When a man with a gun breaks into her school, nursery teacher Louise Kennedy knows there's not likely to be a happy ending... But Jaime isn't there on a homicidal whim, and is as scared as the hostages he's taken. While an armed police presence builds up outside, he'll only talk to Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant who worked with his lover, Miro. Miro's gone missing, along with a huge sum of money intended for reconstruction work in Iraq. Jaime doesn't believe Miro's a thief - though he certainly had secrets. But then, so does Louise; so do the other hostages; and so do some of those on the outside, who'd much rather Jaime was silenced...