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‘What gave me away, dear?’ Margaret said.

‘You did.’

For someone who’d been caught faking cancer, she didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed. The people who pulled these scams usually ended up being led into court with blankets over their heads. Ashamed. Their families mortified. Margaret was smiling, though. Like she’d been caught cheating at charades.

‘May I ask how?’ she asked.

‘Something you said in Scotland, right after you told me you no longer bought green bananas.’

Margaret raised a single, perfectly sculpted eyebrow. She looked like Roger Moore’s mom. ‘I’ve said a lot of things.’

‘About how the gadolinium was giving you a headache,’ Koenig said.

‘Ah. I assume it is no longer in use?’

‘The EU severely restricted its use as a contrast agent in 2018,’ Koenig said. ‘Something to do with deposits being left on the brain. It’s mainly used for scans of the liver now. You claimed to have thymic carcinoma, which is a cancer of the upper chest. You would have been injected with something else.’

‘You seem annoyingly overeducated regarding MRI contrast agents, Benjamin.’

‘I get scanned every six months. And because I trust my doctors even less than I trust Jen, I question everything. So, yes, I do know a lot about contrast agents.’

‘Well, wasn’t I Little Miss Over-Egging the Pudding?’ Margaret said. ‘It’s almost as if I’ve had no training whatsoever for this kind of thing.’

‘So why bother?’ Carlyle asked woodenly. She looked defeated. Withdrawn. ‘I’ve been involved with military intelligence most of my adult life, and one of the most important lessons I learned is that the simplest cover story is the best cover story.’

‘Because of the freedom a cancer diagnosis gave her,’ Koenig said. ‘An operation this size needed a sponsor. She needed cash and she needed access to resources. Her cancer gave her the space to go and seek that sponsor.’

‘No one questions requests for time off when you have cancer,’ Margaret confirmed. ‘Colleagues give you a wide berth; friends find reasons not to visit. And travelling wasn’t a problem. The university’s HR department accepted I was exploring treatments abroad without asking for evidence. Bless their gullible souls.’ She paused a beat. ‘I’m surprised everyone isn’t at it, to be honest. A cancer diagnosis is the ultimate hall pass.’

‘You approached the same people that had approached you all those years ago?’

She nodded. ‘I did.’

‘It’s a big risk for a country, though,’ Carlyle said. ‘The think tank only considered terrorism or militia groups. A foreign government initiating the Acacia Avenue Protocol would be tantamount to declaring war.’

‘You think if Kim Jong-un had a magic erase the usa button, he wouldn’t press it?’ Koenig said. ‘Of course he would. So would Putin. Even our allies would think about it.’

‘We aren’t short of enemies,’ Draper agreed. She knew better than anyone how unpopular the US was in some parts of the world. ‘Koenig’s right. If they could do this without leaving fingerprints, they absolutely would.’

Carlyle put her head in her hands. ‘Why, Margaret?’ she said. ‘Why do this? Was it money?’

‘It wasn’t money.’

‘I know it’s not ideological. You believe in democracy just as much as I do.’

‘It’s the worst form of government—’

‘Except for all the other forms,’ Carlyle cut in, completing the Winston Churchill quote.

‘It wasn’t ideological, Elizabeth.’

‘Then what? Please, help me understand.’

Margaret shrugged. ‘America had to be punished, dear,’ she said.