Lofthouse looked across to the pitch to see a ball rushing across the boundary, a cheer rising in the crowd below. She wondered how they knew anything about Operation Fog, but was certain she wouldn’t get any answers, just a bit more ‘charming’ hand waving. Why was the Security Service interested in Quill’s team? ‘Did you bring me here just to criticize the activities of my unit?’

‘We weren’t criticizing,’ said Rita. ‘We’re here to help. I always think the game of cricket sums up what we do.’ Lofthouse grudgingly turned to see an Indian fast bowler she couldn’t name start his run-up towards Alastair Cook. ‘We try to anticipate what’s coming –’ Cook ducked as the ball sped over his head – ‘in terms of the illicit activities of foreign governments and terrorists on British soil, and to react in the most appropriate way. Either defence, or, when it’s safe to do so, attack.’ On the big screen across the ground, she watched as Cook prepared himself for the next ball, the sponsor’s logo on his bat front and centre. ‘Every year, both this sport and what we do gets more influenced by money. Be it the Indian Premier League attracting those who’d otherwise choose to play for their country, or the non-localized nature of many modern threats to the stability of this nation.’

Lofthouse was sure she was being told something, but she had no idea what. The bowler completed his run-up, let go of another ball too fast to follow, and the crowd reacted before she saw what had happened. The wicket had been uprooted, and now Cook, furious with himself, was walking away from the strip in the middle, and the crowd were applauding. Oddly, it felt as if a lot of the applause was directed at the bowler. Strange that the English should have built here something so seemingly unpartisan.

‘Every now and then something like that happens,’ said Sue. ‘And when the game is cricket we say, “Well played,” to the other side. But in the game we play, there are other options.’

‘You’re saying you take direct action?’

‘Of course not!’ Sue pretended to be shocked.

‘We don’t blow things up,’ said Rita. ‘We let them explode of their own accord.’

‘Because alongside the laws of cricket,’ said Sue, ‘there is also the spirit of the game, just like the unwritten constitution of Britain.’

Lofthouse didn’t like the implication that anything in the UK happened beyond the reach of law. She was aware, though, that because of the allusive nature of the way she was being told this, it could all be very easily denied. ‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘You might at some point be searching for a solution to a specific problem and think of us.’

‘I’m never going to reach out in that direction.’

‘Of course not.’

‘Why do you think I might need you now?’