eople would cross the road if they saw Michael Conroy walking towards them. Whether they knew him by sight or by repute or not at all, they instinctively knew better than to block this man's piece of the pavement. His eyes were the greenish amber of a bird of prey; his narrow face involuntarily called up memories of a wood-axe. He looked precisely what he was. Dangerous and mean. To Patrick Coughlan, this limited his usefulness. He'd never have dreamed of sending Michael undercover unless the aim was to scare the shit out of everybody he came into contact with.

Michael didn't mind. His idea of being a soldier wasn't pretending to be a librarian in North London or working on a building site in Derby while other people did the dirty work. He liked what he'd spent the past fifteen years doing. Ceasefire didn't suit him and he knew it.

He sat in the chair facing Patrick, his eyes calm and watchful. Dressed in an olive green combat jacket and blue jeans, he would have fitted in perfectly with any group of squaddies in a bar anywhere. Entirely self-contained, he cleaned his nails with the blade of a penknife, an absent-minded habit that he was unaware was marked down on the file MI5 had held on him for some years.

Kevin O'Donohue was the gopher. A thin, wiry greyhound, he fetched and carried without the wit to question what or why. Loyal to the point of stupidity, he was reliable only in the sense that he didn't have enough brains to act on his own initiative. He did what he was told, and mostly he did it well enough. Michael tolerated him for his sister's sake. Siobhan got Kevin's share of intelligence in the genetic share-out. It wasn't imbecility that had got her caught in the aftermath of the Docklands bomb. Just bad luck. Michael hadn't seen her for three years, but he'd kept his word and made sure Kevin was sorted. Kevin, of course, had no idea of this pact.

Kevin looked like a harmless rodent, which was appropriate enough. Coarse auburn hair badly cut so it emphasized the jut of his forehead, the sort of freckles that looked like a nasty rash and the fashion sense of Man at Millett's told any casual encounter all they needed to know. He fidgeted in his chair, nervous in the presence of Patrick, who always made him feel like he was about to make his first confession all over again.

"I've a wee job for you," Patrick said. "It's what you might call private enterprise. You'll need to keep your mouths shut, but you'll be well looked after."

Michael nodded. "Whatever you say, Patrick."

"It's a matter of finding somebody I have an interest in." Patrick pushed a photograph across the desk.

Michael leaned forward and picked it up. He gave it the hard stare, then off-handed it to Kevin.

"She used to work downstairs," Michael said, his voice as uninterested as if he'd been asked the time.

"That's right. She did a disappearing act six, seven years ago with something that belongs to me. I've had the word out in a quiet sort of a way, and now I've got intelligence that she's in Glasgow."

"And you'd like us to find her for you." It wasn't a question.

"D'you have an address, then?" Kevin asked.

Patrick ignored him. "She was seen at the weekend in a supermarket at the top of Byers Road. Behind the Grosvenor Hotel. It's the only lead I've got. Obviously she's not going to be using her own name, so there's no point in looking in the phone book or the voter's roll."

Michael folded his knife shut. "We'll manage," he said.

Patrick opened his desk drawer and took out a brown envelope. "I don't want you using any of our people over there, so you'll need a float. Theresa's got tickets downstairs for tonight's ferry."

"What about a car?" Michael asked.

Patrick raised one finger and smiled approvingly. "There's a British driving licence in the envelope. You can use it to hire a car if you need one."

Michael pocketed the envelope without looking at the contents. "Daily calls?"

"At least. You've got a clean mobile, haven't you?"

Michael's grin would have put Red Riding Hood's wolf to shame. "Clean, not cloned," he said.

"Any questions?" Patrick asked, his voice a silky challenge.

"What are we supposed to do when we find her?" Kevin asked, oblivious.

"Whatever Patrick tells us," Michael sighed. He got to his feet. "I'll be in touch," he said.

Patrick inclined his head. "I can't wait." If they'd seen the look in his eyes, anyone with any sense would have already left town.

Lindsay stared out of the window of the cab, taking in nothing of the late-morning bustle of Great Western Road. Normally, she'd have used the Clockwork Orange, Glasgow's underground system, to go into the city centre, but her ankle was stiff and swollen and today she cared more about comfort than being environmentally friendly.

