He nodded, shamefaced. 'I was angry. With the system, the world. I felt like I hadn't done anything that bad, not compared to someone like Tony who walked into a bank with gun and terrified a load of people yet he'd got the same sentence as me. Also, I was furious about the entrapment. And then the final straw I heard about Stephen's death... I was f.u.c.king furious with the whole world. Bitter. And Tony could sense that. He said that when he got out he was planning another job, one that was foolproof, and that if I wanted I could be part of it. He liked me, he said. He wanted to show me how to rob a bank the proper way.

'He got out a couple of months before me, and when I was released he was waiting for me. To be honest, I'd had second thoughts since he'd left, without having him there winding me up every day, but then I went through all the predictable s.h.i.t that so many ex-cons go through: my old friends had all moved on and I couldn't get another job, especially in IT, not with my record. My family were in trauma after Stephen's death and that, added to their shame over what I'd done, meant they didn't want to know me. The girl I'd been seeing when I went inside had stopped visiting almost immediately. I was alone. Apart from my old cellmate, Tony Plumber.'

Paul ploughed on. 'I had a habit of falling in with bad influences, didn't I? First my old school mates, then Tony. He took me under his wing. Me and him, we were going to be rich, he said. One job, then off to the Costa del Sol.' He laughed. 'It all seems so cliched, but that was the world Tony existed in. And I went for it.

'There were the two of us plus a driver, some bloke called Colin. Tony told me to meet him at his garage one Thursday morning. We were going to hit the NatWest in Bromley. It was raining, I remember. When I turned up, Tony handed me a pistol. I think it was then it struck me, that this was actually real. I tried to back out, but Tony got angry and told me that it was too late. He pointed his gun at me. I was s.h.i.tting myself. We drove to the bank I felt so sick, Kate. My legs were wobbling when we got out of the car. Tony hissed at me that I'd better pull myself together because we were going in now.'

Paul's face had gone white.

'We pulled stockings over our heads and ran into the bank, me a couple of paces behind him. It was nearly empty just three people in the queue and two cashiers, a bald bloke and a young girl. It's as clear as if it happened yesterday. Tony started shouting, pulled out his gun, the customers automatically hit the deck. Tony pointed his gun at the female cashier and was screaming at her to put the money in bags. I was pointing my gun at the other cashier, though my hand was shaking so much I nearly dropped it several times. I could see cameras filming us, and I was so desperate to get out of there. But Tony was getting angrier and angrier. The cashier was being too slow. She was stuffing the money into a bag and then she dropped it on the floor. When she bent down to pick it up, Tony started screaming, you b.i.t.c.h. You f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h. She just pressed the panic b.u.t.ton. I could see his finger tensing on the trigger. He was going to shoot her.'

He looked into Kate's eyes. 'So I shot him.'

'You..?'

'I shot him. In the side, here.' He touched his right side, just beneath his ribcage. 'It was a fluke shot I was lucky I didn't shoot the cashier by mistake. He fell on the floor, thrashing about in his own blood. The rest of it is a blur. I dropped my own gun and waited for the police to arrive.'

'Oh Paul. What happened?'

'Tony survived, though he lost a lot of blood. And I was sent back to jail, although my sentence was a lot shorter than it would have been because my barrister successfully argued that I was an innocent who had acted to save the life of the cashier, blah blah. Tony testified against me but that actually helped because he was so awful, and the jury really took against him. Plus the cashier that I'd saved spoke up for me. It was quite big news at the time, though you would have missed it because you were in America.'

He told her the rest of the story, about how after this spell in prison he managed to get a job with a computer security firm who had realised that taking on ex-hackers was a sensible move, even ones who had dallied with armed robbery. Paul's brilliance with computers, along with his insight into the way criminal minds worked, made him a perfect employee. And he wasn't angry any more, he said. He was reformed and grateful for the chance to start again.

'But I have a record with guns. There were no witnesses to Mrs. Bainbridge's shooting, so what do you think the police would think when they checked my background? They'd a.s.sume that I did it.'

'No, because I'd tell them it was Sampson. I'm a witness.'

