach too closely. Our science people are still making final checks inside the cabin over here.’

It was a cabin about the size of a caravan inside the main warehouse – a shed within a shed – with a flight of three metal steps leading up to the door. Niamh went up first, signalling for him to follow. Once inside, the four of them stood against a wall at a respectful distance, and Luke caught his breath. He had just seen the canisters for the first time: the instruments of death, laid out neatly in a row beside their backpacks. They were shiny and silver, about the same size as a Thermos. A man and a woman, both wearing goggles and neoprene gloves, were fussing over them. From where Luke was standing he could just make out that each one had a spray nozzle at the top and some sort of timer device taped to it. He strained to see past the pair with the goggles to try to count them all. Seven. Those were just the ones he could see. But what if they had more in reserve?

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Niamh said, turning to him with a strange glint in her eyes.

‘What’s that?’

‘Are we safe in this room with these?’ She waved towards the silver canisters. ‘Well, don’t worry, Steve. We’ve got some of the most committed scientists in the business working for us. We’ve taken every possible precaution.’

No, you haven’t, Luke thought, or we’d all be wearing PPE and gas masks right now. And then there was the incident in Svalbard where they had accidentally infected one of their own. No, this was not good. He wanted to get out of the cabin, but he couldn’t because Niamh was still talking to him, that strange light in her eyes again.

‘Once the timers have been activated there’s enough virus in each of those containers to kill thousands. Slowly and painfully.’ She then surprised Luke by touching his arm. ‘We’re making history tomorrow, Steve.’ This was something they kept on repeating. She looked at him meaningfully. ‘And you’re a part of it now.’

The door of the cabin swung open. A short, squat man stepped inside, walked up to Niamh and spoke quietly in her ear.