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seeing his mocking expression. “She’s the first close friend I’ve had who’s been pregnant. I wanted to be prepared if anything happened to her!”
    He chuckled. “See? This is that whole micromanagement thing again. Pretty sure the UN has a couple of actual medical doctors on staff somewhere.”
    “Oh, shut up,” she said, jabbing him again. “The point is, it made me realize that the odds of anythinggoing wrong with Lola’s pregnancy were pretty low—but the risks start rising once a woman gets to my age.”
    “But they should
still
be pretty low,” Eddie said. “I mean, you’re in good nick—you exercise, you’re not a lard-arse, you don’t eat junk, you don’t even drink all that much anymore. And I’m still in exactly the same shape I was in when I left the SAS.”
    Nina eyed his midsection skeptically. “Uh-huh.”
    He made a rude sound. “Okay, so maybe I’ve put on a
little
weight in nine years. But I’m not spending every day running twenty miles with a full pack of gear anymore, so what do you expect? Anyway, we’re both in decent nick, so that should put us in a better position than most people our age right from the start.”
    “It’s not just about health, though. There are some things that are still a danger even if both people are in perfect condition. I don’t want to be morbid and depressing, but the chances of a miscarriage go up enormously after thirty. And then there are higher risks of delivery complications, birth defects—”
    “Birth defects?” Eddie said sharply, straightening.
    “Yeah, I’m afraid so. Autism’s more common in kids with older parents, as well as Down syndrome and other genetic disorders.” She took in his oddly stricken expression. “What’s wrong? Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring you down so much.”
    He shook his head. “No, it’s okay.”
    “Is that something you’re worried about?” But there was something deeper to his reaction, she realized. “Something you’ve seen?”
    His reply took a moment in coming. “Yeah.”
    “Where?”
    “On a job,” he said, tone becoming brusquer. “Can’t talk about it.”
    After six years together, she was attuned enough to her husband to pick up the nuances of those rare occasions when he discussed his professional past—first as a British special forces soldier, then a hired troubleshooter. “A job, not a mission?” The difference was small, but crucial. The latter were covered by the lawsof state security; any secrets from the second stage of his career, however, would be kept for more personal reasons.
    “Doesn’t matter. Let’s just say I’ve seen that kind of stuff. And that I don’t really want to talk about it.”
    Nina decided not to push him. “Okay, no problem. You and your secrets, though,” she continued, deliberately teasing in the hope of changing the subject. “I think I know you fairly well by now. And after everything we’ve been through together, I can’t believe there’s anything in your past that could shock me.”
    Eddie smiled. “Nah, probably not.”
    But she couldn’t help noticing that he hesitated before replying.

2
London
Eight Years Earlier
    Eddie Chase stared disconsolately up at the flaking ceiling, debating whether it was worth getting out of bed.
    There was little to look forward to if he did. It was unseasonably hot and unpleasantly humid, the temperature in the cramped studio flat already oppressive even at this time of the morning, but things would be no better outside. He had no job, was almost out of money … and in the middle of a bitter separation from his wife.
    What the hell had gone wrong? He and Sophia had married less than a year and a half earlier, in a mad whirlwind of passion that he thought would last forever. But everything collapsed with shocking suddenness, leaving him stunned and blinking in the wreckage.
    The wedding—practically an elopement—was only a month after they met, so the first time Chase was introduced to