‘That still doesn’t explain why you took Valera’s photo from the archive,’ Bennett said, suddenly on the defensive.

‘I don’t have to explain myself to you,’ Finney said, his voice starting to rise. ‘And I won’t stand here and be called a traitor.’

Manning pulled one of his long, bony hands out of his pocket and held it up, a sign for everyone to calm down.

‘I was happy for you to come back to Leconfield House, Richard,’ he said to Knox. His voice was quiet. The only emotion in it now was disappointment. ‘After an appropriate length of time. Or for you to leave if you decided you didn’t want to stay without Holland. I even gave you something to do to stop yourself festering while you were suspended. But all this is unforgivable. There’s no way you can come back in now. And I can’t let you walk out of this room alone.’

‘You can’t stop me,’ Knox sneered at him.

‘I already have,’ Manning replied.

He walked over to the big wooden doors and opened them. Three stony-faced Watchers stepped into the room. ‘I told you you had five minutes to explain everything,’ Manning continued. ‘You chose to spend them damning yourself with insane fantasies.’

Knox suddenly realised he’d let himself be outmanoeuvred again. He should have known he was on borrowed time as soon as he left the ballroom. He had no idea who the Watchers were loyal to—Manning or the Service. For all he knew, they were the men who had attacked Valera, set fire to his apartment, and tried to take out Bennett in the middle of Hyde Park in broad daylight.

For a brief moment he thought about fighting his way out, but his body ached from everything he’d put it through and his energy was completely spent.

‘You know,’ he said, matching Manning’s sombre tone, ‘I thought I was paranoid too. Nothing made sense. None of what was happening seemed connected. Until I put you at the heart of all of it.’ He started to move around the Barbican model, closing the distance between him and Manning. ‘You were so keen to send me off to investigate Bianchi and Moretti, because you already knew exactly what had happened to them. You used them, then you killed them. But what does that have to do with a Russian scientist trying to defect? Nothing, except the amazing coincidence that she was working in exactly the same field as our dead Italians. And, of course, you.’

He glanced over at the Watchers. Now they didn’t look like foot soldiers, ready to obey any order Manning might give them. They looked like they had no idea what they’d walked into the middle of.

‘You’ve been the perfect asset,’ Knox continued. ‘Ready to sacrifice your men and leave them dead and disavowed just to prove how loyal you are.’