Valentine nodded. ‘I owe you one. And I’ll tell you everything. But first, let me introduce you to my colleagues.’ She pointed to the big guy in the armchair. ‘This is Udo Wolff.’

Wolff nodded stiffly to Ben.

‘Don’t get up,’ Ben said.

‘This is Jimmy Harrison,’ Valentine said, pointing at the small guy who was standing by the window. And we need your help. I’m glad you came. You want to sit down? This is going to take a while.’

Ben moved over to one of the armchairs and sat down with his legs out in front of him and his arms folded. ‘I’m listening,’ he said. ‘This had better be worth it.’

‘It is,’ Valentine replied. ‘But you’re not going to like it. Get ready for some big shocks.’

‘I’m ready.’

She stepped across to the desk. On top of the pile of papers was a brown A4 envelope. She reached inside and took out a large photo print. She didn’t look at it as she walked over to Ben and passed it to him.

He studied the glossy colour print carefully. It wasn’t very nice to look at. The photo showed a woman, or what was left of a woman. It was worse than the pictures of Morgan Paxton’s body-a lot worse. She was naked and looked as though she’d been passed through a combine harvester.

‘You’re looking at Linda Downey,’ Valentine said. ‘She was the fourth member of our team.’ She paused, swallowed. ‘And she was my friend.’

He handed the picture back to her. There was complete sincerity in her eyes. And other things, he thought. Anger, maybe fear, too.

‘You might be wondering who did this to her,’ Valentine said. And what this has to do with why you’re here.’

‘I’m wondering,’ Ben said.

Valentine tapped the picture with her fingertips. ‘The person who did this to Linda is called Berg. We don’t even know if that’s his real name. Whoever he is, he’s totally off the grid and untraceable. But we do know the name of the man he works for. The man on whose orders he did this.’

Valentine laid the photo face-down on the desk, as though she couldn’t stand looking at it any more. There was tension in her jawline.

‘Berg’s employer is Colonel Harry Paxton,’ she said.

Ben stared at Valentine for a long moment. ‘I think you’d better explain yourself more clearly. Just exactly who are you, what do you want from me, and what are you trying to say?’

‘All right,’ she said. ‘I just wanted you to see the picture. I wanted you to know the kind of man Harry Paxton really is. But let me back up a couple of steps and start at the beginning.’

Ben just watched her coldly. Harrison and Wolff were silent.

Valentine pointed at the two men. ‘Until five weeks ago, the three of us were special agents with Interpol.’

Ben kept gazing at her steadily.

‘You don’t believe me?’

‘That’s something I can easily check. I know people in Interpol. I’ve got a few connections.’

‘I’m sure you have,’ Valentine said. ‘Feel free to check up on us. I’ll give you the exact details of people we worked with, section chiefs we were answerable to, names of departments, the colour of the wall tiles in the toilets at the General Secretariat in Lyon.’

‘I’ll be sure to make some calls,’ Ben said. ‘But let’s just say for the moment that I believe you. I still don’t understand why I’m here listening to this.’

‘You’re here because Harry Paxton’s not who you think he is. Because it’s time you knew the truth.’ Valentine paused. ‘Let me tell you about the real Harry Paxton. He’s an arms dealer. He’s been trading illegally in weapons for more than a decade. He sells to anyone. Terrorists, mass murderers. He’s given power to despots across the world. Fuelled war crimes and genocide in just about every war zone going. Africa, South America, Asia, the Middle East, you name it. He’s smart, ruthless and will kill anyone who stands in his way. The reason we’re here in Paris is that he’s due to arrive tomorrow afternoon for a meeting with one of his business associates at the Georges V hotel. It could be a break for us. We’re going to follow the bastard everywhere he goes.’

There was a long silence. Anxious looks passed between Valentine, Wolff and Harrison.

Ben stood up. ‘I don’t have to listen to this. You’re talking complete bullshit. There’s no way Harry Paxton is an arms dealer. It’s insane.’

‘Sit down, Major Hope. Hear us out.’

But Ben was already walking to the door.

Then a voice made him stop dead in his tracks.

‘Listen to her, Ben. She’s telling the truth.’

He turned slowly, and for a moment he was speechless.

It was Zara. She stood in the doorway from which Valentine had emerged before. She looked anxious, tense. The black T-shirt and jacket she was wearing made her face seem even paler than it was.

But she still looked beautiful. He took a step towards her. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, incredulous.

‘I’m with them,’ she said, motioning at the three agents. ‘I’ve been helping them. Harry thinks I’m visiting a sick friend in Rome.’

As Ben gaped at her, his mind was sprinting backwards through all the things that had happened. The time in San Remo, when they’d been followed. Now he understood why Zara had seemed so unconcerned about it. ‘You were in on this the whole time?’

She nodded. ‘It’s true about Harry. He isn’t who you think he is.’

‘And there’s more,’ Valentine said. ‘A lot more. I really think you need to sit down and listen.’

Ben didn’t know what to say. He felt dazed as he walked back to his chair and sat down.

‘Thank you,’ Valentine said. ‘I mean it. I know this is hard for you.’

It was getting dark in the room as evening fell outside the window. Valentine walked over and flipped a light switch. A bare bulb in the middle of the ceiling lit up with a weak glow that made the room seem even gloomier.

‘Let me get this right,’ Ben said. ‘You know all this about Harry, yet he’s a free man. Why isn’t he in jail now?’

‘Like I said, he’s smart,’ Valentine answered. ‘He always stays a step ahead of the game, and nobody’s ever been able to catch him. He uses his yacht charter business as a front, shipping arms consignments all over the world. Any idea how much cargo one of those superyachts can hold?’

‘A lot,’ Harrison said.

A fuck of a lot,’ Wolff added.

‘Interpol have been watching him for a long time,’ Valentine went on. ‘The bastard has been my whole life for two years. But we just couldn’t get anything concrete, and our superiors pulled the plug on the investigation. They said if we pushed it any further, it was going to look like harassment. So, case closed. That was six weeks ago.’ She smiled grimly. ‘His SAS training came in handy, I imagine. He goes in, does the business, gets out and it’s like he was never there. You must know all about that, Major.’

‘First off,’ he said, ‘you can drop the Major bit. I’m Ben. Second, you don’t seem to have a lot of proof. Third, why are three ex-agents pursuing a private investigation of a man with a record as clean as Harry’s when their superiors have already dropped the case? It looks to me like a personal vendetta.’

Valentine nodded. ‘It is.’ Her fingers brushed the back of the photo on the desk. ‘Let me tell you about Linda. She was only twenty-six. She’d been with us on the case just three months. I put her on the team because she was a star linguist, spoke perfect Russian, Spanish and any number of African languages. She was the perfect close surveillance operative. She could get in anywhere.’ Valentine paused, and a look of sadness passed over her face. ‘Algeria, seven weeks ago. I had a report from her. She said she’d finally got the evidence that was going to put Paxton away.’

‘What evidence?’ Ben asked.

‘That’s just it,’ Valentine sighed. ‘I never saw it. Linda didn’t turn up at the RV. Three days later she was found ninety miles away up the coast. It looked like the sharks had got her. You’ve seen the picture.’