Frederick knew what I was capable of. He knew exactly what my job entailed. He knew everything and he liked me more for it. He was impressed by me. By what I could do. I saw myself through his eyes and it felt good.

The girls weaved into the playground.

We took a seat on a bench and watched them. They went straight to the slide. Gigi’s thin silver necklace glinted in the sun when she reached the top. It was a St Christopher’s medallion. Inside it was a thin GPS tracker that I’d got R & D to carefully insert. I kept reassuring myself it didn’t mean I was a crazed helicopter mum. If people could get their dogs microchipped without judgement, surely I should be allowed the reassurance of having my daughter’s location constantly updated to a specially modified GigiMap app on my phone?

‘Tonight’s mission is important.’ I looked at Frederick. ‘If we don’t get the GPS details from Peng’s card we have no way of tracking her and it’s going to make everything a hell of a lot tougher. You done much work in the field?’

Frederick shook his head. ‘Being out in the field for me has meant being in a literal field. Dressed for combat. This undercover sneaking around is new to me.’

Using a Pigeon on a high stakes op like this would usually have been out of the question. But we had no choice. There was no one else left. Jake and Hattie would be out retrieving the iPad receiver from Heathrow airport, while Cameron was busy at the Warehouse with the kind of forceful interrogations Frederick definitely wouldn’t have the necessary steel for.

‘You’ll be fine. Just follow my lead and remember you need to keep a low profile. There could be any number of Tenebris Ghosts at the museum and if you do anything to draw attention to yourself we’re all compromised.’

A mother laden down with Sainsbury’s bags and two young boys came towards us. ‘Sorry, could you?’ She motioned to Frederick to move up.

‘Of course.’ He shuffled up next to me, making space for her and her many bags. We sat, legs touching, as we watched our girls charge around the playground.

It was a sunny day. Gigi was happy. For a moment life felt simple. I could forget about the potential assassination of a foreign dignitary, more dead colleagues and a compromised Platform Eight. And just enjoy the sun on my face, soak up the smiles of my happy child, and the feel of a thigh against mine that wasn’t my husband’s.

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM was aglow with bright spotlights, the impressive building perfectly lit on a dark night.

By the time I got to the library door my name and invitation had already been checked twice.