The conning tower disappeared beneath the surface with a hiss. High waves bounced back from the wall of ice behind it, buffeting the zodiac again. Barbara clung to the rope with the tenacity of a bulldog. She tried to look at Tommy, but the salt spray made her close her eyes and tuck her face into her arm. She could hear Tommy straining to keep the boat nose to the waves, but it was still spiralling out of control. The boat bounced, and she hit her head on the hard deck.

As the waves slowly subsided, Barbara scrambled to her knees. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Tommy eased back on the engine then rubbed his shoulder. "Yes, although goodness knows how. You?"

"Yeah."Barbara rubbed her head. "I bumped my head but otherwise I'm fine."

"Good." Tommy turned the boat in a slow circle. "We need to find those boxes. Can you see any?"

Barbara looked around then pointed to her left. "The boat went down near that jagged iceberg over there. Hey, that other zodiac we saw is poking around there."

"Whoever it is, they want the same thing." Tommy revved the engine and started to speed across the top of the waves.

Barbara shielded her eyes with her arm. Her head hurt a lot more than she was willing to admit and the bright sunlight made it worse. Large chunks of ice scraped against the boat as Tommy weaved the shortest path through the shattered berg.

"Can you see the boxes?" he called.

"No... Wait... yeah, I can see one... to the left, over there."

"Got it."

Barbara did not move her eyes from the box. It looked like one of the ones from the research station, but she could not be sure. Tommy slowed the engine and eased up beside it. Her heart fell. "It's the spores."

"Shoot it. Sink it."

"It's not a threat."

"No, but if it drifts on the currents, I don't want to chase after it again."

Barbara pulled the Uzi from her coat. She aimed and put a burst of three rounds into the box. She pushed it under the surface and air gurgled out. The box slowly sank. "One down."

"Two, there's another one over there." Tommy edged the boat along the side of a large fragment of clear ice. "More spores."

Barbara shot the box and with a shove, submerged it. She looked up to see the other zodiac speeding towards them. "We've got company."

Tommy squinted. "Is that...?"

"Yeah, it's Wyatt. Can this day get any better?" Barbara shoved the Uzi under her coat.

Wyatt slowed his engine but his zodiac bumped theirs forcibly on the starboard bow before sidling up. "Why are you sinking the boxes?" he demanded in a New York accent.

"Let me guess," Tommy said, "you're CIA and your name is not Wyatt."

The man smiled. "Something like that. Wyatt was a fun character. So exaggerated, everyone always believes he's real. Now, why did you sink those boxes? I am taking them in."

"They were the mushroom spores. Nothing to learn from them," Tommy replied calmly.

"Then why sink them?"

Barbara was fighting to keep her temper. "So that no one picks them up and has the bright idea to combine them with Schweindeiner's powder and kill off half of mankind."

"That's a slight exaggeration, Barbara," the man formerly known as Wyatt said. "Anyway, I have one box of spores. That's enough."

"Enough for what?" Barbara looked into his zodiac. Both of Schweindeiner's boxes lay in the bottom with the third box of spores balanced on top. "We have to destroy that stuff."

"I don't think so. My organisation will be keeping it." He raised a pistol and trained it on Tommy. "I feel sorry for you, I really do. You're just ordinary cops sent to do what MI6 was too scared to, but I'm afraid it has to end here."

Barbara glanced at Tommy. He nodded slightly to his right. His eyes conveyed his love and determination. Barbara moved closer to the other boat.

"You can't shoot both of us at once," Tommy said with no hint of fear in his voice.

"I don't have to shoot either of you. I will shoot your boat, and you will drown, or maybe die of hypothermia. No trace of violence on your bodies. All nice and neat. You'll be heroes, and knowing the Brits will probably receive a posthumous bravery award or have the Queen bestow some order of something ridiculous on you. By then we will be long gone."

Barbara saw Tommy using the rocking of the boat to shuffle closer to Wyatt while she distracted him. "What about Kati? She'll have seen everything."

"Ah, poor Kati. By now she will have joined Volker and Schweindeiner in some German Valhalla. Madison will have seen to that."

