“It’s all right,” said Larissa, and sat down. “I mean, it isn’t, at all, but thank you.”

Matt took a sip of his coffee and looked at his two friends. There was no obvious animosity between them, but the atmosphere at the table was strange; it felt guarded, like they were three people getting to know each other and still deciding how much of themselves to reveal, rather than three friends who knew they could rely on each other.

Not really a surprise, he thought. I don’t know how they bridge a gap that wide. Even though it seems so unimportant this morning.

The grief that had momentarily receded as he talked to Jamie flooded back into him, sharp and raw.

“So you heard about Kate?” he said.

Jamie and Larissa nodded.

“I’m sorry,” he said, hearing the tremor in his voice. “I’m really sorry.”

Jamie frowned. “Hey,” he said. “You didn’t do this, Matt. None of this is your fault.”

“Really?” said Matt. “Because it sort of feels like it.”

“Jamie’s right,” said Larissa, firmly. “You’re not responsible for what your dad did.”

Apart from being the reason he started hating vampires in the first place, he thought. Apart from making Mum leave him and starting him down the road that led to the Night Stalkers.

“Right,” he said. “Sure.”

“Do we know anything new?” asked Larissa. “Is she going to be all right?”

“No change,” said Jamie. “I talked to the Director fifteen minutes ago. She’s stable, and they’re going to turn her as soon as they think she’s strong enough, but she’s not there yet. There’s no timetable.”

“They’re going to turn her?” asked Larissa, her eyes narrowing. “Why?”

“If they can successfully turn her, enough blood will fix her injuries, no matter how bad they are,” said Matt. “But it’s an enormous strain on a person’s system.”

Jamie nodded. “She lost a huge amount of blood,” he said. “They transfused her in the hangar, but if it hadn’t happened right outside the gates she would’ve died. That’s what Paul told me, anyway.”

“So we just have to wait?” asked Larissa. “Until they think she’s strong enough to survive the turn?”

Matt nodded, his stomach churning with grief and guilt. “That’s all we can do.”

“She’s in the best place she could possibly be,” said Jamie. “She’ll be all right. I know she will. She has to be.”

“I haven’t even seen her,” said Larissa. “I looked for her yesterday, after Major Turner told us about Danny, but I couldn’t find her.”

“So she doesn’t even know you’re back?” asked Jamie.

“I don’t know,” said Larissa. “I suppose someone else might have told her, but I think she would have sent me a message in that case.”

“I would think so,” said Jamie. “She’d have been pleased to see you.”

Silence settled over the table, full of a curious mixture of sympathy and unspoken recrimination.

“I missed the whole Night Stalker thing,” said Larissa, eventually. “They were vigilantes killing vampires? Is that right?”

“Basically, yes,” said Matt. “They used the charity helpline that Pete Randall and my dad founded to identify vampires who confessed to having killed people, then executed them.”

“I met them,” said Jamie, his voice low. “Twice.”

Matt frowned. “You never mentioned that.”

Jamie shrugged. “I didn’t know it was important at the time,” he said.

“What were they like?” asked Larissa.

Jamie took a sip from a mug of tea. “I don’t know if I met the same people both times, and I don’t know whether any of them were Matt’s dad. But the first time we intercepted a 999 call and found a house with their wolf head painted on the door. We tracked a van, and found two of them about to kill a vampire. He was on his knees.”

“Jesus,” said Larissa.

Jamie nodded. “I shouted for them to stop, but they staked the vamp anyway. I went after them, but one of them drew an MP5 and emptied it into my chest. My uniform stopped most of the bullets, but a few got through, and they got away from Qiang and Ellison. The second time we didn’t get there until the vamp was already dead, but we located their van and I took it out. We were about to go after them on foot when Carcassonne happened, and everyone got called back to the Loop.”

Matt listened, his heart pounding. Hearing what his dad had been a part of described so bluntly was awful; he could not imagine what the vampire victims of the Night Stalkers had gone through, the terror as they were dragged from their homes to be murdered in cold blood.

“How much do you know about what happened two nights ago?” he asked, his voice low. “With Kate’s dad?”

“Paul brought me up to speed,” said Jamie.

“All I got told was that Kate was hurt,” said Larissa. “I’d like to know how.”

Matt took a deep breath, and began to talk. When he was finished, Larissa grimaced.

“I’m sorry, Matt,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks,” he replied. “It’s not me you should feel sorry for, though. It’s Kate, and her dad, and all the innocent people my dad hurt. I can’t even begin to understand it, to be honest with you. I don’t even know how to start trying. The only thing I really know is that I’m done with him. I can’t forgive him for this.”

“As long as you know it’s not your fault,” said Jamie. “The Harker thing, and everything afterwards. None of it is on you.”

Matt nodded. “I know exactly whose fault it is,” he said. “It’s his. But he’s never going to get the chance to hurt anyone else. He’s never going to get out of that cell.”

Tears rose in the corners of his eyes, and he blinked them away.

“All right,” said Jamie, a frown of concern on his face. “Let’s talk about something else. How’s PROMETHEUS going?”

Matt grunted with laughter. “Way to lighten the mood, Jamie.”

Jamie smiled. “No problem,” he said. “Well?”

“The Director suspended the programme overnight,” he said. “Jack Williams was the last one.”

I bet he was pleased about that, thought Jamie, after what he said in the briefing.

“How far through did we get?” he asked.

“Seventy-two Operators have been turned so far,” said Matt. “Just over forty-five per cent of the active roster, and twenty-four of them are recovering in the infirmary. They should be discharged this afternoon.”

“Why is it on hold?” asked Larissa.

“I’m sorry,” said Jamie. “I didn’t think. Do you even know about PROMETHEUS?”

Larissa nodded. “I know about it. Angela briefed me yesterday on what’s been happening while I was away.”

“OK,” said Jamie.

“So why is it on hold?” repeated Larissa.

Matt shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I think it means we’re going to France,” said Jamie. “Soon. That’s the only reason I can think of to suspend the programme, so we don’t have any Operators halfway through the process when we ship out.”

“I’ve heard the same suggestion inside Lazarus,” said Matt. “But I genuinely don’t know. I’d tell you if I did.”

“No more secrets,” whispered Larissa.

Jamie shot a glance in her direction, his expression unreadable, then looked back at Matt. “Have you tested the Operators who’ve been turned?”

Matt nodded. “There’s no baseline for vampire power, no growth chart, for want of a better description, but testing indicates that their strength and speed are comparable to the Broadmoor patients. They’d be extremely powerful if we could wait a year before we needed to use them.”

Jamie smiled. “Wouldn’t that be great?” he said. “But it’s still better than nothing.”

The memory of watching Valentin Rusmanov bite Operator after Operator hit Matt like a punch in the stomach. He shuddered, and nodded at his friend.

“It worked,” he said. “If nothing else, it definitely worked.”

Larissa’s eyes had narrowed. “I still can’t believe the Director authorised it,” she said. “What happened if people didn’t want to be turned?”