‘Don’t be so modest, Gordon. You’ve built an impressive web. But you should have left me out. of it.’

‘This is nonsense,’ Manning said. ‘I offered you a chance to come back in. Gave you what should have been an easy job to do, then you disappear for two days and turn up looking like this.’

Manning moved further into the room, putting the replica of the Barbican between himself and Knox. He towered over the model, like a giant about to destroy a helpless village. He made a show of checking his watch. ‘You’ve got five minutes to explain yourself.’

Manning hadn’t mentioned Bianchi or Moretti or the details of the mission he’d given Knox. It was a basic precaution given Finney and Bennett’s presence. Knox, however, no longer had any qualms about breaking operational security. In fact, now he was finally in front of Manning with no Peterson to come to his rescue, he was ready to throw every accusation he had at him in excruciating detail.

‘You sent me off into the woods, and I found the one thing I wasn’t supposed to. What was your plan? Quietly retrieve Bianchi and Moretti’s real research when everything had died down, or were they just a distraction while you handed Pipistrelle over to the KGB?’

‘What’s Pipistrelle?’ Finney asked, seizing on the word he hadn’t heard before.

Manning chose to ignore the question.

‘Those are not allegations to be made in public,’ he replied coolly. Knox ignored the warning.

‘Did you burn down my flat to destroy the Italians’ papers?’ Knox paused for a moment. Or was that because we saw what you did to Irina Valera?’

Manning’s face didn’t change at the sound of Valera’s name—it stayed in the same combination of confusion and irritation. ‘Should that mean something to me?’ he asked.

‘For God’s sake, drop the act,’ Knox replied. ‘We know who she is, you know who she is.’ He pointed to Finney. ‘He knows who she is.’

‘I do?’ Finney replied.

‘You’ve got her file on your desk,’ Bennett replied, moving round an oblong, honeycomb skyscraper that was nearly as tall as her to stand next to Knox.

‘Now, how in the hell would you know that?’ Finney asked her, seeming suddenly suspicious of the woman he’d so far ignored.

‘Because I pay attention to what’s going on. And I recognise one of the world’s most valuable intelligence assets when I see a picture of her.’

‘That doesn’t answer my question.’

‘Sorry, boss.’

Finney’s suspicion turned to realisation, then amusement. ‘You’re that nut-job secretary who thinks she should be an agent, aren’t you?’

‘I’m not a secretary,’ Bennett replied. ‘I’m a file clerk.’

‘You’re a little firecracker, I’ll give you that.’ He turned to Manning. ‘I’m not sure if I should laugh or apologise.’