It had been a long night. They'd talked for more than an hour after Sophie's bombshell, and it hadn't got any better from Lindsay's point of view. The revelation that had shocked her most of all was that Sophie had already identified a possible donor, had approached him and had secured his agreement. Fraser Tomlinson was a researcher in Sophie's department, a gay man in a steady relationship. He and his boyfriend Peter had been to the house for dinner, and Lindsay had found them pleasant company. According to Sophie, Fraser was HIV negative, his family medical history gave no grounds for serious concern and he had no desire to play any role in the life of any child that might result from the donation of his sperm. It was so cut and dried, it had left Lindsay lost for words.

"And when were you thinking of starting?" she'd managed at last.

"I'm due to ovulate in a couple of days' time," Sophie had said. "The best chance is to bracket the ovulation. I was planning to have the first go tomorrow night, then again two nights later."

Lindsay swallowed hard. "I can see why you wanted to bring it up now." Involuntarily, she moved so her body no longer touched Sophie's.

"I'm sorry to spring it on you like this. But we've talked and talked and got nowhere. I realized that we were never going to get anywhere unless I did something about it. Lindsay..." Sophie's voice was a plea. "Every time I bleed, it feels like a lost opportunity. I can't afford to wait. I've done the blood tests. So far, my hormone levels are OK. But every month that goes past takes me nearer the point where they're not going to be OK any longer. I've got a donor now, I'm not prepared to hang on until you come round to feeling positive about this."

"Fine. So we do it tomorrow night. What's the drill? Is there an etiquette here? Our place or theirs?"

"Fraser and Peter will come round here. What I hoped was that you would be here for me."

"You want me to do the thing with the turkey baster?"

"It won't be a turkey baster, for God's sake. It'll be a sterile syringe." Sophie reached for Lindsay's hand.

"Please, Lindsay. I need you now more than I ever did."

Lindsay, who had always found it impossible to hold out against Sophie for any length of time, let her hand be held. "Fine. Whatever. Now, can I go to sleep?"

The end of the conversation had not led directly to sleep. Lindsay had lain awake long after Sophie's breathing became deep and regular. There was a hollow feeling in her stomach, a nameless grief that ached insistently. Something had shifted inside her tonight with the knowledge that she could never give Sophie enough to satisfy her. She had thought their life together was good, their relationship solid. Now, it felt as if her house was built on sand. Maybe it was true that she hadn't been hearing Sophie. But it was equally true that Sophie hadn't been hearing her.

She'd mooched around the house after Sophie had left for work, unable to settle to anything. She couldn't be bothered answering the morning's e-mails. She was impatient with the newspapers and their flood of irrelevancies. Finally, stir crazy, she'd decided to pay a visit to Caf¨¦ Virginia. Perhaps Rory McLaren had something to offer that would make her feel better about herself. But first, she had a couple of phone calls to make. Lindsay might have been out of the game for a long time but she still knew one or two of the faces that counted. She wasn't going to hitch her wagon to Rory McLaren's star until she had confirmed that the world's estimate of the young freelance bore some relationship to Rory's own pitch. In her early years as a national newspaper journalist, she'd wasted too much time chasing the fantasies of freelances keen to make an easy buck to take any of the breed at their word.

On the other side of the city centre, Rory was swanning into the offices of the Scottish Daily Standard. The security men didn't care that she'd stopped working there six months before. They figured she'd had a better motive to blow the place up when she was on the staff than she ever could have as a freelance. She took the lift up to the editorial floor and walked into one of the side offices off the features area.

Giles Graham, lifestyle editor and secretly agony aunt of the Standard, was stretched out on his sofa, reading the pained letters of his correspondents and eating very low-fat cottage cheese and chives from the tub with a plastic spoon. Rory could never figure out how a man who managed such fastidious elegance in every other area of his life that he could be taken for a gay man still managed such disgusting eating habits.

"That's revolting," she said, crossing the room to sit in the swivel chair behind a worryingly tidy desk.

"I know. You'd think people would have the good sense not to go exploring their gay side with their brother-in-law, but they never learn," he drawled in the English-accented speech of the privately educated Scot. He put his lunch down on the coffee table and carefully gathered the letters together before sitting up and brushing down his immaculate navy linen shirt for invisible crumbs. "How delightful to see you, Rory. Are we having social intercourse or is there a sordid financial motive behind your visit?"

