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‘This is surprising,’ Kai said. ‘They normally take hours or even days to respond to events.’

Jin said: ‘This has got the Pyongyang government agitated.’

‘Agitated?’ said Kai. ‘I think they’re more than agitated. I think they’re scared. And you know what? So am I.’

DEFCON 4

ABOVE NORMAL READINESS. HEIGHTENED INTELLIGENCE WATCH AND STRENGTHENED SECURITY MEASURES.

CHAPTER 20

President Green hated the cold. Growing up in Chicago, she might have got used to it, but she never did. As a little girl she had loved school but hated getting there in the winter. One day, she had vowed, she would live in Miami where, she had heard, you could sleep on the beach.

She never lived in Miami.

She put on a big puffy down coat to walk from the Residence to the West Wing at seven o’clock on Sunday morning. As she passed through the colonnade she thought about sex. Gerry had felt amorous last night. Pauline liked sex, but she was not driven by it, not since her early twenties. Gerry was the same, and their sex life had always been pleasant but undramatic, like the rest of their relationship.

Not anymore, she thought sadly.

Something had gone wrong in her feeling towards Gerry, and she thought she knew why. In the past she had always felt the reassuring sense that he had her back. They occasionally disagreed, but they never undermined one another. Their arguments were not angry because their conflicts did not run deep.

Until now.

Pippa was at the bottom of it. Their cute little baby had turned into a mutinous adolescent, and they could not agree on what to do. It was almost a cliché; there were probably articles about it in the women’s magazines that Pauline never read. She had heard that marital rows about how to raise the children were said to be the worst.

Gerry did not just disagree with Pauline; he argued that the problem was her fault. ‘Pippa needs to see more of her mother,’ he kept saying, when he knew perfectly well it was not possible. It made her feel sorry for them both.

Until now they had faced issues together and taken joint responsibility. She had been on Gerry’s side, and he on hers. Now he seemed to be against her. And that was what she had been thinking about last night, as Gerry lay on top of her in the four-poster bed that stood in the Queen’s Bedroom that had once been used by Queen Elizabeth II of England. Pauline had felt no affection, no intimacy, no arousal. Gerry had taken longer than usual, and she guessed that meant he, too, was feeling estranged.

Pippa would get through this phase, Pauline knew, but would the marriage survive? When she asked herself that question she felt despair.

She arrived at the Oval Office shivering. Chief of Staff Jacqueline Brody was waiting for her, looking as if she had been up for hours. ‘The National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence are hoping to speak to you urgently,’ Jacqueline said. ‘They’ve brought the CIA’s Deputy Director for Analysis.’

‘Gus and Chess, the DNI and a CIA nerd, while it’s still dark on a Sunday morning? Something’s up.’ Pauline took off her coat. ‘Show them in right away.’ She sat at the desk.

Gus wore a black blazer and Chess a tweed jacket, Sunday clothes. The Director of National Intelligence, Sophia Magliani, was more formal in a short jacket and black pants. The CIA man looked like a street person, in jogging pants and well-used running shoes with a pea coat. Sophia introduced him as Michael Hare, and Pauline recalled that she had heard of him: he spoke both Russian and Mandarin, and his nickname was Micky Two-Brains. She shook his hand and said: ‘Thank you for coming to see me.’

‘Morning,’ he said blearily.

He gave the impression of having less than one brain, Pauline thought.

Sophia noticed her cool reaction. ‘Michael has been up all night,’ she said apologetically.

Pauline did not comment. ‘Sit down, everyone,’ she said. ‘What’s going on?’

Sophia said: ‘It might be best if Michael explains.’

‘My opposite number in Beijing is a man called Chang Kai,’ Hare began. ‘He’s Vice-Minister for Foreign Intelligence at the Guoanbu, the Chinese secret service.’

Pauline did not have time for a lengthy narrative. ‘You can cut to the chase, Mr Hare,’ she said.

‘This is the chase,’ he said, showing a touch of irritation.

Such a sharp reply to the president came close to rudeness. Hare was charmless, to say the least. There were people in the intelligence community who thought all politicians were fools, especially by comparison with themselves, and it seemed that Hare was one of them.

Gus spoke in his most emollient voice. ‘Madam President, if I may say so, I think you will find the narrative helpful.’

If Gus said so, it was true. ‘All right. Carry on, Mr Hare.’