Once the Prime Minister had left them, walking briskly into the adjoining room to receive a call on his mobile phone, the Squad made to leave, eyeing the ropes still dangling on the balcony outside. But Julia stopped them.
‘Wait,’ she said. ‘There’s more.’
Kester, Lily, Adnan and Hatty moved into a tight cluster round their commander.
‘As you know, I am leaving Tromsø tonight,’ Julia said. ‘There are to be no adults here other than those strictly involved in the conference. You’ll be working alone, but I’ll remain mission commander … from a distance. So, before I go: any questions?’
‘Who are we looking for?’ Hatty asked, putting her hands on her hips. ‘And also why didn’t you want to talk about suspects in front of the Prime Minister?’
Julia rolled her eyes. ‘Hatty, Hatty, Hatty …’
‘Yes, Julia?’
‘Your mind never rests, does it?’
‘Never,’ Hatty replied.
‘OK.’ Julia smiled, looking at her watch. ‘I’ll tell you. The first person is a Russian. He’s called Sergei Esenin. His father was a well-known spy.’
‘And you think he’s a spy too?’ Adnan jumped in.
‘We have no direct evidence that Esenin junior is a secret agent. That’s what we want you to discover,’ Julia said brusquely, checking her watch again. ‘The fact is that he’s here and, if he is a spy, or some sort of undercover operative, we need you to get evidence to prove it. But he has the credentials to be a genuine expert on oil drilling in the Arctic. It is possible he’s not a spy and never has been. OK?’
‘OK,’ Hatty said. ‘Who’s the other suspect?’
‘An American,’ Julia answered.
‘And what do we know about him?’ Kester asked.
‘He’s a major political figure. He’s great friends with the President of the USA and …’
Hatty closed her eyes. ‘… and with our new friend the Prime Minister?’ she suggested.
‘Yes, Hatty. With the Prime Minister.’
‘Which is why you made Hatty keep her mouth shut in front of him,’ Adnan added.
‘Yes.’ Julia stood and began to button up her coat. ‘His name is Frank Hawk.’
‘I read about him on the flight over here,’ Lily cut in. ‘He’s an oil man and has made billions from selling oil. He’s on the US negotiating team for this conference. He lives for oil.’
‘He does,’ Julia agreed.
‘So he’s going to be all for saving the polar bears then?’ Adnan said.
Julia shook her head. ‘In fact, he argues that there’s no such thing as global warming. He says it’s been made up.’
‘What?’ Adnan shouted. ‘Is he stupid?’
‘On the contrary,’ Julia said. ‘He knows exactly what he’s doing. He makes money out of oil, therefore he’s never going to admit that using it causes the Arctic ice to melt.’
‘How does he know the Prime Minister?’ Kester asked.
‘Good question, Kester.’
‘But what’s the answer?’ Hatty pressed.
‘They were introduced by the American President. They went shooting together.’
‘Shooting?’
‘Yes.’
‘Shooting what?’
‘I don’t know. Birds? Deer?’
‘Urghh,’ Adnan said.
‘Exactly,’ Lily agreed. ‘How can anyone shoot a deer, let alone eat one? I used to see them in the hills all the time where I grew up in Yorkshire. They’re beautiful animals.’
‘Well, just remember to go carefully when you’re investigating him,’ Julia warned. ‘If anyone’s going to work out that this football tournament is a ruse to allow us to spy on the conference, then it’s Frank Hawk. Find out everything you can: but give him nothing.’
After they’d said goodbye to Julia, the children radioed Lesh, who had been waiting on the roof, monitoring the surrounding area. Once they had the all-clear, they climbed back up their ropes to be reunited with their friend, who had already found some recent images of Frank Hawk and Sergei Esenin on his SpyPad, a computer device he used for research while he was on the move, having listened in on their conversation. Now they knew what their two targets looked like.
‘Quite a job we’ve just been given,’ Lesh said, after the others had quickly briefed him.
‘Yes.’ Kester nodded. ‘We’d better get started.’