"You want social intercourse? OK. How's Julia?"

Giles smiled fondly. His wife was the Member of the European Parliament for Central West Scotland. Julia's frequent absences, he maintained, were what rendered her capable of putting up with him. "She's on a jolly in Oslo."

"That's a contradiction in terms," Rory observed. "Give her my love next time you pass in the night." She leaned back in the chair and hitched her Gap-clad legs on to the desk. "I've got a very good tip for you, babe."

Giles groaned. "Why not copy? Why do I have to do all the work?"

"Because it's not my kind of story. I do investigative journalism, remember? Stories like this are the reason I quit working for the newsdesk."

"That and the thick end of a hundred and fifty grand," Giles said cynically.

"The lottery was the means, not the reason, as well you know. Now, do you want this story, or do you want me to toddle round to the Sun?"

Giles stretched his arms along the back of the sofa, languid as a trout stream on an August afternoon. "As if," he said. "So tell me what you know."

"Madonna's people are having hush-hush talks with estate agents about her buying a property on Loch Lomond. In the Drymen area."

Giles raised one eyebrow.

"Don't do that, you look like Roger Moore in a bad Bond movie," Rory complained. "It's straight up. I got it from the horse's mouth. Well, the groom's best mate's mouth. But I know for a fact that Struther Wilson have been approached, and if they've had the word, so have other people."

"If it's true, it's not a bad little tale," Giles said cautiously.

"It's me you're talking to, Giles. When you stand it up, it's a guaranteed splash and you know it."

His smile conceded. "How much are you looking for?"

"A generous tip fee. I've got to split it with my source. I'll leave the details to your sense of propriety."

Giles pushed his dark blond hair back from his forehead. "Very trusting."

"Hey, I know you're the only person under this roof who knows the meaning of the word." Rory dropped her feet to the floor and stood up. "I'll leave you to it. Some of us have got work to do."

He snorted. "Cappuccinos to drink, more like. By the way, Sandra tells me you think you're in with a chance with some woman you bumped into in the Botanics."

Rory shook her head. "If you guys worked as hard at getting stories as you do at spreading gossip, I'd be out of a job. Let me know how you get on with Madonna."

Before he could reply, Rory was out the door. She had more than cappuccino on her mind, but that was none of Giles's business. She still couldn't quite believe in her encounter with Lindsay; it felt too good to be true. Her freelance business had begun to generate more work than she could handle alone, but she hadn't wanted to share with just anyone. She'd always been a loner, hiding her self-sufficiency behind a mask of easy charm, letting few people see the vulnerability and damage behind the façade. Sandra was one of a handful who had been allowed past the barrier of her public face, but Sandra was too much in love with the buzz of television to consider giving it up for the slog of freelancing. And there was nobody else that Rory had ever seriously considered working with.

But something had sparked between her and Lindsay Gordon, and it was something more than hero worship. They'd made an instant connection, and Rory still felt faintly baffled by the speed with which she'd offered Lindsay a share in her closely guarded world. She had no conviction that Lindsay would take up the invitation without more work on her part; her self-belief couldn't quite carry her that far. So somehow Rory was going to have to figure out how to entice her in.

Lindsay dipped another crispy chip into the bowl of relish and turned another page of the paper. She'd been waiting over an hour for Rory, but it hadn't been a problem. Somehow, the restlessness that had afflicted her earlier had dissipated in the congenial atmosphere of Caf¨¦ Virginia. And besides, she'd made good use of the time.

She'd limped in, her eyes roving round the bar area, taking in the d¨¦cor that somehow managed to be stylish without being impersonal. Trance music played, not loud enough to make conversation uncomfortable. A handful of patrons sat on high stools at tables built on to the square pillars that supported the ceiling. A few glanced up as she walked in, but nobody gave her a second look as she made her way to the zinc-topped counter. Behind the bar, a woman with cropped black hair was stocking cold cabinets with bottled beers. As Lindsay approached, she turned and stood up. "What can I get you?" she asked.

"I'll take a cappuccino."

The barmaid nodded and moved to the gleaming coffee machine. While she fiddled purposefully with taps and spigots, Lindsay continued to scan the place. The bar area occupied the front of the caf¨¦, but beyond she could see a bigger room. Wooden booths lined the back wall, but the rest of the space was occupied with round metal tables and Italian-style chairs with slender chrome legs. At two of the tables, lone women sat with coffee cups, cigarettes and newspapers.

