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civilization—this great Expansion—that she had served so assiduously. Surely nothing could destroy it?
    Comforted a little, she returned to the Bureau, but found that the doors did not respond to her retina scan. She stood back, rubbed her eye, and tried again. Still no luck, and by now the entrance to the building was blocked by two security guards whose patience, sense of humour, and state-of-the-art weaponry Walker wasn’t inclined to test. “There wasn’t a problem this morning,” she said, pulling at her lower lid and feeling rather foolish.
    But there was clearly a problem now. One of the guards, after a quiet conversation with someone via the headset in his helmet, said, “Your clearance has been revoked.”
    From the corner of her eye, Walker saw his colleague tighten his grip on his firearm. Only a little, but enough. She took a deep breath and stepped back. “All right,” she said. “Not your problem.”
    One of them nodded his agreement. She walked down the block, conscious of them both watching her, and stood on the corner looking around. Some mistake, she assumed; some piece of paperwork she had neglected to complete, some password she had forgotten to change. She reached for her handheld to send Kinsella a message—and then she saw Latimer sitting at a table outside the café across the road and knew there had been no mistake.
    He gestured to her to join him, and she slipped through the queuing traffic. He watched her impassively as she sat down. “Sorry for the scene,” he said. “The problem is... Well, I simply don’t know who can be trusted these days.”
    “Is this about that bloody scan?” Walker said. “For God’s sake—”
    “It’s not about the scan.”
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “It’s not about that scan, I should say.”
    Walker felt her shoulders slump. “Ah.”
    “Do you see my dilemma?”
    “Actually,” Walker said, “I don’t.”
    “And there lies my problem.” He picked up his coffee cup and drained it. “Divided loyalties. New priorities.”
    “You’re saying that having a child would stop me from doing my job?”
    “I’m saying that I’m not going to take the risk. Not as things are now.” He stood up. A black flyer, sleek and unobtrusive, had pulled up. “I’ve got you a ride. Go home. Think about your future. I’ll have your personal effects sent on.”
    Personal effects, she thought, as the car rose and then sped towards to her flat. It made her sound like she was dead.
    Back home, she sat for a while with her head in her hands, until her anger got the better of her. Then she put a call through to Kinsella.
    “You son of a bitch,” she said, when his face came up on the screen. “You couldn’t wait, could you? What did you think? That I’d cause a scene and embarrass you in front of everyone?”
    “ I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, ” Kinsella said. He glanced sideways. There must be someone in there with him. “ I’ve never had you down as the kind of person to cause a scene. Not until now— ”
    “I’ve been fired, Mark!”
    She realised immediately that she had made a mistake. You couldn’t feign that kind of shocked expression. He hadn’t known, and he hadn’t said a word.
    There was a pause. Walker heard voices in the background; she couldn’t distinguish who was there, but she could hear the questions being asked, the sound of the rumour mill starting to grind... “I’m sorry,” she said.
    “ Christ, Delia, are you okay? Do you need me to come over? ”
    Walker ended the call. There was only one other person it could be and, to be fair, she had even warned her. Soon everybody will be finding out...
    “ I’m sorry, I really am, ” said Larsen. “ But what’s happened on Braun’s World—it’s changed everything. ”
    “I trusted you, Kay! Not only as my doctor. As my friend!”
    “ Delia, you know the score. None of us can afford to be showing divided loyalties right now. You shouldn’t have