Many thanks to those who read and much appreciation to those who reviewed. A short filler chapter of Harry's thoughts

4 May 11.00am: Danny Hunter's assessment was correct. Zoe Reynolds has just reported in, stating that Mary has given them the slip. Zoe and a Manchester based officer tracked her to a local RC Church, watched her enter and waited for a couple of minutes, a delay they judged necessary to avoid breaking their cover. As a consequence of this laudable caution by the time they finally managed to follow her discreetly the lady had performed the classic manoeuvre of vanishing via a back door while the surveillance team were watching the front.

This alters our plans but since the early morning monitoring indicated that Ms Kane's associates have some knowledge of her schemes a shift of focus is dictated. Our primary concern must be to prevent another explosion. Since it is also clear that the subject of interest intends to oversee personally whatever spectacular move she plans to mark her husband's demise we will now go after her associates with the objective of discovering the bombs and with them, if we get the right break, the prime mover in this terrorist outbreak.

Zoe Reynolds has outlined a plan to shock our identified weakest link in the trio into talking. I've approved this but have dispatched Tom Quinn and Danny Hunter to Liverpool to help her. If this plan fails then they have been authorised by me to apprehend Steve Barfield and (et name) and persuade them to talk. Means by which this is to achieved are unspecified. I've also insisted on the support of Manchester's lead techie John Whitehead who did an efficient job at the cottage.

Not the best of news and I'm a little dubious about Zoe's plan, not with her aim of shocking the weakest link, that's what we all attempt, it's her intention to use a child as her cover that I find worrying. Despite my reputation as a rubbish parent I would have been reluctant to allow either Catherine or Graham to be used in any MI5 operation, let alone one that was tracking down killers. If it goes belly up the publicity doesn't bear thinking about. However I've spoken to Keith Burns from Special Branch and he assures me that he'll be in sight at all times, and that he and Zoe have agreed a signal if the scheme seems likely to implode. So far so planned – my own thoughts? Quite apart from the safety concerns re involving a junior civilian I'm keeping everything crossed that no paranoid mother rings the police to report that a solitary elderly male is hanging around a children's play area. I can just hear the dialogue now 'But I'm Special Branch' 'All the perverts say that'. However I've not got a better suggestion since the only alternative would be to apprehend Barfield and Goldsmith which would definitely alert Mary if she should hear of it, and we have to assume that she will. She may have departed Barfield's bed but that type of individual, once they have their hooks into you, never let go. They are a sort of hybrid fisherman cum puppeteer, a cockatrice in human form. We didn't tell Zoe or, by implication, Keith Burns, about the extraditions demands. The fewer people who know about those the better. Time enough for Zoe to learn this from Tom after they've tackled Rachel Goldsmith, while what Keith Burns doesn't know he can't inadvertently let slip.

In the meantime I'm stuck supervising this temple to paperwork. Although Tessa is working with an unaccustomed alacrity on the documentation rushed over from the Home Office, (she's aiming to stuff us in revenge for Tom's comments while I'm slowing her down by finding more urgent tasks for her to expedite) I find myself obliged to perform the India rubber contortion feat of pretending that I know where the bitch is, while doing everything in my power to delay the extradition. Thank goodness this is an intellectual exercise and not a physical one – I'd be tangled up in a cat's cradle with my legs behind my ears never to become unknotted – which reminds me – I must try to keep current developments out of Tessa's earshot, which, among other issues, means instructing Helen to keep her mouth shut. I have no intention of allowing Ms Kane to be shipped off to the Cousins until we've had the first dibs into her twisted mind.

At least, if pushed, I can truthfully refuse to remove her from the UK on the grounds that I don't actually know where she is, although I'm hoping we can trace her before I have to admit we've lost her. If forced to cough up to the latter I'd prefer it to be at a time of my choosing and possible advantage, if advantage one can wring from a through going cock up.

For now, in a phrase, that would probably thrill whatever cockles reside in Ms Kane's murderous little heart 'Mum's the word'.

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