So she had made a decision, years ago, that, instead of allowing it to get under her skin, she would demonstrate to her colleagues in terms that they would understand that she didn’t need their help. That meant that she would be a better shot on the range at Quantico. That she would train until she was fitter than they were. And that, most of all, she would bring in the kind of scalps that no one could ignore. It was the inspiration that she had relied upon to bring down Morten Lundquist in Michigan, and it would be the same for La Bruja in Medellín.

30

Sergeant Benjamin Weaver looked out of the window of the car at the wide-open spaces in front of them. They had chosen the same spot as before for the meet, a track in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by banana plantations on all sides. It took them an hour to drive here from Urabá, a large town that was buried deep in Colombia’s Caribbean jungle. It was a long and uncomfortable drive on poor roads, and that was before they turned off and had to negotiate the potholed tracks that eventually led here. It was hot, too, and the air-con in the four-wheel drive had only worked intermittently, perhaps in complaint at the amount of work that it was being asked to do. But the inconveniences, while irritating, were necessary. Discretion was essential. It would not do for a senior member of the Firm to be seen meeting the leader of the biggest cocaine cartel in the world.

Weaver was in the back of the car. Number Eight was driving and Number Six was in the back with him. Eight had only been recruited to the Group a year earlier, and this was to be his first operational posting. Six was more seasoned. She had been one of the first recruits brought into the Group after it had been reconstituted. Seniority was a relative concept when none of the new agents had the tenure of the men and women whom they had replaced, but, of course, that would be something that came with time. Control had been pleased with the restocking of the roster, and the early results as the agents had gone into the field had been encouraging.

“Just up here,” Weaver said as they approached the tumbledown shack that he remembered from before.

“I can’t see anything,” Eight said.

“She’ll be here,” Weaver said.