Roger Fane complements Laura Marshall, his step-daughter, on the way she kept tabs on Bill Kirby after he left the Channel Ferry and asks her to maintain contact. He explains that he fears that Kirby has learned something vital that could be put to use to the detriment of the British government if he chooses to pass it on the wrong hands. Kirby takes a leave of absence from the his job as an insurance salesman. After failing to make contact with the intelligence community using a go-between, he discovers a friend on a rural road with a bullet in the back of his head.