‘Yup. North Africa is the new front. Three and a half thousand miles from Mauritania to the Red Sea, two thousand miles from the Med to Somalia. Makes what we were up to in Afghanistan look like a game of hide and seek in the park. Things are pretty bad out there right now.’ Sean slumped his shoulders and looked apologetic. ‘Well, you know all about that.’

Silva nodded. ‘ISIS?’

‘ISIS, ISIL, IS, Daesh, AQIM, al-Shabaab, whatever you want to call them. These groups are something akin to a hydra. Cut off one head somewhere and another one emerges. There’s no stopping them. There seems to be an infinite number of young men deluded enough to believe the propaganda. We take out half a dozen and another six come forward. The hydra.’

‘I wish you were desk-based.’ Silva linked arms with Sean as they walked. ‘I’d feel a lot happier.’

‘What’s this, a change of plan?’

‘I still care about you, even if…’ Silva made a funny face and wrinkled her nose. ‘You know.’

‘Look, if I was desk-based, my desk would be on the other side of the Atlantic and I’d be sitting behind it and staring at a computer monitor instead of staring at you.’ Sean turned his head and looked her up and down. ‘No comparison. On the other hand, I guess I could get a screensaver with a picture of you. That might do. Something nice to look at anyway. Something to remind me of the good times we once had.’

‘Stop it, Sean. We’ve been through this before.’

‘We have, Becca. I’m like a recorded message playing on an endless loop.’

‘You said it.’

‘I worry about you.’

‘No need. I can take care of myself, remember?’

‘I’m not talking about physical danger. I mean your well-being.’

‘You sound like my dad. He’s scared I might be going mental.’ Silva turned and faced him. ‘But I’m not. You can see that.’

‘He said you’re delivering letters. You’re a mailman or something.’

‘You spoke to him?’

‘I didn’t have your latest mobile number. He was very chatty. Wanted to know what I’d been doing in Africa. He seemed to be quite up on world events.’

‘Not quite so up on events concerning his own daughter.’

‘You’re still at loggerheads, then?’ Sean shook his head. ‘I thought you’d have made your peace.’

‘This is one conflict that will never end.’

‘You’re bitter at him for not backing you. I can understand, but you can’t go on hating him for that. Not now.’

‘He hasn’t been around since I was ten years old. Years later he tries to make amends and we come to some sort of amicable understanding. Then, when I really need him, he abandons me again.’

‘He was in a difficult position, Becca. He couldn’t back you over the incident in Afghanistan, at least not professionally.’