‘Hey! Martin! Hold on!’ They turned slowly towards the voice. A man was approaching them, grinning. ‘Martin, what are you doing back?’

‘Hello, Nick.’ This was what they hadn’t wanted, but could hardly hope to avoid: close contact with someone who knew Hepton well.

‘Did you get the tapes?’ Nick Christopher asked.

‘Yes, thanks,’ answered Hepton.

Dreyfuss’ good hand rested momentarily on Hepton’s arm. ‘I’ll see you later,’ he said, smiling towards Nick Christopher before moving off down the corridor. Christopher stared after him.

‘Who was that?’

‘Some new guy,’ said Hepton.

‘I get the feeling I’ve seen him somewhere before.’

‘Oh?’ Hepton was staring at Dreyfuss’ back too, wondering where he was headed. Their plan, hatched on the way here, now seemed woefully inadequate and as full of holes as a disassembled circuit board. But then even on the way here it had seemed so. He turned to Christopher. ‘Going to the control room?’

‘Yes.’

‘Me too. Come on.’ They started down another corridor, away from Dreyfuss.

‘But what are you doing back here? What was all that with the tapes?’

‘I’ll tell you later. Is Fagin about?’

‘Somewhere, yes. Why?’

‘I just need my console for an hour or so, and I’d rather he didn’t know about it.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Nick.’ Hepton came to a stop, gripping Christopher’s shoulder. ‘Remember Paul Vincent?’

‘Of course.’

‘He was murdered. If I can get on my computer for an hour, I think I can catch his killers. But I need your help.’

Christopher stared at him as though Hepton were mad. But Hepton’s look was that of a sane man, a scared man, a man doing what he had to.

‘What do you want me to do?’

‘I want you to protect me. Try not to let anybody interfere with the computer.’

‘No problem. But can’t you tell me why?’

‘Remember when you were younger, when you played with computers for fun rather than for work?’ Christopher nodded. ‘Did you ever do any hacking?’

Now Christopher smiled. ‘Sure, everybody tried it at some time or other.’

Hepton nodded. ‘That’s what I’m going to attempt now. I’m going to try the scariest piece of hacking you’ll ever see.’

Nick Christopher’s face lit up. ‘All right!’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’

They were nearing their destination. Hepton needed to know what lay ahead. ‘Have the new controllers arrived?’ he asked.

‘The skeleton staff? Yeah, most of them. And a few of the old gang have already left.’

Hepton nodded. ‘And you don’t know where Fagin is?’

‘No idea.’

The storerooms that weren’t really storerooms, he thought. It was perfect: as long as he was there, keeping an eye on his satellite, he was free to go to work. He pushed open a final set of doors.