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“He told me to be good, to be happy, then run. To keep running. I left him. Fuck. I left him.” Jack closed his eyes, his entire body shuddering.

Zeph held him tight. “You did what he asked you to do.”

“I could have stayed nearby, watched…”

“And let them find you? You did what he wanted. You need to keep telling yourself that. I’m glad he told you to run.”

For a long while, Jack didn’t say anything. His mind was racing. “Can you find out details of those who died?”

“They weren’t known when I left work, but at some point, yes, I can get names. I can try now.”

“Not if it’s going to get you into trouble.”

“It won’t.”

“Maybe Thomas was taken to hospital.”

“I might be able to find out.”

“With no name?”

“Maybe.”

Jack groaned. “If he’s dead, I can’t even bury him. I can’t claim his body.”

“I’ll go online and see what I can find.” Zeph pushed to his feet.

Jack couldn’t stop thinking about Thomas. Leaving might have been the right thing to do, but it didn’t feel right. It would never feel right. Fuck! FUCK! Thomas had done so much for him and to walk away…run away…

Zeph came over with his laptop and showed Jack the screen. “Twelve dead.”

Jack sagged. “Twelve. There were eleven of them. I counted eleven. Thomas makes twelve. Any names?”

“A few.” Zeph brought up the list. “What ID was Thomas using, do you know?”

“None of those names but he wouldn’t have been carrying ID. Would your facial recognition software link make the connection between the sightings you made and the… the incident at Gravesend?” He didn’t want to say body.

“It’ll probably be something I’ll be asked about tomorrow. Everyone that was killed will be traced. Let me check the hospitals.”

“You have a way to get into their systems?”

“MI5 do. So yes, I do too. Don’t tell anyone.”

Jack sat watching as Zeph’s fingers flew over the keys.

“If he’s in hospital, you can’t risk going to see him,” Zeph said.

“I know.” Logic told Jack that Thomas was one of the twelve dead. If he wasn’t, where had the other person come from? And who’d killed him? He supposed it was possible he’d missed seeing someone who’d been dropped off before reaching the office building.

“No London hospital has admitted any unidentified person with abdominal injuries today. I didn’t look for anyone shot. That might have been flagged.”

“I need to see his body.”

Zeph gave a heavy sigh. “That won’t be easy.” He put his laptop down. “Wait and see what I can find out tomorrow. If he was there, they’ll have a picture.”

Jack put his arm around him. “Thank you.”

“I’m really sorry about him.”

“I know you think he didn’t have a heart, but he did.”

“Of course he did. He loved you. And for that alone I’m sorry about what happened to him. He rescued you and though I’d rather he hadn’t brought you up in the way he did, he looked after you. Cared for you. And he loved Django. Oh, where’s the dog? Will he be okay?”

“There’s a woman who looks after him. He’ll be fine.”

“And will you?”

Jack kissed his head. “Yes. The way Thomas brought me up wasn’t bad.”

“But the aim he had in mind?”

“It was all he knew. He was in danger and he knew that put me in danger too. Everything he did, he did to protect me. I learnt such a lot from him and from the others he paid to teach me. It wasn’t all about killing.

We discussed history. He taught me about the stars.

I had language lessons. I learnt not to expect ice in a drink in France, not to step in right leg first in Egypt, flowers should be given in odd numbers in Estonia…

Anything I was interested in, he found a way to show me more about it. ”

And yes, Jack had also learnt the many ways to incapacitate someone, where to strike with a knife, how and where to shoot, innumerable ways to kill.

“How did you get work?”

“Always through Thomas. He only ever told me as much as I needed to know. Though I’ve met some of his contacts, those who got us what we needed when we needed it. I understood that limited knowledge was his way of protecting me.”

“When was the first time you did a job on your own?”

“On my own, but with Thomas around, it was the weekend I climbed in through your bedroom window. I’d been to Istanbul.”

“When you were sixteen?” Zeph gaped at him. “You had the day off school to go and kill someone?”

Jack nodded. “But absolutely on my own, it was when I was eighteen. I remember what he said when he drove me to the airport. That no one knew who I was and what I was going to do apart from him. That I’d trained all my life for this moment.

Physically, mentally… I was as proficient as he could make me but I wasn’t infallible. ”

Zeph stared at him without blinking.

“He told me that it was all up to me. I didn’t have to be a monster to kill a monster. He never let me become a monster.”

Something clamped in his chest and he took a shaky breath. “I realised then that he was afraid for me. It was the first time I’d seen that emotion from him. The second time was today. Fear for me, not him.”

Jack pulled Zeph in tight, pressed his face against his hair and absolutely did not cry.