'It wouldn't be that simple, Kate. We'd both be arrested, probably. And what would you tell them about Sampson? That he was the odd-job man at some place you stayed at 16 years ago who always seemed a bit creepy and that we're investigating my brother's death because we think there was something suspicious going on there, but you've lost huge chunks of your memory? Sounds really plausible, doesn't it? And are you going to tell them that you're on the run from your husband with your little boy, who you probably shouldn't have brought out of the States?'

'What? How did you..?'

'Come off it, Kate. I'm not stupid. For one thing, I overheard a lot of what you told Miranda, and the rest I figured out. You've just confirmed it. What do you think will happen to Jack if we go to the police? At the very least they'll tell your husband where Jack is. Also, there's the risk that if we get derailed now we'll never find out what happened to Stephen.'

'But what about Mrs. Bainbridge? She was murdered; we saw him kill her. And she saved your life, Paul. Like you saved that cashier's.'

'I know. Don't you think I feel sick when I think about it? But telling the police about Sampson isn't going to bring her back. We need to find more evidence about what was going on at the CRU, including more about who Sampson is and where we can find him. Then we can go to the police. But if we go now, we'll risk s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up everything.'

Kate didn't know what to do. Her instincts screamed for her to call the police right now, but what if Paul was right? Vernon would be over on the next flight if he wasn't already here - and she'd lose Jack. Paul would be arrested and most likely charged, and she might be seen as an accessory if they really believed Paul was the killer.

In her head, she could see Stephen. He was telling her to trust Paul, to go along with it.

She studied Paul's worried, earnest expression. Looked at the lips she'd kissed earlier that day. He had made mistakes in the past, there was no doubt about that. But it was a long time ago, and he'd saved a woman's life.

It was crazy, but she felt closer to this man, whom she'd only known for a few days, than she ever had done to her husband.

'Okay,' she said, making up her mind and praying she wasn't going to regret it. 'What next?'

'We should think about finding somewhere to stay.' He lifted his empty pint gla.s.s, the insides streaked with foam. 'Somewhere nearby because now we've both drunk too much to drive with a clear head.'

'Okay.' She looked up at him. 'We'll get a room.'

'A room?'

Kate became suddenly aware of the ache that had been growing unnoticed inside her. She didn't reply to Paul's question, but didn't break eye contact either. When he reached across the table, touching the side of her face, running his fingers along her jawbone, she felt the urge to drag him from the table into the toilets and order him to take her, right there and then, and the image made her bite her lip. She could wait. But not for much longer. She felt close to him....but she wanted to get a lot closer.

Paul went to the bar to ask if the barmaid could recommend a nearby hotel or bed and breakfast. Beneath the roar of adrenaline that rushed through his veins was a whisper of anxiety: the shotgun in the boot. What was Kate going to say if she found out, especially after he'd just told her about his past? His only defence would be the truth: that despite his past experiences with guns, the promise he'd made to himself years ago to never use one again, when he saw the shotgun he knew it was an opportunity that had to be grasped. He had watched that maniac Sampson shoot an old woman, with a bullet intended for him. He needed the shotgun to protect himself and Kate, a woman with whom, he realised, he was falling in love.

And who knew? If revenge needed to be taken for what happened to Stephen, at least he now had the means with which to take it.

CHAPTER 29.

The mobile phone was lying in clear view by the side of the road, next to an abandoned traffic cone. Sampson, who had watched the phone fly out of the car and land with a shallow bounce beside the cone, stooped and picked it up.

The stillness around him was absolute, the dark s.p.a.ces between the trees seemed to beckon to him. When all this was over, he decided, he was going to go fishing. Head up to somewhere remote, like the Highlands of Scotland, and camp out beside a loch. He had done it before, spending whole days watching the still, flat surface of the water, waiting for the fish to fall into his trap; then the one-sided fight. There was something elementally satisfying in watching the fish flap and gasp for breath on the sh.o.r.e, before finally lying still.

The most content he'd ever been was when he lived at the CRU, close to nature - even if many of the things going on in that place were far from natural. After the fire had destroyed it, he'd felt an unfamiliar emotion: an ache of regret. It soon faded, though, replaced by the familiar flatness of his emotional landscape.

