He falls silent, looks out at the rain. He seems furious, and Jacob would like to ask if it’s the Paris attacks that have upset him, or if it’s something else entirely. At the same time it’s so clear to him now. So obvious what he has to do. He looks at Yassim, at his tired eyes and wavy hair falling onto the hood of his shirt.

‘Give it to me,’ Jacob says calmly.

Yassim turns away from the rain slowly and looks at Jacob with a question in his eyes, as if he hadn’t really heard or understood what Jacob meant. ‘Give what to you?’ he says.

‘What you’ve collected. Give it to me. I can get it out easier. I’m European. The rules are different for me.’

Yassim says nothing, just stares at him, then turns away, shaking his head. ‘I can’t let you do that. It’s too much. Too dangerous. This is not your fight, Jacob. Besides… You’re already marked, because the Swedish intelligence service thinks you’re working for them.’

But Jacob pulls him close and turns his face to look into his eyes. He doesn’t look away for a second. He’s calm now, not shaky or nervous any more.

He sees Myriam’s icy eyes in front of him, her threatening expression. He has never been surer of anything.

‘Don’t you understand?’ he says. ‘That’s the whole point? They think I’m working for them, so they won’t suspect me.’

‘The risk is too big,’ Yassim says. ‘They’ll see through it, believe me.’

‘But I want to do it,’ he says, almost desperate now. ‘After what happened in Paris tonight, it will be impossible for you as a Middle Easterner. Everyone will be checked and treated with suspicion. I mean it, Yassim. I can do it, let me do it.’

Yassim looks down and pulls away.

‘Don’t you trust me?’ Jacob says. ‘You think I’m trying to persuade you because…’

He falls silent because Yassim has turned to him again, placed a gentle hand to his mouth. ‘I trust you,’ he says. ‘If you wanted to fool me, you wouldn’t have seemed so eager.’ He smiles crookedly. ‘They would have coached you better if they wanted you to fool me. It’s not that. I know you’re honest. But you don’t know what you’re getting into. You don’t know what I know…’

‘Just give me the information,’ Jacob says. ‘I’ll bring it for you.’

*

The rain has finally let up as they leave the cafe. Just a fine mist now. It feels like they’re moving in unison, as if their hearts are beating the same rhythm, as if they’re welded together, a single unit, strong as titanium, diamond, tougher than anything.

‘What do we do now?’ Jacob asks.