“I’m sorry, Prime Minister,” replied McKinlay quietly. “Rasputin has to stay on the closest possible hold. Only SACEUR needs to know, together with his key Ops general in SHAPE, also an American. But it must go no further, even if it works out perfectly. Not even our Ambassador to NATO, Dame Flora Montrose, can know about it. Rasputin is an offensive cyber operation and NATO has made it very clear that it will only engage in defensive cyber operations. So, Rasputin must be seen only as a UK operation. And more generally, I’m not standing here as a British officer. I may be wearing a British uniform and no one should doubt my loyalty to my country, but my first duty is to NATO. If I were to push a UK line, I’d lose whatever credibility I have and that could only disadvantage the UK in the longer term.”

Then, realizing that he might have overdone it, he added, “But, Prime Minister, it’s not all doom and gloom. What I can say is that the rest of the Alliance, particularly the Americans, are very aware that there has been a change of direction.”

Walker could see that the Prime Minister had had enough of this criticism and was about to snap back, but Kydd intervened. “I’m afraid to tell you Dave’s right, Prime Minister. I’m getting exactly this from my US contacts, too. There’s always the danger of listening to our own propaganda and it’s no bad thing to have someone who’s prepared to tell us how we’re seen by others. Which you now have . . .”

The Prime Minister looked slowly from Kydd to McKinlay and back again. Walker saw the pugnacious look in Little’s eye and waited for the eruption, but none came. Instead, the Prime Minister grinned disarmingly at Kydd. “I knew what I was taking on when I appointed you, CDS. But I didn’t expect there to be two of you . . .”

And now he also grinned at McKinlay. “OK, I take the point. I don’t like what you say, but I’m glad we’ve still got some generals who are prepared to tell it as it is.” Then he changed the subject. “Could the Americans set up something like Rasputin?”

“Not without our help,” said Berry.

“Good,” said Little with a nod. “Trevor, please set up a call to President Dillon just as soon as I’m back in Number Ten.”

1245 hours, Friday, July 7, 2017

GCHQ, Cheltenham, England

SOON AFTER THE meeting had concluded, the Prime Minister left, accompanied by Walker. McKinlay was escorted back to the car that was to take him to the small airport at Staverton, near Gloucester, to catch the RAF HS-125 executive jet back to Belgium. He was walking down the circular walkway that runs through the building, known to all as “The Street,” when he saw Nicola Allenby hastening to join him.