There was another man present, one he’d never seen before. He was the only person in the room who wasn’t watching him; instead he was sitting at a desk, engrossed in some task with a mobile phone. The man’s face was bent over, concentrating, and all Adam could see was that he had a long moustache. On the desk next to the phone was a knife, something Adam found odd and disconcerting.

He looked back to the silent Roger. Adam had been summoned to his office first thing that morning and he had no idea why. Despite the modern room’s air-conditioning, he felt a bead of sweat break loose and run down the side of his face.

Roger suddenly spoke, making Adam jump. ‘Thank you for coming up. We thought it was a good time to have a review of where we were with things. More specifically, our commitment to company confidentiality.’

All eyes were back on Adam again, scrutinizing him for a reaction. The silence was excruciating but Adam kept the pleasant and nonchalant expression on his face and waited.

‘I just wanted to make sure that everybody here knew that confidentiality was something to be taken very seriously,’ said Roger.

Adam crossed his legs. ‘Of course.’

‘Well, that’s good to hear, but I think we need a little more reassurance. You see, we all hold a very privileged position working here and sometimes we may see documents that are not meant for us. And that can get the imagination going. And sometimes people from the outside world might like to know what’s in those documents and might try and approach us. Wheedle it out of us.’ Roger smiled.

Adam felt his stomach fall. They knew about Kate coming to see him. He kept his composure. ‘You have nothing to worry about.’

They were still staring at him. The screech of a piece of Sellotape being pulled from a roll startled him and he looked over to the moustached man who had the tape between his teeth. The man’s eyes were now also on Adam as he bit through the tape. Then he started to cover a mobile phone box with wrapping paper.

‘That’s good to hear, Adam,’ said Roger. ‘Because we take breaches of security very seriously. Very seriously indeed.’

Roger’s boss suddenly got up out of her chair and left. Adam stared open-mouthed at the closing door.

‘And we would have to act immediately and with great severity if we were to find any staff member had broken their NDA,’ added Roger.

From the other side of the room, there was the sound of a piece of fabric being cut. Adam looked over to see the moustached man slice through a piece of blue ribbon with white polka dots, using the knife that had been on the desk. He then started to tie the ribbon around the gift-wrapped box.

‘Do we understand one another?’ asked Roger.

Adam swallowed down his anger and fear. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘We do.’