The Warsaw Protocol #4 in Marcus Vane Series

Chapter 1: The Wrong Funeral The man in the third row is not supposed to be alive. Marcus Vane sees him at nine-fourteen on a Tuesday morning in the Chapel of Rest at Kensal Green Cemetery, at the funeral of a retired GCHQ analyst named Arthur Pemberton, who died of a heart attack six days ago in his sleep. Marcus clocks him in the first sweep of the room. Trained habit — entry, seating, exits, faces. He is in the back row. The dead man is in the third. Blue tie. Dark suit. Order of service held in both hands, reading with the attentiveness of someone performing normality. His name is Teodor Nowak. Former Polish ABW intelligence officer. Confirmed dead eighteen months ago in a car accident outside Warsaw. The death was verified by Polish authorities, the German BND, and MI6's Warsaw station. Three independent confirmations. A sealed file. The organ is playing. The congregation is bowing heads. Marcus is the only person in the room who is not here to grieve Arthur Pemberton.