For a long time, Jessica Mazziarello has been intrigued by the derring-do of real and fictional spies, like Mata Hari and James Bond. She decides to follow her tutor's advice to follow a diplomatic career and applies to HMDS to join. Her name is already on MI5's list as a potential recruit. During her research of family history, she discovers that her late paternal grandfather was a Sicilian once suspected of being a member of the mafia and that could jeopardise her application. Other factors, like the pandemic and the lockdown, make her life quite problematic.