"Germans are not Norse," Tommy said with a degree of distain.

The man shrugged. "Why, what would a liddle ole country boy know?" he said with his fake Texan accent. "Do I look like I care?" he said in his normal voice.

"There's a British military satellite tracking this, and..." Barbara pulled her satellite phone from her pocket, "they've heard every word." It was a bluff, but she hoped to disconcert him.

"Unless it has super-waterproofing, I doubt that, but even so, who cares? I have the boxes. I have my transport." He gestured to the left. Barbara saw the conning tower rising from the water. "And you will be dead." He shot at the inflated rubber rim of the rib. Air hissed out as the port side bow of the zodiac began to go floppy.

Tommy and Barbara both jumped onto Wyatt's rib. It rocked violently, and the box of spores slid off the others and over the side. Before Wyatt could raise his gun, Tommy had punched him in the jaw. Wyatt staggered but remained upright. He shoved the barrel of his gun into Tommy's stomach.

Barbara pressed her Uzi into Wyatt's neck. "Drop it."

"You two don't give up; I have to give you that. But it's the law of physics, Barbara. If you shoot me, my fist will close, pulling the trigger and shooting your partner. Gut wounds are messy and with this calibre weapon, fatal. Now instinct tells me that Tommy here means a bit more to you than he should. Madison thought your fieldcraft was excellent, but I'm a romantic soul, and I think you two are genuinely in love. So, no, you won't shoot me."

"Don't hesitate Barbara." Tommy stood upright and looked defiant.

She pressed the barrel deeper into Wyatt's skin. "And you won't shoot Tommy because then I will shoot you."

Wyatt laughed. "What? A Mexican standoff? We can't stand like this forever. Surrender now. You can't win."

"Why are you doing this? The US and UK are allies."

"My government is... let's just say that I no longer have faith in any government. I gave up believing that an unnamed star on the wall at Langley was a fair reward for my life. Since 9-11 we have re-entered the age of private armies. Nation states are an anachronism, and the world is overpopulated. Landsborough was a test. It went far better than we had hoped. Now we will thin out the Third World."

"You're in this with Schweindeiner?" Barbara moved her foot slowly so that it was in front of Wyatt's.

"He was a means to an end. He had the knowledge we needed, so we tolerated his Utopian neo-Nazi dreams. But he was always expendable."

"And how do your dreams differ?" Tommy asked as he and Barbara exchanged a silent conversation.

"And why Landsborough?" Barbara added.

"We simply want to restore the world order and get rid of those draining our planet's resources without giving anything back. And as for why that village, the reason is extremely mundane. Schweindeiner's friend, some old lady, had been treated badly by the people there. It was his revenge."

Barbara purposely eased the pressure on Wyatt's neck hoping that he would sense his chance and momentarily lose focus on Tommy. It worked. He straightened and twisted away from the weapon, but when he went to turn, his foot was trapped by Barbara's, and he lost his balance. Tommy dived over the side into the water. Wyatt elbowed Barbara out of the way as he raised his weapon to fire at Lynley. She stumbled backwards against the boxes. Pain shot up her leg as she fell on top, but her weight was enough to lift the front of the rib clear of the water, shielding Tommy from view. Wyatt lost his footing and slid slowly down the aluminium deck towards her. With all the weight at one end, the zodiac's rear went under the water allowing the icy liquid to flood into the boat and the boxes of nerve agent to float free.

"Why you!"

Wyatt fell against her and reached for her Uzi. As they struggled, the gun discharged four shots which tore into the inflated rubber wall of the rib. As air wheezed out, the zodiac began to sink. Wyatt lunged for one of the boxes, moving his weight from on top of Barbara. As the deck gave way beneath her, she reached up. The back of her hand brushed rigid rubber. Spinning around, she grabbed the rope hanging over the side, and with all her effort, hauled her self onboard the other zodiac which was still afloat. Panting heavily she turned around and scanned the water for Tommy. He was about 10 yards away and swimming towards her. She smiled briefly before starting to fall backwards.

"Bitch!"

Wyatt was trying to climb aboard. He grabbed her head and rammed it against the outboard. The world went black.