Sarah paused to finger the blossom of a dogwood, then they walked on through the trees.

“And what about you, Gabriel? What are your plans?”

“I think you and I might be moving in opposite directions.”

“Meaning?”

“I’m afraid I can’t say anything more right now.”

She pouted and playfully swatted his arm. “You’re not going to start keeping secrets from me now, are you?”

“Now that you’re working for the intelligence service of another country, I’m afraid our relationship will have to take on certain…” He paused, searching for the right word in English. “Parameters.”

“Please, Gabriel. We share a bond that extends far beyond the rules of engagement governing contact between known operatives of other services.”

“I see you’ve started your training.”

“Little by little,” she said. “It helps to relieve the boredom of living alone on this farm.”

“Are you well, Sarah?”

“The days are all right, but the nights are very hard.”

“They will be for a long time. Working for the Agency will help, though. Do you know where they’re going to put you?”

“The Saudi desk,” she said. “I insisted.”

The woods shook with the rumble of distant thunder. Sarah asked about Julian Isherwood.

“At the moment his situation is very similar to yours.”

“Where have you got him?”

“Sarah.”

“Come on, Gabriel.”

“He’s tucked away in an old house near Land’s End in Cornwall.”

“And the gallery?”

“It’s closed at the moment. Your departure from London caused quite a scandal. The boys at the bar in Green’s restaurant miss you very much.”

“I miss them, too. But I miss your team more.”

“Everyone sends their best.” Gabriel hesitated. “They also asked me to apologize to you.”

“For what?”

“We let you down, Sarah. It’s obvious that we were spotted by bin Shafiq or Zizi’s security men.”

“Maybe it was my fault.” She shrugged. “But it doesn’t matter. We all came out alive, and we got eleven of them in that house. And we foiled a plot to assassinate the president. Not bad, Gabriel.”

There was another rumble of thunder, this one closer. Sarah looked up at the sky.

“I have to ask you a few questions, Sarah. There are some things we need to know before we can close the books on the operation.”

Her gaze remained skyward. “You need to know what I told them in that house in Switzerland.”

“I know you were filled with drugs. I know you’ve probably tried to purge it from your memory.”

She looked at him and shook her head. “I haven’t tried to forget,” she said. “In fact, I remember every word.”

The first raindrops began to fall. Sarah seemed not to notice. They walked on through the trees, and she told him everything.