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got?’
    ‘About a hundred and fifty.’
    ‘You’re about a million short of a whole tribe then,’ Tamar told him. ‘When they turn up they’ll cause chaos.’
    ‘I thought you said they were harmless,’ said The Director.
    ‘Oh they are,’ said Tamar, ‘just not very bright. Can you imagine a million of these things buzzing around the place like so many giant bees? Chaos!’
    The Director turned to the man with the net. ‘Let them go,’ he said decisively. ‘Now!’ Tamar nodded.
    When the man had hurried off Tamar turned on The Director. ‘What else have you got caged up here?’ she asked severely.
    ‘Why don’t I show you?’ he said imperturbably. ‘Maybe you can help us with some more identification.’
    ‘So, what exactly is this place?’ asked Tamar as The Director led her along more corridors. ‘What’s it all about? Is it government?’
    ‘No.’ The Director was firm. ‘We work for no governments. They work for us. The Agency – we have no other name – is like a “Men in Black” organisation for the supernatural.  We assess threats and eliminate them. In absolute secrecy. No one knows we exist.’ He gave Tamar a sideways glance. ‘And yet,’ he continued, ‘despite considerable funding, top flight experts and state of the art equipment we do not possess the impressive track record of a small rag tag group of mavericks, who work apparently off the cuff, when it comes to saving the world from supernatural threats.’ He sighed. ‘We need your help. That’s the top and bottom of it.
    ‘Of course we had no more idea of your existence than you did of ours until recently. People who do what we do have to work in secret out of necessity, and you kept your secret effectively for some years until this recent Faerie debacle. Something slipped I should say.’ He looked sideways at Tamar who nodded.
    ‘Something,’ she said quietly.
    ‘Of course we were aware of something else working away there in the background. Threats we had anticipated suddenly and inexplicably vanishing. And when you were exposed, we knew we had found you. All we had to do was backtrack events, and we found out a lot more than we ever imagined. So many threats averted that we had known nothing about, things that had never happened because of your interference, things that did happen and then, mysteriously, did not.
    ‘But the most amazing thing was you,’ he added. ‘I still can’t get used to the idea that you are five thousand years old. It’s incredible. And I’ve seen a few things I can tell you.’
    Tamar smiled. 
    ‘What it comes down to is this,’ he resumed.  ‘You are now compromised, reporters on the doorstep and so on. We can help. With us, your anonymity will be restored. You will effectively disappear. You can continue to do what you do best which is what we all want.’ he smiled. ‘We might have left you to it had you not been exposed, but under the circumstances …’ he shrugged.
    ‘If we hadn’t been exposed, you’d never have found out about us,’ Tamar pointed out. ‘It’s not a question of leaving us alone. You’d have had no choice.’
    ‘A good point,’ The Director agreed. ‘But we did find out, because you were exposed. C’est la vie.’
    ‘We, on the other hand, have not been exposed. We are in a position to help each other now, do you see?’
    Tamar did see. She hated all the publicity that had descended on her lately. The chance to retreat back into obscurity was extraordinarily tempting.  And to be able to continue to fight. It all seemed too good to be true. She remembered what Denny was wont to say about that. “If something seems too good to be true – remember the Djinn code. There’s always a catch.” No one knew better than Tamar, that this was true. 
    ‘Denny’ll never go for it.’ She voiced the thought without meaning to.
    ‘Perhaps he might be persuaded,’ said The Director, ‘when he considers the alternative. Spending the rest of his life