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person who shot your predecessor,” I said idly.
    “And why should that be a problem?” Karen Hanson’s eyes, which I hadn’t noticed before, were pale blue and horribly penetrating. She swung her gaze on me, and I took another step back.
    “Well, because she was a psycho,” I mumbled.
    “You think that usage of the lab will turn me into a psycho?”
    I looked helplessly up at Luke, but he was trying not to laugh. No help from him, or from Maria, who was avoiding eye contact with everybody.
    “I think that someone as unbalanced as Alexa clearly was, was not likely to have installed a lab that could have been used for wholly sane purposes,” I said. “The cattle prods alone are a sadistic and rather unnecessary addition.”
    I caught Luke’s eye and he gave me a mock-serious nod, as if he agreed completely.
    “And the manacles,” I added, looking straight at Luke to see if he’d bite. And apparently he’s not perfect, because he did bite.
    “You didn’t think they were sadistic last week,” he murmured.
    “No,” I said, “not them. You, maybe.”
    Maria had one hand to her mouth and the other on her flat stomach, trying not to laugh. Karen Hanson’s eyes swung between me and Luke like a blue searchlight.
    “I’m not going to ask,” she said, the very tiniest hint of a smile touching her lips.
    “We’re not going to tell,” Luke replied, his smile more overt.
    Maria turned her face away, shoulders shaking.
    Thankfully, at that moment the outside door opened, we heard voices, then the inner office door swung open and Macbeth walked in, immediately filling the room.
    “Agent Five,” Hanson nodded. “Did you have any problems?”
    “Yeah. Had to go back for sunglasses,” he said, voice deep and rumbling, barely betraying a smile. Macbeth seems big and scary, but underneath he’s a bit of a pussycat. A pussycat with claws, mind. Maybe what Tammy wants to be when she grows up.
    “This,” Hanson said to us all, “is our new client. Angelique Winter,” she added, as Macbeth stepped aside, Angel appeared, looking pale and fragile, and I felt lightheaded.

Chapter Three
    Thoughts and shocks crowded into my head, everything from Angel knows we exist to Angel’s parents were agents?
    And then, maybe she really does have a stalker.
    And then, she knows I’ve been lying to her.
    Karen Hanson had started talking, but she stopped when it became clear no one was listening. I wasn’t paying attention to anything, my gaze rooted on Angel, my mind whirling.
    “Sophie?” someone said. “Soph? Are you all right?”
    It was Luke, touching my arm, lifting my chin and turning my face to his. I wrenched my gaze from Angel and let it linger on Luke.
    “I—I’m—”
    “You’re SO17?” Angel squeaked.
    “We are,” Luke said. “You know about SO17?”
    “My parents…” Angel began, and trailed off.
    “Her parents were both agents,” Karen Hanson supplied.
    “IC Winter was a government agent?” Luke said in disbelief.
    “You’re IC Winter’s daughter?” Maria stared.
    “IC and Greg Winter were both agents,” Karen repeated. People tend to forget Angel’s dad. He was a bigger earner than her mum, but not half as famous. “She in MI6, he in MI5. Both had a lot of useful contacts.”
    There was a long silence. We all stared at Angel.
    “Well,” Maria said eventually. “Bugger me.”
    Macbeth looked her up and down thoughtfully.
    “The stalker,” I said to Angel, recovering. “Is that why you’re here?”
    She nodded. “It’s been going on and on. That’s why I asked you to stay. I’m frightened to be alone. I—I didn’t tell you about the dropped calls, the letters, even e-mails. I got a call from someone who’s writing a biography of my mum the other day. She said she’s getting harassed by some guy—or it might even be guys. There’s something he wants, but he never says what.”
    “And you can’t think of anything it might be?” Maria asked. “No debts or