'Good luck,' I said.

He turned to me then, and I saw the worry in his eyes. 'Yes,quite. He's standing in profile, isn't he, and the picture's foggy. But we've got to try.'

His worry was understandable. We've only lost two directors in the field — including this one — during the whole of my time with the Bureau, compared with God knows how many executives. The DIFs don't take an active role in a mission; they just hole up somewhere safe, usually a hotel, and direct things from there, keeping the executive in signals with London. The only other time we lost a director was when his executive blew him to the opposition under interrogation, the sin of sins: we're expected to pop our capsule if we can't trust ourselves, before things get too rough.

Now there was Fane, and the same thing could have happened. I said, not looking at Shatner, 'You're the control for this one?'

'Yes.' The way he said it, I wished I hadn't asked.

'Do it again?' The operator was rewinding.

Shatner looked at me and I shook my head and he told the man no, and we got up and Holmes switched the light on.

'I appreciate your time,' Shatner said, and pushed his deck-chair against the wall.

'Anything else I can do?'

'No.'

'Who's the executive?'

'Kearns.'

'He's out there now?' In the field.

'No.'

As we left the screening room I said, 'He was doing a routine check, was he, the cameraman?' Sometimes the support people in the field run some film over the DIF's base as he goes in or comes out, to make sure there's no surveillance on him. The DIF is the queen bee of the mission, protected and held precious.

'Yes,' Shatner said. 'Of course he'd no idea what was going to happen.'

'So where's Kearns?'

We stood together in the corridor, the three of us. Shatner was obviously finished with me and wanted to go. Holmes was just hanging around, I didn't know why. I'd been called in simply to give an opinion, as a seasoned shadow executive who spends his whole life watching to see if he's being followed or surveilled.