‘This great criminal enterprise, capable of crippling our Security Services, is run by a couple of city boys? How the hell is that even possible?’

‘Frederick. He brought it to them. Tenebris was all his idea. The three of them have equal shares in it.’

Not just the Snake.

Not just the Coyote.

But the creator of the whole of the Tenebris Network.

Tenebris. Latin for ‘dark’. That should’ve been the first clue. Frederick and his chums showing off their public school education. A smug in-joke. But I hadn’t seen it. I hadn’t seen anything. Distracted by gooey eyes and the feeling he found me attractive. I was angry. So angry at myself for being fooled. And at him for being a calculating shit with a seemingly natural flair for treachery and deception.

‘Is Cameron sure the intel is solid?’

‘Miss Jenna’s not a professional so it was easy to get her talking.’

I wasn’t surprised. The patience to cope with a room full of two-year-olds is not something most of us who had chosen this industry could ever manage to fake.

‘She worked as a classroom assistant for a couple years, moved up to London for a teacher training degree but dropped out and got in with a bad crowd. Met one of the hedge fund boys on a night out, name of Mark Somersby. She’s been sleeping with him. He pushed her into this, threatened to blackmail her with some compromising photos he’d taken. He’d text her what messages she needed to get to Frederick through the kid’s drawings.’

I found it comforting that Gigi had been in daily close proximity to someone who at least had some kind of teaching background.

‘How would Frederick report back to them?’

‘If Frederick wanted to get a message to them he’d write in code on the back of those Wow cards you have to hand in.’

Hah. I knew it. No way could Florence have been doing all those things the Wow cards said she was. Riding a bike without stabilisers, counting to ten in Mandarin. I should’ve seen a red flag then.

‘G and Pixie are now trying to track down this Mark Somersby. There’s an alert out on the car registered to him, so we should be able to locate him soon. We use him to get the name of his partner, and the Tenebris Network will be shut down by the end of the day and those greedy tosspots will be at the Box.’

Up by the Farm was a large square concrete building, with numerous soundproofed rooms that was used for high-level interrogations. Its nickname was down to not only the building’s box-like appearance but what a great deal of interviewees would leave in.

‘There’s just Frederick left.’

‘I’m betting he’s already en route to the British Virgin Islands.’