Today there was a weird feeling beneath his skin, a crawling unease. He had done his job badly but there was more to it than that. He'd felt it for several days, since he'd heard that she was back in the country, and seen her dash across a CCTV screen.

When he had aimed at Wilson, he'd hesitated a moment too long. Not because he'd had second thoughts about killing him. Oh no. It was because he'd wanted to savour it, like a wine enthusiast taking a moment after opening a vintage bottle. And by s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up in this way which was so unlike him; usually, he was like a machine, a Terminator he'd given the old lady time to get in his way. He had done something he should never have done let emotion influence his actions.

As soon as he got back in the car, his thoughts were interrupted by the rude chirrup of a mobile. He first glanced at Kate's phone, but the ringing was coming from one of his other mobiles.

He picked up, to hear Gaunt's familiar voice. 'What the h.e.l.l happened today? I'm getting reports that Jean Bainbridge is dead. Please don't tell me that was anything to do with you.'

Sampson explained what had happened.

The doctor exhaled. 'You f.u.c.ked up.'

Sampson clenched his teeth until his jaw muscles trembled.

'You'd better get out of the area, quickly.'

'What the f.u.c.k do you think I'm doing?'

Gaunt's voice dropped from cold to Arctic. 'Don't use that tone with me. Remember who you're talking to.'

Sampson drew in a deep breath and held it, fighting the urge to tell the doctor what he thought of him, allowing himself a satisfying fantasy in which he snapped Gaunt's scrawny neck: grip and twist, and let go. The image calmed him.

'Call me when you're somewhere safe and we'll talk,' the doctor said. 'In the great scheme of things, the old woman's death isn't important. I just don't want anything to get in our way at this critical moment.'

'I know that.'

'Good. Don't forget it. I still need you to deal with Maddox and Wilson.'

Sampson drove on, north out of the forest towards Stoke-on-Trent, and on into Hanley, the city's central shopping area. He parked outside a supermarket, went in and bought some sandwiches and cigarettes, then retreated to the haven of his car.

He ate the sandwiches and picked up Kate's phone. It was a clamsh.e.l.l phone; he flicked it open and the screen sprang to life. She hadn't personalised it with a photo or stupid piece of wallpaper. He liked that, because he despised childishness. He bet she wouldn't have a musical ringtone either. Sampson had been forced to endure a train journey a year ago and by the end of the journey had heard every piece of s.h.i.t in the top forty. There was this f.u.c.kwitted teenage boy sitting near him, one of only a few pa.s.sengers in the carriage, who spent the entire journey fiddling with his phone, making it bleep and chirrup, ringing his mates and talking b.o.l.l.o.c.ks from beneath his hoodie. Sampson had leaned over and asked him to switch it off, to be quiet, and the boy had told him to f.u.c.k off.

A few minutes later the boy had got up to visit the toilet. Sampson followed him. First, he smashed the boy's phone, then made him eat it, piece by piece, stuffing the plastic shards into his mouth and telling him to chew. The boy cried, snot poured from his nose, wet his pants. Sampson pulled off the boy's belt, wrapped it around his throat and tied him to the light fitting, getting off at the next station and walking calmly away. Boy hangs himself in train toilet. What a tragedy.

No, Kate wouldn't have an irritating musical ringtone.

He flicked through the phone's menu and discovered how to listen to Kate's voicemail.

You have five new messages.

The first one was from an American man: 'Kate? It's me. Where the h.e.l.l are you? I've been stood here like an idiot waiting for you and Jack and every other G.o.dd.a.m.n person has gotten off your flight, so what's going on? If you're held up, call me. Or maybe you're trying to p.i.s.s me off.'

Second message: 'You b.i.t.c.h. You're still in the UK, aren't you. With my son. You think you can get away with it, huh? Huh? I'm coming to get you. I want my son back.'

In the third message, the man sounded a little more controlled.

'Kate. I'm in England. Listen, I just want to talk to you, okay? We can sort things out, amicably. I know things have been difficult recently but surely this...what you've done is a little drastic, wouldn't you say? Call me, please. I want to talk to you.'

