“I do dislike having to deal with people who are so confident in their own abilities they refuse to accept our assistance,” Harry said, having returned to the Grid after what must have been an unsatisfactory meeting. “Especially when others will suffer because of it.”

“I assume Sir James Weatherall refused your offer of a security check before he holds his top level meeting,” Ros said.

“Correct, he tells me that everything is so safe, not even an animal could get in.”

“Definitely over-confident,” Adam agreed. “What did you have in mind? Discretely introducing a few mice?”

Lucas nodded. “You’re never more than six foot from a rat.”

“Or how about a plague of locusts?” Malcolm asked.

“Nothing so complicated. There’s a reception on Monday to which I have been invited to bring two colleagues, just so they can demonstrate how good their security is. It happens to be a full moon…”

“So you would like a certain werewolf to make an appearance,” Ros said.

“But would it be safe?” Adam asked.

“I think it would be a good test. If the werewolf judges that he’s in any danger, then he won’t come in. And if he does get in, we’ve proved our point with time left to put the necessary security in place before the main meeting happens.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Malcolm agreed. “Are you okay with that, Lucas?”

“Yes. And the timing is ideal, because I can tell you on the Tuesday anything I’ve learnt, although it might put the meeting back a bit.” He looked over at Harry.

“I don’t think that should be a problem,” Harry said.

***

The reception was going well when an aide hurried in and said urgently, “Sir James, I think you should come out here.”

Weatherell strode into the hallway, followed by a few others, including Harry, Ros and Adam. He stopped abruptly and demanded, “What is that, that animal doing in here?” He turned and glared at Harry.

“Maybe he heard there was a buffet,” Harry said.

Hearing that, the werewolf wagged his tail, causing everyone except Weatherell to laugh.

“Pearce,” Weatherell said, “in the circumstances you’d better do a quick survey and see what you can spot. I don’t want anything to delay the meeting.”

Harry sighed. “I’m not sure we can get it all done by first thing tomorrow, not if we’re going to do it properly.”

“Well, make it by lunchtime then! It might give my men a chance to sort out what’s affecting our landline wires.”

With that he stormed back into the reception.

“It probably isn’t the best time to tell Sir James that the squirrels have been chewing on the wires,” the aide muttered to Adam.