‘What . . . what type of rumours? I told her a lot more . . . a lot more . . . than that.’

‘She said it related to his Medal of Honor. Well, to the operation where he earned it.’

‘And what do you . . . know about that?’

‘Everyone knows the story, Tom. Knowles’ unit was heading back to base outside of Jalalabad after a mission in a border village. Knowles, half his team and two rescued hostages were in the front Black Hawk, the rest of his team and two more hostages in the second. Halfway back, the rear chopper was shot down. Knowles ordered his pilot to turn and go back, to look for survivors.

‘When they did, they found the burning wreckage and could see that at least some of the men inside it were alive. But the fighters who’d shot it down were already heading straight for it. So Knowles’ pilot lay down fire and took out a whole bunch, but then their chopper was hit, too, and was forced to land, with a small army still heading their way.

‘Knowles led a thirty-minute rear-guard against wave after wave of Afghan fighters, all while he herded his injured team across to the other chopper, where three of the guys were too badly injured to move themselves. And so Knowles and his chief petty officer went for them. They ran into heavy fire to rescue them and physically carried each one of them over a hundred yards to cover. The chief died saving those men. And Knowles came close, taking three hits in the process.

‘But he survives. Support arrives and the team is extracted. Knowles is invalided out of the service but wins the Medal of Honor. He becomes the poster boy hero of the whole War on Terror and begins a meteoric political career. Hence now it’s President Knowles to the likes of us.’

‘And that’s all Elizabeth told you, is it?’ Quilty’s tone dripped with cynicism when he finally spoke. ‘Because that sounds a lot . . . a lot . . . like a Google search, son.’

Dempsey smiled. The man was a veteran of the CIA, the most active, effective covert intelligence service on the planet. He was giving nothing away for free.

Which meant that Dempsey had to.

‘You know she told me more, Tom. The stuff that hasn’t found its way to Wikipedia.’

‘Tell me what it is.’

‘She told me that every word of what I just said is true. That everything we know about Knowles the hero is true. But she also told me that not everyone is a good guy the whole time.’

Quilty smiled, to Dempsey’s relief. What the older man was hearing was finally easing his caution.

Dempsey continued.

‘Elizabeth told me that a man had contacted you, shortly before Knowles’ inauguration. And that he told you the true nature of the mission Knowles’ unit had been on. The official line was they’d gone to the village – Tootkai, right? – to rescue four American hostages, military advisors, being held by a residual faction of the Taliban.’