Eve started to laugh, but when Harker didn't share the joke her smile drained away.

'Actually, sir, she said "bloody court-martial", but'

'Yes, all right,' Harker said, his eyes still on Eve and her expression of confusion. 'I'll be right back,' he told her.

'Court-martial? But'

He took her hand. 'Eve, I'll explain it to you, but let me go and talk to Saskia first.'

She nodded, still looking uncertain, and he gave her a quick kiss before following the Subaltern out to the Colonel's office, where the telephone was. 'Go and find Lieutenant Riggs,' he said, 'and tell her I want to speak to the whole squad. Tell 'em to meet in the office where Eve is.'

The Colonel, who apparently was unaware that the woman on the phone was Harker's ex-wife, stood by expectantly until Harker asked him for some privacy.

Then he picked up the phone. 'Saskia?'

'Will, what the hell are you playing at? Wheeler's got people coming in from all over, leaving their regiments commanded by bloody majors and captains, for heaven's sake, to try you for disobedience.'

'Yeah, she said she would.'

'You know about it?'

'Of course I know about it. I was there.'

'Harker, are you taking this seriously?'

He leaned back against the desk, wiping his hand over his face. 'Yes, I'm taking it seriously,' he said.

'She could put you in jail, Will, or take away your commission.'

'Yeah, I know.'

'She could put you up in front of a firing squad,' Saskia said.

'Yeah.' Harker stared blindly at the wall, where the abyss was opening up again. 'She could.'

'What the hell were you thinking? What did she tell you to do that was so terrible you had to disobey?'

'It doesn't matter.'

'She could have you shot, Will, and it "doesn't matter"? Don't be ridiculous. I'm not asking you this as Saskia, I'm asking you this as Colonel Watling-Coburg.'

Harker rested his eyes on a crack in the plaster. 'She told me to leave someone behind.'

'Who? Charlie? Is she all right?'

'No. Not Charlie.' He hesitated. Well, it was going to come out at some point. 'Eve. Remember? The alien in the river?'

'You took her with you because she knew something about computers.'

Harker snorted. Yeah, and he'd believed that, too.

'She was captured,' he said. 'She was injured, and they had her, and Wheeler told me to leave her behind because she was probably dead anyway, and she wanted us up here.'

Saskia was silent a moment. 'And you went after her?'

'I did.'

'Did you get her back?'

'I did.'

'And ... was she ...?'

'She's okay,' Harker said. 'Well, she will be.'

'Harker,' Saskia began, then stopped. 'Look, I'm asking you this now as your wife.' She hesitated again, and Harker thought, You're not my wife, not any more. 'Did you go after her because you needed her for the mission, or because you always go after your men, or because ...'

'Because,' Harker said quietly. He could argue the other reasons in court, but the bottom line was he'd disobeyed a direct order in order to save the woman he loved.

Saskia sighed. 'Oh, Harker,' she said. 'That really was stupid.'

'Oh, right, so if it'd been you who was captured and tortured and about to die from some septic infection, you'd have preferred it if I just left you there?'

'No, but this isn't about me. And besides, I'm your superior officer. She's a civilian.'

'I didn't mean that you were my CO,' Harker said. 'I meant that you were my wife.'

Saskia was silent a moment longer. 'Are you going to marry her?'

Visions of Eve in white danced before his eyes. A whole life with her, the kind he'd never really allowed himself to imagine with Saskia. A life with children, a cottage somewhere, growing old together, spending the next forty or fifty years being challenged and pushed by Eve.

'Find me a priest who'll marry a divorced man, Sask, and yes, I will,' he said. 'Even if I face a firing squad the next day.'

'There's a wedding present.' She sighed. 'Well. Look, I'll talk to Wheeler, and I'll see what I can do'

'Sask, please don't try and talk her out of the court-martial, it won't put her in a good mood.'

'I meant for Eve. As I understand it, she's still considered a threat, and she'll be going back to St James's. I don't think marrying her would get her out, but it would at least give you visitation rights. Even if you are cashiered.'

Cashiered. Stripped of his rank. And with it the rights and privileges of an officer: his own room to sleep in, coffee when it was available, extra money for cigarettes, now they were so damn expensive.

And a widow's pension. That was an officer's right.

'Look, Sask, Eve's not well enough to travel yet. She's still recovering. Too many nights sleeping under canvas while she's still weak could'

'Yes, Will, I know. I'll tell Wheeler you're not ready to leave yet.' She hesitated, then said, 'You know, you could marry in a civil ceremony. You don't actually need a priest.'

'Are you offering your blessing?'

'I'm offering my help. As your CO and as someone who was once very much in love with you. Don't screw this up, Will. I may not want to be married to you any more but I don't want to see you unhappy, either.'

