‘We follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City.’ Holm waited for a quip back from Javed but there was nothing. He shook his head, wondering if the lad’s cultural references bore any relation to his own. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of The Wizard of Oz?’

‘Of course I’ve heard of it. I’ve dreamed of being Dorothy for half my life.’ Javed pouted and laughed as Holm reddened. ‘But you, I imagine, would be better suited to playing the scarecrow.’

Chapter Eleven

They arranged to rendezvous on Plymouth Hoe, close to the spot where Silva had sat in the rain on the day of her mother’s death. She strolled across the expanse of grass towards the red and white lighthouse where a man stood looking out at the view. Hair the colour of desert sand and just as fine swirled in light curls. There was a hint of red in the hair and a dusting of freckles on the face. If he’d been standing at the bar in a pub in Galway he could have been mistaken for an Irish poet, the type of man who always had a smile for the teenage girls, a rhyming couplet for the women, a tall tale and a pint of Guinness for his mates.

As she approached, Sean turned as if something had alerted him to her presence. He didn’t smile, simply made a shrugging motion and opened his arms and embraced her. She’d steeled herself not to get emotional, but the gesture overwhelmed her. With her mother gone, there was no one else she’d ever been as close to as Sean. She held him for a long time and neither of them said anything until she sniffed away the last of her tears.

‘I wished you’d met her,’ Silva said.

Sean nodded. ‘So do I. From what you told me and what I read she was—’

‘Stop.’ Silva raised a finger to Sean’s lips. ‘It doesn’t matter what she was or wasn’t beyond the fact she was my mother. All the media coverage, the press stories, what do I care?’

‘You must be proud of her work?’

‘I’d prefer she was still alive.’ Silva pushed free from Sean and they began to walk across the grass. ‘I never thought this could happen.’

‘There were risks in what she did.’ Sean shook his head. ‘But to be honest, these days there are risks for all of us.’

‘And you?’ Silva reached out and touched Sean’s hand. ‘Are you still in the field?’

‘I try not to be.’ That grin. A mirror of the one Silva had first seen in Afghanistan. ‘You know me, I’m no hero, but on occasion, yes.’

‘You mentioned Sudan?’