Lindsay paid for her drink, then said, "I'm looking for Rory McLaren."

The barmaid smiled. "The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Merchant City." It came out with the smoothness of a familiar line. "She's no' been in yet."

"She's got a regular table, right?"

The barmaid leaned on the counter and pointed through to the back room. "Furthest booth at the end. She expecting you?"

Lindsay shrugged. "I suppose that depends on how confident she is of her pulling power."

The smile widened to a grin. "She'll be expecting you, then. Go away through. Mind you, there's no telling when she'll show up. If she's not in first thing, it could be quite a while."

"That's OK, I'm not in any hurry."

"Aye well, all good things come to those who wait."

"Will you have one with me while I'm waiting?"

The barmaid raised her eyebrows. "Aye, all right. I'll have a Diet Irn-Bru, if it's all right with you." She reached into the chill cabinet and pulled out a can, popping the top and taking a swig.

"Do you mind telling me your name? Only, I reckon there's a fair chance I'm going to be in here quite a bit, and, 'Hey, you,' isn't really my style."

"Oh God, not another smooth operator," the barmaid sighed, raising her eyes to the ceiling.

Lindsay grinned. "Truly, that wasn't a line. I might be doing a bit of work with Rory and, from what she's told me, this is where it all happens." She shrugged. "I prefer to be on friendly terms, that's all."

"What sort of work?"

"I used to be a journalist. And Rory seems to think I could be again." Lindsay's self-deprecating shrug was perfectly calculated.

"She can be very persuasive."

"So I've heard. But you need to be in this game. So humour me that I can still cut the mustard and tell me your name."

The barmaid grinned. She had a tiny diamond inlaid in her left canine. It added shock value to the smile. "I'm Annie," she said.

"And I'm Lindsay." She looked around. "Rory tells me she keeps pretty busy. Plenty stories coming in all the time."

Annie nodded. "Everybody knows her in here. You'd be amazed the things she picks up just hanging out. It was slow at the start, but these days she's always got something on the go. Mind you, I'm surprised she's thinking about working with somebody else."

"How so?"

"No disrespect, but Rory's no' exactly what you'd call a team player. She likes her own company too much. Half the baby dykes in here are in love with her, but she never takes advantage. See Rory? She figures out what she wants and goes for it, and hell mend the hindmost. And people see that, and they trust her because of it."

"So you'd recommend working with her?"

"You could do a lot worse." Annie took a long swallow of her drink and put the can down behind the counter as another customer approached.

"I'll let you get on," Lindsay said, sliding off her bar stool and making her way through to Rory's booth. She smiled at the "Reserved" sign on the table, eased herself on to the padded bench seat and stared at the pile of morning papers neatly stacked against the wall. Her morning's research had been productive, and Annie's responses had confirmed her half-made decision.

The first journalist she'd spoken to had been a former colleague on the Standard. Gus was now news editor for BBC Radio Scotland and, although their relationship had been closer to that of sparring partners than friends, he'd seemed pleased enough to hear from her.

Gus didn't like Rory. He thought she was a chancer who pushed the very limits with her stories and who didn't care whose toes she trampled on when she was on the chase. But then, Gus had never liked women, least of all dykes. If that was the worst he could find to say about Rory, Lindsay reckoned her potential workmate was probably almost as good as she'd said she was.

Lindsay's second call was to Mary Salmond. They'd both been active in the Journalists' Union at the same time, and Mary was now Women's Editor of the Reporter. She'd sounded positively delighted to hear Lindsay's voice and immediately insisted they have lunch together to catch up. Lindsay reluctantly agreed; she'd always found Mary far too Edinburgh earnest for her taste. But she wanted information, and she'd have to pay for it.

Mary had gushed at the mention of Rory's name. "She's done awfully well since she went freelance," she said. "Awfully well indeed. She's done the odd piece for me, always her own ideas, and her copy's a joy. She writes to length, she pitches it at the right level for my readers and she's got the knack of getting doors to open for her."

"What's she like personally?"

"I wouldn't say I knew her that well. She seems very private, never really gives much away. She's not one of those freelances who's always trying to freeload in the pub, you know the kind?"

