‘There were more,’ Dempsey corrected. ‘Four more, right? Yeah, that’s right. The same four I killed yesterday in New York.’

Romeo’s eyes widened and he said nothing. A reaction which told Dempsey two things: he had been right that the New York four were the rest of the number, and Jack Meyer had not risked telling his son about their loss.

In case it spooked him, Dempsey surmised.

‘But forget them,’ Dempsey continued. ‘Let’s get back to this. The blackmail of Knowles – your father’s organisation did that. They faked an attack on Tootkai, terrified the locals into cooperating and now they’ve brought in trained witnesses. All primed to name Knowles and his unit, if Knowles ever stepped out of line. Am I right? A pre-packaged false flag operation, with your Blackspear back-up based right here next to Tootkai. Ready to put the wheels in motion with just a word. Am I getting close, Romeo?’

Romeo said nothing. He didn’t need to. His nervous smirk spoke volumes.

‘All of which kept Knowles in line for three years. Right up until Dale Victor got wind of the false allegations. A man who could ruin everything. And so you guys arranged for the bombing of Flight PA16. You killed hundreds of people. Just to keep your patsy in the White House.’

‘That’s what you think, is it?’

Romeo suddenly seemed excited. And Dempsey knew why.

‘You think we bombed the plane to keep Knowles in office? If you think that then you don’t know shit. We couldn’t care less whether it’s Knowles or some other fucking puppet in that place. All that matters is that we can control them. And we couldn’t control Dale Victor. No one could. So we killed him. It had nothing to do with protecting Knowles.’

Dempsey said nothing. Still excited, Romeo continued.

‘And what, Agent Dempsey? Is that all you’ve got? Is that all you know? Christ, it was hardly worth the trip to find out.’

Dempsey slowly turned his head. Back towards Grace. She was still conscious. Still pressing onto her wounds.

She still has time.

A grim smile spread across his face as he lifted his right cuff to his lips.

‘Is that enough, Elizabeth?’

Romeo looked confused at Dempsey’s words. Not that Dempsey noticed. He was waiting for a response, and when it came it could not have been clearer.

Elizabeth Kirk’s perfect diction, transmitted into the almost invisible device in Dempsey’s right ear, left no room for doubt.

‘More than enough.’

‘My team’s in place?’

‘Ready and waiting.’

‘Good. Take all but the big one.’

The smile remained fixed on Dempsey’s face as confusion spread among Romeo and the nine men standing with him. A confusion which, for all but Romeo, would end as quickly as their lives.

Dempsey stayed perfectly still at the sound of the first ‘pop’, and watched as one of the five Blackspear operatives suddenly dropped to the floor, only a fine red mist hinting at what had just occurred.