Crumbs shook his head, his smile wide. ‘Well, well, didn’t we get some attention?’

Jack put the phone in his pocket. ‘Yeah, we did.’ He frowned and spoke in a low, sad tone. ‘But I still don’t understand—they’ve got the story about the sabotage already. We haven’t really done what we intended, have we? The public know that it was done deliberately.’

‘Yeah, I wish they hadn’t made that connection straightaway—or at least hadn’t reported on it straightaway,’ Crumbs said. ‘But still, what’s done is done. The footage that will have gone live a few hours ago will be shared by all our supporters. We should have a look at that. There won’t be anyone on our sites saying that there was interference. What’s wrong, boy, you sound dismal. Sorry it’s over?’

Jack shrugged. ‘Getting tired now, I think. The adrenalin has run out.’ The last thing he wanted to do was see the footage. He pretended to tap at the phone. ‘Can’t get Facebook to load,’ he said. ‘Range mustn’t be good enough.’ He shrugged.

Crumbs stared at him a bit longer. ‘Bugger. Can you get the story up again? Let me have another read.’ He held out his hand.

Jack hesitated before handing the phone over.

Crumbs read the story again slowly, then handed the phone to Blue, who tapped on the screen and brought up the call log. ‘Hey!’ Jack said, reaching out to try to snatch the phone back. ‘What are you doing? That’s private.’

‘I like to know who I’m dealing with.’

Jack’s stomach constricted. He hadn’t deleted the last few times he’d called Dave. A fucking rookie mistake. Shit.

There was a heavy silence in the hut.

After about ten minutes of horrible, heavy silence, Blue suddenly said what Jack knew he would. ‘Look here, boss. There’s a pattern here. Looks like every time you and our boy here have caught up, he’s phoned a friend afterwards.’

‘That’s interesting,’ Crumbs said, turning to look at Jack. ‘Every time we have a catch-up, you ring a friend. Who is it? Your boyfriend?’

‘A mate,’ Jack shrugged. ‘And I don’t know what’s interesting about that. I talk to him a lot. You guys are being suspicious over nothing!’

‘But you only talk to him after our meetings?’

‘I guess that’s when I’ve got the time. I’m walking home. Anyway, if you look, I’m sure you’ll find I talk to him at other times.’ What Jack really wanted to do was reach over and grab the phone out of their hands, but he knew he had to play it cool. Like he didn’t have anything to hide.