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“She’d seen some documents. Ones Woodford had kept from her.”

“Did she agree to do it?” It was the vital question.

“She wasn’t happy. But she agreed. You?”

“Ferguson palmed it,” said Gamache. “What he does with it is another matter.”

“At least he didn’t give it to the PM,” said Isabelle. “So, the Prime Minister is behind all this.”

Gamache nodded. When they’d arrived, they weren’t sure how deep into it the PM was, if at all. Which was why all this was necessary.

“We still have no proof,” said Gamache.

“The video?” said Shona, sitting up now and feeling less like she was about to throw up and pass out. Maybe one or the other, but not both. “Won’t that be enough?”

“Non,” said Lacoste. “All it proves is that he lost his temper. There’ll be blowback, but he’ll manage it.”

“He threatened a journalist and had two senior Sûreté officers beaten,” said Shona. “He can’t survive that, politically, can he?”

“It can be explained away,” said Gamache, “as a strong leader in a time of stress pushed to do something drastic to stop a lunatic—”

“You,” said Shona.

“—from seriously damaging international relations and maybe even provoking a conflict.”

“Would anyone believe that?” asked Shona.

“Millions believe Canada is training geese to down planes,” Lacoste reminded her.

“Napoleon is always right,” said Gamache.

“We’re fucked, aren’t we. Still, the geese … maybe not such a bad plan…”

“We need evidence,” said Gamache. “The video will help, but we need more.”

“We have the link to War Plan Red,” said Shona. “The one your person found. I sent it to Paul. If anything happens to us, he’ll release that.”

“Oui. But it’s from a site known to contain wild conspiracies,” said Gamache. “Non. Not enough.”

“Do you think Prime Minister Woodford realizes we know he’s the one behind what’s happening?”

“He does now,” said Lacoste.

“That was always the risk,” said Gamache.

They were deep inside the Parliament Buildings, and the wolf was at the door. They had to find a way out.

He turned to Isabelle. “Does it seem to you—”

“—that the guard pulled her blows? Oui. She knew exactly what she was doing. It could have been much worse.”

And would almost certainly be. Woodford could not let them leave. Ever.

In his Toronto office, Paul Workman, the former Chief Foreign Correspondent for CTV News and the most respected journalist in Canada, watched the videos. They’d come in from two difference sources, two separate phones. One was from his protégée, Shona Dorion. She’d warned him something was coming, but had not said it was this explosive.

The other, incredibly, appeared to be from the phone belonging to Manon Payette, Prime Minister Woodford’s Chief of Staff.

They hadn’t just been recording the events, they’d been streaming it to him. Which was very bad news for the PM. Woodford must’ve thought in taking away Shona’s phone he’d contained the damage. Instead, he’d only managed to make it worse.