As Torgau stood on the landing and listened to their happy chatter, he wondered if he had too much of a blind spot where his girls were concerned. All his life, he’d been the coldest of professionals, and even at home a stern disciplinarian, though he was sure that both Ivana and Alyssa would counter that argument by saying that yes, he’d been hard sometimes, but that also he’d been fair.

But was he giving them too much leeway here?

Was it a mistake letting them react to this new development so spontaneously, without thinking it through thoroughly?

On one hand, it felt as if a lot more planning was required. But on the other, Ivana had already proved that she could think on the hoof. And on yet another, this particular job was marked ‘Urgent’, so it had to be done in the next day or so anyway.

If Torgau pressed himself, he’d have to admit that any reservations he held were only slight. The girls had done all he’d asked; they’d successfully performed numerous Category C assignments, which was mainly household pets, several Category Bs, non-threatening human specimens, such as pensioners, tramps and the like, and now a Category A, which spoke for itself. In addition to that, there’d been a specific instruction attached to the main file tonight, which he had not revealed to his daughters. Partly, this was because he didn’t like the idea of them learning that he too received orders, but also because this one had come from the very top – and orders from the top even Martin Torgau disobeyed at his peril.

‘You know, urgent doesn’t necessarily mean tonight … not if we’re too tired to do it,’ Alyssa said, on the far side of the kitchen, where she was scanning the documentation relating to their first official target.

Ivana, who was busy spooning coffee into a pair of mugs, was amused to hear her sister’s attempted cool-headed approach. Alyssa was perfect for this line of work, her enthusiasm bubbling over constantly – but that had led her to make mistakes. The Lorna Cunningham thing, for example. Alyssa had insisted that she was past doing Category Bs – indeed, the previous one they’d brought in, that old Hopkins guy, she’d refused to touch, saying Ivana could take care of him herself, with her neck-wire. Alyssa had wanted a real challenge. And then, of course, she’d tried to finish the athlete off alone …

Even then, though, Ivana felt a special kind of warmth towards Alyssa, not just because they were twins, but because Alyssa was so in awe of her slightly older other half.