‘We want to know if anyone official already knows they’re here,’ she said.

I wondered if it was safe to contact Agent Reynolds, but I didn’t want to drop her in the shit unless I had to.

Folsom went back over my actions in the basement.

‘Why didn’t you wait for back-up?’ he asked.

‘I had reason to believe a Falcon incident was underway and that a member of the public was at risk,’ I said. ‘I believed that a careful approach would help calm the situation until the appropriate Falcon resources could be deployed.’

Folsom asked what ‘appropriate Falcon resources’ might be when they’re at home.

‘I rather think that would be me,’ said Nightingale. ‘And Peter cleared the action with me before proceeding. It was the right thing to do and I believe that had external factors not intervened then a peaceful resolution could have been effectuated.’

Folsom nodded as if squirrelling away the word ‘effectuated’ for use at future meetings. Then he gave me a thin lipped smile.

‘This is not the first time Peter here has been put into a position of potential harm because of a shortfall in Falcon capable resources,’ he said and made a show of a consulting a list. ‘These incidents include a severe RTI involving an ambulance, a near drowning in the Thames, a confrontation with armed men in a sewer, being buried under rubble at Oxford Street station and, if this report is to be believed, surviving a fall from a thirty storey block of flats while it was in the process of explosive demolition.’

I opened my mouth to say it was more complicated than that, but he held up a hand to silence me.

‘He was involved in an unauthorised hostage exchange in Herefordshire, an armed standoff in Essex and let’s not forget the business at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew.’

Which was totally not my fault, I might add, although I probably shouldn’t have used the word Krynoid in my official report.

‘Then, this week alone, there have been two confrontations with armed men. The second one culminating in yet another building collapse and fatality.’

I noticed he hadn’t mentioned his own glorious contribution to the Bow Street riots.

‘All of these incidents,’ said Folsom, turning back to Nightingale, ‘were exacerbated by the current operational bottleneck caused by lack of suitable Falcon capable resources.’

‘It takes time to train new apprentices,’ said Nightingale. ‘It’s not a process that can be rushed.’

‘So, you agree that there is a shortfall in appropriate resources?’ asked Folsom, who was obviously looking to get an admission from Nightingale that the Folly wasn’t up to the job – and one that was nicely minuted at an official meeting.