“So he can inspire others to become rogue agents like you?” said Walker. “Standing alone and valiant against the corruption of established organisations?”

“Something like that,” I said.

Walker shook his head. “Heroes. Always more trouble than they’re worth.”

“Somebody has to keep the big boys honest,” I said.

Why be an agent? To protect the world from all the other agents.

EPILOGUE

Walker went back to the Nightside. I went home.

I told the Matriarch what happened. Made a full re-port. She just nodded. She did, after all, know Alexander King better than any of us.

I went to see the Armourer. I told him I killed the Independent Agent. He was pleased. He asked how I got on with all the new toys he’d given me: the Chameleon Codex, the Gemini Duplicator, the new skeleton key. I told him I hadn’t used any of them. I’d been so busy, I’d forgotten all about them.

His face went a colour not normally seen in nature, and I had to call some of his assistants to bring him a nice soothing drink.

And finally, I went home, to Molly. She was back in the wood between the worlds, back from her mission. We lay down on a grassy bank together. She didn’t tell me about her mission, and I didn’t tell her about mine. We just lay there, side by side, happy to be with each other again.

I never did tell her about Honey Lake. The woman I didn’t love, and who didn’t love me. Who died in my arms. But I will always remember her, and the time we had together, and how things might have gone differently, if only . . .