And had she known of the level of interest in her comings and goings to and from Britain and within, she should have been worried. This was the fourth visit that she had made to Britain in almost as many months. The police and Border Agency might have admired her devotion to family in Manchester had they not known that she never in fact visited any of them. Having been steeped in the public-service ethos from her police and Border Agency days, spinning a story for the immigration officers went against the grain and usually put her on edge for a few hours after her arrival. But thoughts of her hostage son ensured that she adhered to her role. The flight from Shanghai had given Linda plenty of time to think about what she was doing, why she was doing it, and the rights and wrongs of it. Her anger and bitterness at being press-ganged into marriage far from home had long since given way to a grudging and necessary acceptance of a life of luxury that otherwise would have been totally beyond her.
