‘You don’t need to know.’ Weiss shook his head. ‘Suffice it to say it confirmed our plan of action had to be put into place immediately. We needed to prevent Hope from becoming president – not, I’m afraid, because of a moral imperative, rather because of the risk of massive global destabilisation if the information came out at a later date. Imagine the scandal. There’d be an impeachment, her removal from office, a totally unsuitable vice-president stepping into the job, questions about America’s role in the world. If, on the other hand, she wasn’t exposed, think of the leverage the Saudis and Haddad in particular would have over her. Policy in the Middle East would be in hock to them for the next four to eight years.’ Weiss paused and took a breath. ‘However, getting rid of Hope was easier said than done. We could allow your mother to continue her work and cross our fingers that when the story came out it would result in Hope having to withdraw her candidacy. There were several risks though. One, would your mother be able to get the story out in time? Two, would she be believed? Three, the revelations would do untold damage to the UK’s relationship with the Saudis. Our defence contracts are worth billions and support thousands of jobs. And think about the other ways the Gulf states invest in this country. They own football teams, property, huge chunks of well-known companies. In short, we are dependent on the whole region for our financial security and stability. There had to be another way to stop Hope; the question was, how?’

‘Yes, how,’ Fairchild said. He smiled across the table at Silva. ‘Were it to be discovered the British government had interfered in the democratic process of another country there’d be UN sanctions, a trade war, perhaps even, in the worst case, military conflict.’

‘Although,’ Weiss said, ‘I was hearing snippets of information from my colleagues in various agencies Stateside that they were looking for a way out of the situation themselves. They saw the danger of Hope becoming president too. However, they didn’t have the information we did, and even if they had it’s debatable whether there’d have been anybody brave enough to release the material.’ Weiss bowed his head for a moment. ‘And then something happened, something both serendipitous and tragic, and I realised the argument for more extreme measures had swung heavily in our favour.’

‘My mother’s murder,’ Silva said.