From Fitzroy's Private Diary (Extract 92)

I have, more than once, had to assassinate someone I liked. I don’t mean the occasional casualty that falls by the wayside on a mission where I end up terminating someone in self defence, or because they stand between me and the completion of my mission. In the latter case, I try to ensure there is no other way. Even when defending myself, I am always looking for an exit rather than a death. However, if it looks increasingly likely my death is on the cards, then I do what’s necessary.

The difference with assassination is that you are sent specifically to kill someone. You are told by someone senior to yourself that the death of the target is crucial to the Empire, King and County. Then you do you duty. There is no pleasure taken in it. Or there damn well better not be from anyone that I’ve trained. We are not a department of psychopaths. This is crucial. The taking of a life, in peacetime or in wartime, is a most serious matter and should never be taken lightly.

When I first encountered the service, I was asked to do small tasks. This and that. Convey things to certain places, look out for what is happening in an area I was passing through as a tourist, or go to a party to retrieve information or listen in on gossip. Over time things changed and I went from eavesdropping on gossip to being asked to start it by the spreading of rumours. Then I was asked to find out information less through direct conversation and more though cultivating assets who would be willing, and able, to pass such information onto me. Cultivating, in this sense, can mean everything from bribes to seduction. In general, the method of ensnaring the assets was left up to me.

But, when I officially became a Field Agent for SIS, in that I got my little badge and my monthly pittance - which barely covers the cost of my silk socks and couldn’t buy a pair of my handmade shoes - my training was formalised.

I’ll note here that it was important in the early days of the service that agents were financially well off. Not only did the department have a ridiculously small budget, but the ‘right kind’ of people, in the department’s view, were of the upper classes, and were rich enough that they could not be bribed.

The point of needing them to be upper class is complete tosh, of course. A working-class man can be as proud and as loyal to the Empire as any upper-class gentleman. Indeed, in many cases, more so.

But the confirmation of one’s status in the service is confirmed by training in assassination. I should be clear that the service prefers not to assassinate people. Besides not being barbarians, assassination, even when you make it look like an accident, frequently causes more trouble than it is worth. It’s far better to discredit or impugn someone than to kill them. You have no risk of ensuing martyrdom and the besmirched target generally loses not only his friends but his followers (political or otherwise) and any ideology he’s been proselytising is sunk before reproach.

So, to be asked to assassinate someone is rare. So rare that it may never happen to an agent in their whole career. However, should one be called upon to do the deed, the department needs to know you will not hesitate, you will not question, and you will your duty, no matter how distressing this may be. And, throughout the experience, you will keep a stiff upper lip and find no gratification in the act, other than from serving King and Country. You will also, naturally, be disavowed if you mess it up.

I have been called upon to assassinate people I both respect and like. In each case I was instructed by a senior officer whom I trusted, and, in each case, I could see why it needed done. I hated each and every moment, but I did my duty regardless.

I believe that, even if I was asked to perform such a duty, in circumstances that I did not understand, providing I trust the department member who assigned me the mission, I should do my duty. Should I ever be asked by a department official that I do not trust, I am unsure how I would respond. My trust is not easily given. Good intentions alone do not win it. I only follow orders from people who I believe know what they are doing. This is a problem and the main reason that I am regarded as a maverick. If I wasn’t as good at the job as I am, and if I didn’t know all that I did, I wouldn’t be surprised to have been disavowed years ago. However, there are times, when it seems to me, that intelligent men (and now women) in powerful positions grow fewer in number by the day. This is of considerable concern to anyone with any sense.