Safe House Beta was another detached Victorian villa in a pleasant area of London with a garage and a small garden. Like the Alpha house it looked utterly normal from the outside. Even the severe black Land Rover parked in front looked at home.

The front door was opened by a large man in black body armour with exactly the same demeanour as Sergeant Dean. He had darker skin and a black country accent and a label on his body armour that identified him as Samuels. He recognised Sorrow but waited for Number Seven to fish out his SIS ID.

'You’ll want the study.'

Seven followed Sorrow’s lead through the confusing layout. The Beta safe house was smaller than the Alpha house and the cellar had been expanded to make space for the suite of windowless rooms.

Sorrow opened the sloped door of an under stair cupboard and pressed on a concealed hatch. The back of the cupboard slid to one side to reveal a flight of stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs was a book lined study very like the one in the Alpha house. In the middle of the room was a green Chesterfield sofa. Sitting on the sofa was Jude with his head in his hands and body language that reeked of such abject guilt that Seven almost forgave him on the spot. Almost.

'Well?' said Sorrow.

Jude sat up as straight as he seemed able. He tried to meet Seven’s gaze but immediately looked down. 'I’m sorry,' he said.

'Fuck feeling sorry,' said Sorrow, 'Just tell us what happened.'

'As soon as I got back from securing the house she threw herself at me,' said Jude.

'Literally or figuratively?' said Seven.

'Both. I tried to tell her that I wasn’t interested and it was unprofessional and anyway I’m far too old for her. She started stripping off so I just locked her in. Pushed the sofa in front of the door, sat on it, and meditated till the swelling went down. In the morning she was gone. Nothing there but the feathers. But no sign of a struggle. And it’s not just her that’s missing. She took her luggage. I keep thinking that maybe she wanted me to turn her down so I’d leave her unaccompanied?'

'So you think she broke out?' said Sorrow.

'I did when I found out she’d disabled the cameras. Then the psychometry team got here. Every single one of them left the room screaming. All we could get out of them was visions of blood and death and a dark woman with yellow eyes,' said Jude.

Sorrow looked alarmed for perhaps half a second. Seven looked for it when he heard mention of the yellow eyes but he barely caught it. He was half convinced that he hadn’t seen anything at all.

'The DRG are in there now. They’re looking for signs of how she was taken, or got out, or whatever,' said Jude.

Sorrow stomped off in the direction of the bedroom, perhaps to try and conceal how rattled she was.

Seven sat down next to Jude on the sofa. 'Do you really think she broke out?'

'That’s my instinct,' said Jude.

'Your instinct or what you hope?'

Jude sagged further, 'At this point I can’t tell any more.'

Seven was torn between conflicting instincts. He wanted to offer Jude comforting words but he had none. He also wanted to shoot him for letting Four out of his sight. Seven left before the latter instinct got the better of him. He couldn’t find words but he knew exactly where his gun was. Waiting for Sorrow outside seemed like a better idea.

#

In the bedroom four pale young men in rumpled lab coats were waving cobbled together pieces of machinery around while a fifth stood watching and tapping his foot impatiently. He didn’t notice Sorrow enter the room. He didn’t sense her when she walked up behind him. She tapped his shoulder and he spun on the spot, signalling his surprise with a noise like a parrot with its tail feathers trapped in a mangle.

'Jesus Christ, don’t do that,' he said.

'You’re mistaking me for the bearded hippie in the long white dress. How’s it going?' said Sorrow.

'Terrible. Either none of the equipment works or someone has found a way out of here that we’ve never heard of. I don’t like either proposition,' he said.

'You don’t even have a theory?' said Sorrow.

'I’ve got loads. Every single one is either impossible or unprovable or both. And I’m expected to have a report for MI5 by 6pm today.'

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'MI6. MI5 is domestic. MI6 is international. And we’re supposed to call them SIS now. Again,' said Sorrow.

'Can’t we just call them wankers?'

'Sure. After you.'

#

Outside the Beta safe house Number Seven leant on the roof of the car and stared into space. His ribs ached. His back hurt. His ears itched. He waited for Sorrow to finish inside and tried not to think too hard.

He heard her coming down the steps but he didn’t turn.

'What do you want to do next?' she said.

'Honestly? I want a drink. Or someone to punch.' He looked back up at the house and wished that it had a face so he could punch it.

'Do you think she broke out or do you think she was taken?' said Sorrow.

'If it wasn’t for the blood and feathers and the woman with the yellow eyes I’d be with Jude.' Seven watched Sorrow carefully as he spoke and there it was again. A tiny flinch when he said yellow eyes. He wondered if she was aware she was doing it.