'Thanks,' he said, touched.

'And I really don't want to be the ex-wife of an officer who faced a firing squad.'

'Again, thanks,' he said, less touched.

'I'll keep you informed,' she said, and ended the call.

Harker put the phone down slowly, his eyes still focused on the abyss, forcing it to close. Plans, Harker, think this through. What do you want? To be acquitted at the court-martial, to remove the suspicion hanging over Eve and, well, yes, maybe, to marry her.

The court, he felt, would probably be less impressed if he said he went after Eve for personal reasons. But how would it stand with them if he said he was rescuing his fiancee?

Still, probably, not all that well.

But did that even matter to him right now? Get your head in order, Harker, you can think about Eve later, once you've got yourself out of being shot.

The door opened, and it was Charlie, looking slightly concerned to find him staring at the wall.

'Sir? I gathered the men.'

Harker nodded distantly. Then he remembered why he'd wanted to get them together in the first place, and made a face.

He found them in the little office where he'd left Eve, who was attempting to mimic some hand exercises Daz was showing her, without much success. Her fingers waggled a little bit, but she couldn't move much more than the tips.

'This is so annoying,' she said.

'It's still very early,' Daz told her. 'The fact that you can move them at all is very encouraging.'

'Yeah? Well, I don't feel very encouraged.' She looked up at Harker. 'Well? What did Saskia want? Are you being court-martialled for sleeping with someone else?'

Was she jealous? He suddenly remembered her inexplicable anger the night she'd discovered his ex-wife and CO were the same person, and very nearly smiled.

'Well,' he said. He leaned against the door and folded his arms. The squad, not even remotely at attention, looked back at him. 'I am being court-martialled.' Tallulah made a sound of dismay, and Harker talked over it. 'When we get back to London. Wheeler's bringing in some fairly senior officers for it.'

'What are the charges?' Charlie asked, although by her expression she'd already guessed.

'Disobedience.'

'Like a dog?' Eve said. 'This is ridiculous.'

'It's the army,' Charlie said. 'Disobeying an order is serious.'

'What order?' Eve said, and there was a sticky silence. No one looked at her, or at Harker.

He lit up a cigarette, and eventually said, 'I was ordered to leave you in Leeds and come straight here.'

'You who ordered you? General Wheeler?' Harker nodded. 'But ... why did she care where I was?'

'She didn't. But she cared where I was. It's not about the specifics of the order, Eve; it's about me not following it.'

'But you came here, didn't you? You got me and came here. Eventually.'

'Yes, eventually.'

'So it's not as if there were dire consequences'

'No,' Harker said, losing his patience a little, 'it's not about the consequences, it's about the fact that I didn't follow the order. It's a serious offence, Eve. Men have died for disobeying orders, and this one came directly from the General herself.'

Some of the belligerence drained from Eve's expression. 'But you're not going to die,' she said, her tone uncertain.

Harker let his gaze drop. He didn't quite know what to say to that. He'd faced the possibility of death from his first day in the army, but he'd never been offered a time and date for it.

'There were no direct consequences,' Charlie said, 'and it wasn't a major order, and there were extenuating circumstances'

'But the death penalty has been handed out to men who disobeyed orders,' Harker said.

'Has been,' Eve said. 'What, every time?'

'No'

'So that's the worst-case scenario?' Her voice was rising now, notes of panic creeping in. 'I mean, what else could they do, imprison you or fine you, or'

'Take my commission,' Harker said. Tallulah sucked in a breath. He'd forgotten she and the others were even there. 'Or all of the above. It's a serious offence'

'You keep saying that,' Eve said, her tone angry but her eyes frightened. 'You keep saying it's a serious offence, but no one's died, you didn't steal or rape or betray anyone. How can just not following orders be so serious?'

'Because this is the army,' Harker snarled, straightening away from the door, 'and we follow orders. It's what we do. And you don't seem to understand that'

'Because it's stupid,' Eve snapped back at him.

'I am not having this argument with you,' Harker said, and Eve stood up, glaring at him.

'Ok, don't, then,' she said, and limped out, slamming the door behind her.

He's going to die because of you. He's going to die because of you.

It ran around her head in a terrible little refrain, louder with each step, pummelling her with fear and guilt and anger, and when a hand touched her shoulder and pulled her around she stumbled, her leg giving way.

Harker caught her, and she pushed away from him.

'Go away,' she said. 'I don't want to talk to you.'

'Well, listen then.'

'No.' She limped down the steps from the office building to the path leading to the parade ground. It was cold, the sun sinking down behind the hulking barracks, and she didn't have a coat.

Harker propped his over her shoulders, and she turned, snarling.