“Good.” They walked on a little. “Just make sure she knows how serious the blowback on this is going to be. The State Department has no idea that Langley—more precisely, a small subsection of bitter old spooks at Langley—effectively sanctioned the assassination of an American diplomat. The reports that we’re getting out of Washington are that they are very, very angry and very, very serious about demonstrating the consequences for those kinds of actions. American hegemony won’t survive for long if the bad guys get the idea that you can knock off their diplomats without getting even a slap on the wrist for it.”

“How big is this slap likely to be?”

“Very big. La Bruja needs to take it seriously.”

“She’s no fool,” he said. “But I’ll make sure.”

“You have backup, too. You know Six.”

“I do,” Thorsson said. “She’s good.”

“And so is Eight.”

“I don’t doubt it. We’ll keep her out of the way until this blows over.”

“Good man. Stay in touch.”

“Yes, sir,” Thorsson said.

34

Milton sat back in the window seat and gazed out of the porthole window as they started their descent. He had spent the morning shutting down the Manchester operation—cleaning out the Airbnbs and disposing of the Galaxy. Chase had been taken to the police station, where he had been interviewed by officers about what had happened with Anthony Jackson. His account of the crash—that the lights had been green—had been corroborated by the elderly woman who had witnessed it from behind. She had gone on to confirm what had happened between Chase and Jackson in the immediate aftermath, corroborating his account that Jackson had been the aggressor. The police had asked Chase to remain in Manchester until they had taken a full statement, which, they suggested, might take a day or two.

Milton, Hicks and Ziggy had travelled separately once again, and the time alone had allowed Milton the opportunity to reflect on what they had achieved and what remained to be done. The operation to remove the obstruction that Jackson had represented was a success, but it was just the first step of many. Jackson was an impediment to Milton’s ultimate objective, simply an obstacle that he had needed to remove. That, now, was done. The road ahead was clear, at least until the next obstacle.