Holm smiled and gave a wink. ‘Calm down, lad, I think you’re missing the point here.’

‘I…’ Javed bit his lip. His gaze wandered to the computers and over to the filing cabinet. ‘We’re not really going to be investigating animal rights groups, are we?’

‘Of course bloody not. It’s a cover story.’

‘So what are we going to be doing?’

‘Keeping secrets. We don’t have to report to anyone but the Spider, and that’s down to me, right? You keep your lips sealed and if people ask you say nothing other than we’re looking into the activities of various, potentially violent, animal liberation groups.’

‘Sure, but you still haven’t told me what this is all about.’ Javed gestured at the sparse surroundings. ‘I mean we’re not exactly set up for a high-profile investigation.’

‘Look, Huxtable has given me the freedom to do whatever I like. She either expects me to bimble along doing relatively little or she’s hoping to give me enough rope to hang myself. Well, skiving isn’t my cup of tea and I don’t intend to get caught in her web.’

‘You’re mixing your metaphors, sir, and if I might say so, you’re continuing to evade my questioning. You’ve also not mentioned the information I gave you yesterday.’

‘Guilty on all counts.’ Holm raised his hands. ‘Time I came clean. The username was a cipher of RAVEN and my birthday, right? As you said, more than odd.’

‘But the cipher was simple. I cracked it easily.’

‘Just so. Which means whoever was behind the tweet wants us to know that they know the code name we use for Taher. What’s more, by sending it to you and using my birthday as part of the username, it was plainly intended for us both.’

‘That’s what I thought.’

‘However, if they know our code name they either have direct access to our systems or they’re being fed information by somebody.’

‘There’s a leak then, a mole.’

‘Or this is something different.’ Holm paused. He glanced over to the filing cabinet where he’d found the index card relating to the troubles in Northern Ireland. ‘Back in the day the IRA used code words to let the police know when they’d planted a bomb. It showed a threat was genuine and not a hoax. This could be similar. Somebody has passed my birthday and the code name of Taher – RAVEN – to an informant in the field. By using those two pieces of information in the username the informant has established they’re genuine.’

‘So, a benevolent mole?’

Holm shrugged. He didn’t really have a clue what was going on but he wasn’t going to let Javed know that.

‘Anyway, in light of this latest twist, perhaps you can guess what I intend to do with our little two-person operation now?’