Hattie nodded. ‘Tenebris is very much the facilitator in this whole operation. We’ve learned they act as guarantor and bank and take a forty per cent commission fee on every match. Once the deal is agreed they give the Employer and Employee a contact email address to set up a meet on and then bow out. It’s a very clever business plan. The Employee doesn’t dare rip off the Employer as they know Tenebris has all their personal information: name, home address, family members. If they don’t deliver, Tenebris passes it on to the Employer and they’re dead. Their family is dead.’ Hattie rubbed his beard as he spoke. ‘The Employer will always pay as before Tenebris take them on as a client, they are scrupulously vetted and have to hand over their bank details and statements to verify what level of funds they have access to. Tenebris will not put them in touch with the Employee until Tenebris have been paid the full amount. Tenebris then take their commission and pass the rest on to the Employee once the job is completed. Considering the type of information that is being sold on here and the vast database of Employers on there, Tenebris is without a doubt a multi-million-, if not billion-pound company.’

Hattie gripped the back of the chair in front of him. ‘And they’re going to do whatever it takes to protect it. They know we’re looking for them. We need to get to them before they come for us.’

‘Eight are all on leave until the lockdown is over – that means no Surveillance? No R & D?’ asked Jake.

‘And no one manning the canteen so no fry-ups?’ Robin looked more upset at that thought than the actual threat of Tenebris.

Hattie’s mouth was set in a fine line. ‘Correct. We’re on our own on this. Until the Snake has been located and eliminated and the Tenebris Network is out of operation, the Committee are taking no risks.

‘I’ve been speaking to our international counterparts. Tenebris operates across the world. All intelligence agencies are affected. Everyone is concerned. With King666 we have the strongest lead and we have confirmed proof Tenebris is a British-owned outfit. America have been able to offer up some assistance. One of their East Coast operatives is in London at present.’

America had its own branch of underground assassins.

On the East Coast they worked out of Track 101 in Grand Central Terminal in New York. They were a much larger operation than us and as such utilising disused tracks and tunnels under the largest train station in the world was a fitting home for them. We had worked alongside them before and ‘Trackers’, as they called themselves, were frighteningly efficient. We were the small, independent shop compared to their large micro-managed corporation.

‘She will be here any minute.’

She?

Great.

There was only one East Coast ‘she’ Tracker at present.

She hated me.