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Zeph’s heart was thumping when he went into work the next day.

Jack had tried to convince him to take a different route, just in case, or an Uber, but Zeph had argued doing anything out of the ordinary was a bad idea.

Doing what he usually did was the best way to avoid raising concern.

But after Jack had pressed the point, Zeph worried he might be under scrutiny.

So, he did take a few evasive moves: went to a different coffee place, checked the windows of a few shops, took a moment to walk over to the Thames to look at the river. He saw nothing that alarmed him.

He imagined he’d feel easier once he was in Thames House, but he remained on edge.

His boss’s door was shut, which meant he was already in a meeting and not to be disturbed.

Zeph logged on and read all he could find about what had happened in Gravesend.

It was now on national news as well. While he was unobserved, he went deeper and read what he wasn’t supposed to be seeing.

Though there was no photo of Thomas. Zeph covered his tracks.

Zeph was able to access images of all twelve dead men.

He didn’t like seeing the damage bullets could do, but he didn’t linger.

Strange that Thomas wasn’t among the dead.

A couple more names had been attributed.

Zeph took what the night crew had done a stage further using the software he’d designed.

Someone had to have come up with the site in Gravesend for the meeting, which suggested it was a person who lived in the London area.

An hour later, Zeph had eleven names. Al-Talib and four other Saudis. Tamaz Dolidze and five Georgians. One of the Saudis and two Georgians lived in the UK. So who was the twelfth man? He looked nothing like Thomas.

He was able to track where those who’d flown in had stayed. The twelfth man wasn’t in the system.

“Zeph!”

He looked up to see Robert beckoning him. Zeph shut his screen and went to his boss’s office. Robert was in there with a man Zeph had never seen before. He had short white hair, wore a sharp, dark-grey suit, and had bright teeth that didn’t look real.

“Close the door,” Robert said. “Take a seat.”

Was Robert going to introduce him? Zeph tried not to look nervous. He pressed his nails into his palms.

“Go through everything you’ve done from the time you were asked to look for Al-Talib,” the stranger said. An American.

Shit. Zeph looked at Robert who nodded. So maybe there wasn’t going to be an introduction. Zeph did as he’d been told, including some of his work of that morning. The only thing he left out was that he’d discovered the CIA were involved. He guessed this guy was CIA.

“You were looking for a link between a man you spotted shadowing Al-Talib and what happened yesterday.” Grey man pinned Zeph with his gaze.

Zeph couldn’t afford to hesitate or to lie, but thank fuck he’d left those details in place and only deleted his file. “Yes. There was no evidence he was a shadow. It could have been coincidence. He was only seen three times.”

“There is no link,” grey man said. “Stop looking.”

Oh. Zeph looked again at Robert who nodded his agreement.

“Okay.”

“He’s dead.”

“Right.” Oh Jack! Though even as Zeph thought it, he wondered if that was the truth. It all seemed a little too convenient. “Is that all?”

“Yes,” Robert told him. “Start working on the identification of those demonstrating outside New Scotland Yard.”

“You don’t want me to keep trying to identify the twelfth man?”

“No,” the American said. “Leave it.”

“Okay.” Zeph left the room.

As he closed the door, he heard the man chuckle at something Robert had said. Weird.

Zeph had been tempted to take a photo of Jack and look in the system, but he hadn’t.

Now he was even more relieved he’d dismissed that idea.

He couldn’t protect Jack if he came to the attention of the wrong guys.

If he saw information about him, he couldn’t delete it.

Zeph’s throat closed up. I don’t like this.

He spent the rest of the day doing his job, wondering if Jack would be there when he got back to his flat.

Whether this time, he’d be gone and would never come back.

That sounded all too familiar. But Zeph needed to talk to him about the future, if Jack saw one with him in it because Zeph couldn’t keep letting this happen.

Jack had to decide what he wanted. Am I brave enough to ask him?

Or brave enough to do what he was planning that afternoon. It was reckless. Zeph was not reckless.