She turned to face the house and leant back against the car and didn’t look at him. When she spoke her voice was even. 'How would you have broken out? Assume for a moment that she was flirting with Jude to that end. I mean he was either going to accept and afterwards roll over and fall asleep or do exactly what he did. What’s her next step?'

'I’d hide,' he said.

'How does that help?' said Sorrow.

'I’d wait for them to notice that I’ve gone and then panic and start a search and then I’d sneak out,' said Seven.

'That shouldn’t have worked. Certainly shouldn’t have worked on Jude. Still,' she pulled out her yPhone and called someone. 'Has anyone checked the CCTV footage for the Beta house for signs of Officer Jinx after the time she disappeared?'

Seven studied her profile as she waited for a reply. Everything in her body language and expression seemed consistent with genuine concern and curiosity but he’d been fooled before.

'Well get someone on it,' she said eventually, 'Run it through facial recognition. Get the super recognisers on it. And make sure everyone knows that she does shit like this for a living.' She looked back at Seven. 'So yeah. She could have sneaked out.'

'Doesn’t explain the feathers,' said Seven when she put the phone away.

'There were feathers in our bed and we’re fine. Maybe she didn’t intend to run? Maybe she only went after Jude because she wanted someone to hold? I’d want someone to hold if most of my colleagues were dead or incapacitated. Maybe she woke up, saw the feathers and freaked? Maybe she decided that the Department might be behind the whole thing? We could be if that was the sort of thing we did.'

'Really? And I suppose you personally could have done it?' He did his best to sound like he didn’t believe she could be capable of such a thing. 'You could have got Number One into a strange flat? Killed and dismembered that young man without waking One?'

'Post hypnotic suggestion. I’ve read his file. Going back to a strange flat with a good looking young man is something he’d want to do. I wouldn’t even need to hypnotise him myself. We have artefacts that can do that. I could even use my Department ID if I was desperate and I didn’t need it to last long.'

'But the killings?' said Seven.

'Include a suggestion that he fall into a deep sleep. With a sharp enough blade and the right cut I could have killed the young man without waking Number One. But here’s what I don’t get. Why would you kill the young man first? Or even at all? Why would you wait for Number One to wake up before killing him? The only reason I can think of is that they wanted him to suffer. They must have really hated Number One. But not as much as they hate the rest of you.'

She said it so lightly. As if she were saying something that should have been obvious. As if she were talking about an abstract and not the death of a colleague, a friend.

'What?' was all he could bring himself to say.

'If it was just about killing the Blanks they could have used a bigger bomb in the Special Forces Club. They got a grenade in there so there was nothing stopping them doing the same for a couple of kilos of C4. Kill one of you to bring the rest together then finish the lot off in one go. That’s a solid plan. The grenade was meant to be less than 100% lethal. Whoever did it expected some of you to get out alive. They wanted some of you to watch as your friends were dug out of the rubble. Either that or languish in a hospital bed wondering who’s next. They killed Number One first because they like him best, or at least hated him least.'

'By that logic I might be the one they hate the most?' said Seven.

'Maybe. But then logic isn't my thing. I mainly just hit things.' said Sorrow.

'I know. You’ve said.'

'I’m very good at hitting things,' said Sorrow. 'I like to specialise.'

'What’s your position on hitting people?' said Seven.

'Depends on the person. You got anyone in mind?' said Sorrow.

'There’s a group I need to speak to. I was going to leave it to Number Four. They would have been more likely to talk to her but,' he trailed off. Unable to finish the sentence.

'You can brief me while you drive,' Sorrow got into the car.

'Don’t you want to vet the idea first? Check it’s not too dangerous?'

'Nope. You do you. As long as you’re awake and mobile it’s my job to keep you doing you.'

She was already strapped in by the time he got behind the wheel. 'So who are these douchebags?' she said as they pulled away from the kerb.

'What makes you think they’re douchebags?'

'If you’re using them to work out your frustrations on then I sincerely hope that they’re douchebags,' said Sorrow.

'They’re bankers,' said Seven.

'My conscience is clear.'

'Two and I ran into them while chasing down laundered money. Later Number Five robbed them of some conflict diamonds. Once they were on our radar Six borrowed money from them to run one of his bigger ops. He didn’t pay them back because they couldn’t prove the money existed, far less that they’d ever lent it to a man who on paper was already dead. They weren’t happy.'

'You’re thinking about that ALL DEBTS MUST BE REPAID thing?' said Sorrow.

'It’s possible and if it isn’t them they might have heard something.'

'Your reasoning seems sound to me but I…'

'You mainly just hit things,' he finished.

'I like a man that pays attention,' she said.