Tony finished his coffee and topped it up from the cafetiere. ‘I’d like that. Not that I can be of much practical help, but it’d be good to know you were OK. And you might appreciate a place where you can be Carol Jordan for a few minutes every day. On the other hand, you might find that just disrupts staying in role. So play it as it lays. See how you feel when you’re in there.’

Carol put her mug down on the table and got to her feet. She walked over to the window and looked out. He could see her in profile, a series of planes and angles his memory held constantly clear. Some of the creases round her eyes were a little deeper, but that was the only change since he’d first known her. Now, though the line of her mouth was stubborn, determined, her eyes were troubled. ‘I’m scared, Tony. I’m trying not to be, because I know fear is a bad emotion to run an operation on. But I’m really, really scared.’

‘Don’t discount the usefulness of fear,’ Tony said. ‘You’re going to be running on adrenaline for as long as this assignment takes to complete. Fear’s a good provider of that. And it keeps complacency at bay. Whatever you think now, you’re going to have to get to like Radecki. You’ll start off consciously behaving as if you’re drawn to him, but the very act of maintaining that for any length of time tends to make it a reality. It’s a variation on the Stockholm Syndrome, where hostages start to identify with their captors. Like it or not, you’re going to find yourself growing close to him, and probably getting very fond of him. Fear is a good antidote to that.’

Carol rubbed her eyes with finger and thumb. ‘I want what this could bring me so badly, I’m scared I’ll do whatever it takes. What if I fall for this guy?’ She turned back towards him, her face troubled.

‘You wouldn’t be the first. And there’s no easy recipe for avoiding it.’ He crossed to her and took her hands in his. ‘If he’s nice to you – and there’s no reason why he wouldn’t be – it’s going to seem very appealing to go with the flow. What you have to do is hold on to one fact about this guy that you find totally abhorrent. I don’t know what that would be for you. But there has to be something in his file that really got to you. Remember what it was, and hold that thought like a mantra.’ He squeezed her hands tight, conscious of their coolness against his warm skin, trying not to think what they would feel like on his back.