Lindsay knew the kind. "But you like her?"

"Oh yes, I like her fine. She's very pally with Giles Graham. You know Giles? Such a sweetie. If Giles likes her, she must have something going for her; I've always thought he's an awfully good judge of character. I've seen her about with Sandra Singh as well. You won't know Sandra, she's a factual programmes producer at STV, after your time. Does that help?"

It had helped. Lindsay had instinctively liked Rory, but she was too shrewd an operator herself to trust her future to someone she knew nothing about. Now she knew enough to take a chance. She picked the top paper off the pile and began browsing. After an hour, she ordered a burger and fries. The burger turned out to be a very poor relation of what she was accustomed to in California, but the chips were glorious - fat chunks of real potato, golden brown and crunchy, the way she liked them and had seldom found them in America. That would be how I stayed so slim over there, she thought. She decided she'd give Rory till she'd finished her lunch, then she'd leave her a note and go. It really didn't do to seem too keen, after all.

A shadow crossed the page she was reading and Lindsay looked up to see Rory standing before her, laptop slung over one shoulder, a delighted grin on her face. "Couldn't stay away, huh?" Rory asked, sliding into the seat opposite Lindsay.

"Well, I could hardly go running, could I?"

Rory winced. "How is the ankle?"

"Sore. But not as swollen as it was. A week or so and it'll be back to normal."

"That's the official clinical view from the resident medic?"

Lindsay snorted. "Given Sophie's area of expertise, she'd take one look at a swollen ankle and probably tell me I was suffering from pre-eclampsia."

Annie arrived carrying a couple of cappuccinos. "There youse go. You want something to eat, Rory?"

"I'll take a plate of stovies, Annie."

The barmaid nodded and left them to it.

"Three cappuccinos in one day. I'll be jazzed till bedtime at this rate," Lindsay said.

"Would you rather have something else? Only, Annie said that's what you were on." Rory looked momentarily anxious.

She's trying to make an impression, Lindsay thought wryly. "No, that's fine. I suspect I'm going to have to have my wits about me to deal with you anyway."

"So, you've decided to take me up on my suggestion?" Rory kept her eyes on her coffee, but Lindsay could sense the eagerness underlying the question.

"I'm giving it serious consideration. But if it's going to stand any chance of working, we've got to be up front with each other." Rory's head came up as she registered the seriousness of Lindsay's tone. The banter was over, and it was time to get down to business.

"Point taken. So, what do you want to know?"

Lindsay sucked some foam off her cappuccino and wiped her top lip clean. "My big reservation is that, initially, stories would only be coming my way on the basis of your reputation. Which obviously means you get first pick of whatever lands on the table. I have no idea what that means for me. If I'm just going to be running around doing the dross that doesn't interest you or that you think isn't worth your time and attention, then, frankly, I'm not interested."

Rory looked wounded. "No, that's not how I see it at all. See, the thing is, I already get more stuff coming to me than I can deal with. I end up selling stuff on as tips that I'd rather work myself, but if I'm in the middle of something big and I get a lead on a story that's time-sensitive, I have to let it go. The way I see it, when a story comes in, whichever one of us is free to take it runs with it. Anyway, the reputation you've got, you'll be pulling stories in yourself in no time."

Lindsay's eyebrows shot up. "The reputation I've got? Come on, Rory, I'm hardly a household name."

"I've just been in at the Standard, passing a tip on to Giles Graham. He remembers exactly who you are. And you didn't even work together. Your by-line will sell stories that I'd struggle to place. Lindsay, I'm not handing out charity here. You'd be doing me a favour by coming in with me."

Lindsay gave Rory a long, considering look. Sure, the kid was probably a bit starry-eyed about her, imagining a past crammed with glory days and 22-point by-lines. But surely that had to be better than trying single-handed to carve out a niche among the sceptical new faces that were running the newsdesks and magazine supplements these days?

It wasn't the hardest decision of her life. "OK. Let's give it a go. A month's trial, and at the end of it, either of us can walk away if it's not working out."

Rory punched the air. "Yes! That's brilliant, Lindsay. Hey, you won't regret this, you know."

I sincerely hope not, Lindsay thought. But she stifled her remaining reservations and extended a hand across the table. "Nor will you," she said.

"So, when do we start?"