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Russians or the Chinese get to Lhasa first, we re going to need Tibet, and
they us. We re sending a political officer out this summer, but that s all
bells and whistles. We need someone who can see outside the diplomatic circle,
and O Hara knows the ground as a tongue knows its teeth. He paused, to watch
a pair of small black-headed birds dive at the fountain, and gave an almost
imperceptible sigh.
 Still, that is not the main consideration here. What it boils down to is,
O Hara s one of ours, and we want to know where he is.
 And, perhaps, to know if he actually is still  yours ?
Nesbit stood abruptly, taking three quick steps to bend over a fairly
unexceptional flower. When he spoke, his voice was even but taut.  I refuse to
believe that O Hara has turned coat. I worked with the man. He is the King s
man to his bones.
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I waited for Holmes to agree, but he said nothing. Clearly, he had been
rethinking the question since his vehement declaration in Mycroft s rooms
three weeks before. It sounded to me as if he was no longer quite so certain
of Mr O Hara s bone-deep loyalties.
Holmes allowed the silence to hold for a while. Nesbit prowled up and down,
gravel crunching under his soft shoes, until Holmes spoke.
 How many other agents have you lost in recent years?
 That depends on what you mean by  lost. 
 Any of the word s definitions will do, Holmes said irritably.
 Sorry, Nesbit said, coming back to his bench.  I don t mean to evade your
question. It is merely that the answer is difficult to give. In the sense that
we ve  lost O Hara, there have been four others in the past thirty months. In
England, or if they were Army, that number would be alarming. But here, it s
commonplace to go months, even years without hearing from one of our
 pundits, as the native agents are called it s often just not possible for a
man to report in. And frankly, I expect that one or two of those missing
simply decided that their period of service was over and slipped quietly back
to their families. I am aware of three other such who informed us openly of
their retirement from The Game. All of whom, I have confirmed, are healthy and
home, thank you very much. It is more than possible that the four missing
agents have done the same, merely neglecting to tell us which would be a
typically Indian way to do things, by the way. Indians hate to disappoint a
person to his face, and often say yes to something they know they can t
provide. I shouldn t have expected the attitude from O Hara, but it s not
beyond the imagination. We ve made enquiries for him in all the obvious
places, including his old lama s home monastery. He s either not there, or
won t respond.
 And what about the other sense of  lost ? Holmes pressed.
Nesbit s green eyes wandered across to the playing fountain.  Three. All in
the last nine months. John Forbes, Mohammed Talibi, and a new man just a
boy Rupert Bartholomew. All good men. All dead.
 How?
 One shot, one knifed, one strangled. He paused, and then gave us the worst.
 All tortured first, beaten and burnt.
It was suddenly all too clear why Mycroft had sent us.
 You have a traitor in the ranks, Holmes said.
The handsome face grew still, as if movement might bring a return of pain.
After a moment, he nodded, once.
 I no longer know whom I can trust. Even Hari, who has been with me for
twelve years, even him . . . Nesbit broke off, to dig a silver case from a
pocket and light a cigarette, pinching the match between his fingers and
tucking it back into the case.  I begin to understand how the officers must
have felt during the Mutiny. Their own men, men they d fought beside, marched
with, trusted with their lives with the lives of their wives and children, for
God s sake turning on them, slaughtering them. And five years ago, I saw
Jallianwala Bagh, the morning after. I saw the results of Dyer s order to fire
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