In the fourth message, the anger was back. Sampson had to hold the phone away from his ear as the caller sprayed distorted threats about what he was going to do to her when he caught up with her.

'...and once I've got him back I'll do everything I can to make sure you never see Jack again.'

So, Sampson thought, this was the father of Kate's boy, the boy he had seen on the hotel's CCTV. And it was also pretty clear that Kate had s.n.a.t.c.hed the boy. Naughty naughty. He admired her spirit as much as he hated hearing this Yank scream threats at her. What a loser. Just accept it, he thought. She's better than you. And why make so much fuss over a kid, anyway? He ought to be pleased that Kate had taken the brat off his hands.

But where was the kid now? He definitely hadn't been with Kate and Wilson when he had shot the old bat. He'd had a niggling feeling that something was missing at the time, and now he realised what it was.

Fifth message: 'Hi sis, it's me. I guess you must have your phone switched off. Are you and Paul taking advantage of the fact that I've taken Jack off your hands, eh? Lucky you. Anyway, I was only ringing to find out how everything's going. I'm curious... Jack's fine, having great fun they're all on the Playstation at the moment. He said to tell you that Billy is missing you. Um... that's it. Bye.'

Sampson felt a little thrill run through him. The kid was with Kate's sister. He switched the phone into camera mode and flicked through the photos as he pondered what to do next. They were all of Jack, smiling at the camera, playing in the snow, sleeping, waving against the London backdrop.

Cute. Very cute.

After checking the caller logs, he programmed Miranda's number into his own phone, then called the number.

A kid answered. A little girl. Excellent, thought Sampson.

'h.e.l.lo,' he said. 'I'm calling from Toys R Us.'

'Toys R Us? Really?'

'Yes. You've won a special prize and I need to know your address to be able to send it to you.'

The child said, 'What is it?'

'It's a big teddy bear. A giant teddy bear.'

'What colour?'

b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l. 'What colour would you like?'

'Pink?'

'Okay. Pink it is. Now, just tell me where you live. What town do you live in?'

'We live in Churchill.'

Where the h.e.l.l was that? It would be easy enough to find out.

'What street, sweetheart? You do know your address, don't you?'

'Yes, I do. It's the Old Rectory, Mill Lane, Churchill. Mummy made me remember it.'

'Good for mummy.'

He heard a woman call out, 'Amelia? Who are you talking to? Are you on the phone?'

Sampson ended the call.

Good little Amelia. He was half-tempted to go and find a pink teddy bear to take to her as a reward for being so helpful. He wouldn't, of course. But he would be visiting her house soon.

Like any good fisherman knows, if you want to catch that big fish, you need the right bait.

CHAPTER 30.

'They've got rooms here, upstairs,' said Paul, returning from the bar and waving a key on a large plastic fob, trying unsuccessfully to keep a smile off his face at the thought of an available double bed so close above their heads to where they were sitting.

'Oh. Good!' Kate said with a false brightness, half-excited, half-petrified. She couldn't remember the last time she had taken her clothes off in front of anyone who wasn't either Jack, or a member of the medical profession.

'Shall we?' Paul said, holding out his arm for her.

'Let's,' she agreed. 'But I need to get my bag out of the boot first. Can you give me the car keys?'

Paul turned visibly pale, and Kate frowned. 'What's the matter you haven't lost them, have you?'

'Er... no, I don't think so,' he stuttered, making a big show of patting down his jeans' pockets. 'No... here they are. I tell you what, could you get us a couple of drinks to take upstairs? I'll get your bag for you. Meet you back here in a minute I'll have a large brandy, if that's OK.'

He was gone before Kate had a chance to object; bolting out into the car park. He had to lean against the back wall of the pub for a moment, breathing heavily at the thought of Kate discovering the shotgun, so soon after she'd decided to trust him after all.

He retrieved Kate's overnight bag, and then did some discreet rearranging of the boot's contents, so that the shotgun was now hidden underneath a plastic groundsheet he kept in there, pushed right to the back, and covered up by a pair of wellington boots and a tennis racket in its case. It wasn't ideal to have it so inaccessible, he thought but he couldn't take the risk that she might discover it, and panic completely.