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Back A Shadow Intelligence
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Oliver Harris
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. FORTY-FOUR
  47. FORTY-FIVE
  48. FORTY-SIX
  49. FORTY-SEVEN
  50. FORTY-EIGHT
  51. FORTY-NINE
  52. FIFTY
  53. FIFTY-ONE
  54. FIFTY-TWO
  55. FIFTY-THREE
  56. FIFTY-FOUR
  57. FIFTY-FIVE
  58. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I helped him finish the Cristal. He had that early-stage alcoholism where inebriation hits sudden and profound. When he leaned in to speak our stubble rubbed and his hand found my knee. The coke didn’t seem to have sharpened him.

‘You shouldn’t drive,’ he said. ‘We can share a cab.’

It was an interesting proposition.

We got a cab back to his. At a new development behind the governmental district, Bryant told the driver to stop. He clambered out, sank to his knees in the snow, the driver shaking his head as he waited for his fare. I paid, helped Bryant up and got him into the right block and to his door. The flat itself was plush, impersonal, with a lot of grey and white. He sat on the sofa and watched me, a slow, seedy smile spreading as if he’d realised something, then fell asleep in his suit. I searched the place, then searched his phone. ‘Vanessa Campaigner’. I scrolled back to their earliest exchanges. She had sent the first message.

It’s Vanessa. You were great. I don’t know what you were worrying about. I owe you that drink.

To which Bryant replied:

Glad I didn’t embarrass myself. Things are crazy at moment. Next week?

I can wait ; )

I had never known Joanna to use an emoji. But then she’d never formally asked me out for a drink. From what I could tell, Bryant wasn’t chasing any other women in Astana or anywhere else.

You never know with people. That was what I’d learned in fifteen years manipulating their souls. The closer you look, the more things come apart. One of the big shocks is how readily people will remake themselves for you, shape themselves to your own desires. The power could go to your head.

I saw his dilated pupils in the light of the Chocolate Room. You’re going to need a stomach for risk. He’d run a long way from Idaho, that was for sure. I took a photo of his door keys, left him snoring.

TWENTY-ONE

I got a cab back to the club to pick my car up. I didn’t want to leave it there overnight. And I was still wide awake with champagne and adrenalin.

My Hyundai was where I’d left it, windows intact. I pushed the snow off the windscreen and got in.

A car screeched to a stop in front of me as soon as I pulled out, blocking my way. It gave a brief flash of police lights. I turned my engine off as a man clambered out. He was uniformed. No backup vehicles. One man remained in the police car.