She hesitated, looking down at the ground, as if she were searching for the precise location of the bomb. 'You know what it was, of course,' she continued, her voice gaining in strength. 'We decided to stage a robbery. They are terrorists, and also Arabs. Honour is important to them. They would have to take revenge, and that would mean sending their best man after the robbers. If we leaked information about who they were, then watched them like hawks, eventually we would find the assassin. Keep tabs on the assassin, and he would lead us to the main man, the person who was pulling the strings right across Britain.' She allowed a brief smile to flicker across her lips. 'As it happened, it all worked out rather well. We got the main man. We've broken them — a lot more than the CIA have achieved in the past year.'
'And we were the hares,' said Matt angrily, 'to get the dogs running.'
Alison looked at him closely, her eyebrows drawing together. 'Don't sound so bloody hard done by,' she snapped. 'Think back a couple of weeks. You were nothing, a nobody, a washed-up ex-SAS soldier, drowning in a sea of debt and self-pity. In another couple of weeks, Kazanov would have killed you, and probably that girlfriend of yours as well.' She looked towards Ivan. 'As for you, you were just a corpse, walking around waiting for the bullet that kills you. An IRA man turned Five informer, who wanted out because he couldn't take the heat any more. Well, surely you know there aren't any resignations from that line of work? The only leaving party is the one where everyone wears black. You needed money, a lot of money, to get out and start again, and this was your only chance of getting it.'
Alison paused, wiping a bead of sweat away from her brow. 'I gave you both a chance. Sure, there was a risk you'd get killed. Boo-bloody-hoo. Go and wipe your tears on your mum's apron. You are soldiers, for Christ's sake, or at least you were when you still had some pride left in you. You risked your life for your country. It's what you do.'
She paused for breath. 'Anyway, I knew you were both good enough that Sallum would never be able to lay a finger on you.'
'Soldiers sign up for missions — they take the risks knowing what they are doing,' said Matt, feeling his face redden with anger. 'Nobody deceives them about the risks they are running.'
'They don't?' replied Alison archly, raising her eyebrows. 'Christ, if I wanted to talk to children I would have gone to Legoland. Didn't some Rupert ever mislead you, Matt? Didn't some brigade commander ever send you on a futile mission, Ivan? This is war. Deceit is the most important weapon in any arsenal.' Alison tightened her scarf around her neck. 'All of the men on the mission needed money for different reasons. I gave them the chance to make it. Each man was taking a greater risk than they knew, I accept that. But each man also had a chance to defend himself.'
A thought started to rattle through Matt's mind: what if she is right? What if we were paid a fair rate for risking our lives? Isn't that what we do for a living?
'You told al-Qaeda where we were,' snapped Ivan. 'You betrayed us, and put our lives at risk.'
'As I said, you knew your lives were at risk,' said Alison.
Matt listened to her closely. Her tone was changing, the colour of each vowel turning brighter. She was growing more confident, as if she sensed she was winning the argument.
'Think about it,' she said. 'Three men died, true, but the two of you have survived, and countless innocent women and children have been saved.' Alison paused, her eyes switching from Ivan to Matt. 'If that bomb had gone off, thousands of people could have been killed or maimed. The economy of London would have been brought grinding to a halt. You men stopped that. You should be proud of yourselves.' She raised a finger into the air, suddenly resembling a schoolmistress admonishing a particularly dim class of children. 'And you are still getting five million each for your work. So, you took a risk, you saved thousands of people, and you got well paid for your trouble. What are you complaining about?'
Maybe she has a point, thought Matt. The only difference between what I did in the Regiment and what I did in the last two countries, was that I got properly paid for risking my life for my country.
Why not take the cash and walk away? Right now, I'm a free, wealthy man. Press this trigger, and I'm a fugitive for the rest of my life.
He glanced across at Ivan, but could see only an intense anger in the man's eyes: it was as if a fuse had been lit within him. 'Saving one person doesn't justify sacrificing another one. Who are we to make that choice? Who are you?' he said.
'Then what were you doing in the IRA, Ivan?' Alison snapped back. 'They made those choices all the time. What were you doing in the SAS, Matt?' She fixed both of them with a hard stare. 'Both of you already made the decision when you were a lot younger that lives were sometimes worth sacrificing for a cause. It's too late to go back now.'
'I don't need a philosophy lecture, thank you,' said Ivan. The muscles in his neck were bulging as the blood pumped to his head. He looked towards Matt, a question playing in his eyes. 'Let's give it to her and get out of here.'
Alison looked towards Matt, the fear creeping back into her eyes. She held out the diamond that was slung around her neck. 'Look,' she said softly. 'I had it set, and wore it. I've been wearing it every day since you gave it to me.'
Ivan held the trigger in his hand, his thumb poised on the button. 'Cut the violins,' he snapped. 'Press the button and go.'
In the middle of combat, a soldier trusts his instinct and only his instinct.
When there is no time to think with your head, you act with your heart.
Matt raised a hand. 'I say we let her go,' he said slowly. 'She has a point — we're soldiers, we get paid. Let's collect the cash and clear out of here.'
Matt noticed a smile starting to spread across Alison's lips — but it wasn't a smile of gratitude or relief. She was pleased, not to have survived, but to have won the argument. 'I always knew you were a man who could listen to reason, Matt,' she said. 'That's why I chose you.'
'Wait.'
Ivan lowered his hand, looking directly at her.
'What about Cooksley's kids?' Matt continued. 'And Reid's kids? They were just children, but you put them in the line of fire as well. How do you justify that?'
Alison shrugged, her expression suggesting that she was losing interest in the debate: her triumph had been secured, and now she had better things to do with her time. 'They were collateral damage,' she said coldly. 'I may have said this before, but I'll say it again. If you want to play softball then go to the park.'
Sometimes people say the wrong thing, thought Matt. And it costs them their lives.
'Collateral damage?' he said. 'No. They were just an innocent group of children.' He looked towards Ivan. 'I was wrong. Let's blow the fuse, and get out of here. The world will be a safer place without her.'
'Hold it,' she snapped.
'No! Enough!' Matt roared. 'Sometimes it is worth sacrificing one life for the good of everybody. Well, this time it's yours. Press the button, Ivan. Press it.'
'Please!' Alison shouted, her voice turning ragged. 'You have both made many mistakes, but the greatest one is to think me a fool.'
The wind had picked up speed, curling itself around the trees. Somewhere behind him, Matt could hear branches creaking in the gale. It was a dark and miserable place in which to die. But then, few have the luxury of choosing the places in which they die. Certainly not when it's an execution.