‘But I was on the shuttle that launched the pirate satellite.’ It was a comment, nothing more. Dreyfuss was still looking for a chance to wrest the gun away from this insane man.

‘Indeed you were,’ Villiers said, smiling again. ‘There was little that could be done about that. The mission had been planned for ages. The US pull-out was supposed to be amicable. To have suddenly announced that a Briton was no longer to go up in the shuttle would have been more than a mite suspicious.’

‘More suspicious than blowing the shuttle up?’ Dreyfuss felt queasy now, thinking of how heartlessly the crew of Argos had been dispatched.

‘Yes.’ Villiers seemed surprised by the question. ‘I mean, shuttles do crash, don’t they? Anyway, the generals made Zephyr work for them, rather than against them, which is a brilliant strategy. Of course, having decided that a Briton must go up, COFFIN had to be sure that the least capable member of the shortlist was chosen.’ He was really enjoying himself now. He waved the gun across Dreyfuss’ body, then up and down from head to toes. ‘So there was the least risk of your seeing anything suspicious and reporting those suspicions back to Earth before the crash-landing. It all worked well enough, except that you survived the landing. At first, everyone thought you had amnesia, and decided to allow you a lease of life. And by the time General Esterhazy realised what a threat you really were, it was too late. You’d gone. And now here you are.’

‘Yes, here I am.’ Dreyfuss shook his head. ‘I still don’t understand, though. The ground crew, the technicians who worked on the Argos satellite, they must have known its purpose.’

‘Why should they?’ Villiers opened his arms for a second: not long enough for Dreyfuss to consider charging him, but enough to give him hope of a later opportunity. ‘They built to a military design. They didn’t need to know what that design’s intention ultimately was, and’ – Villiers stressed his final words – ‘they just followed orders, the way they’d been taught.’ He stared at the screens for a moment, then pointed to one. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘there’s your friend Hepton now. He’s in the control room.’

Dreyfuss looked. Hepton was seated at his console, unaware of the camera trained on his sector of the room.

‘Won’t be long now till Harry finds him,’ Villiers said. His face took on a glaze of sincerity. ‘But what you really must try to understand,’ he continued, ‘is that COFFIN is operating for the greater good. It’s defence we’re talking about.’

‘It’s more like murder we’re talking about,’ Dreyfuss growled.