But he needed those passports. Of all of us I think it was Silver who was most committed to the protection and ultimate rescue of the people at 4E. Wim and I, Judy, even Liv, wished them well, felt they had been badly treated and wanted to get them out of there and safely bound for some distant freedom. But if the difficulties had seemed too great, the odds too stacked against us, we’d have given up. We’d have told them there was no more we could do beyond bringing them food. Silver went much further than that. Rescuing Andrew and Alison and keeping Jason with them was a passion, nothing deflected him from his object. So however bad Jonny might be, however nauseating it was to listen to his insulting words and understand that everything he did was motivated by greed and a compulsion to take revenge on society, Silver knew he needed him and that without his help he couldn’t proceed with our plan. He waited for Jonny to ask for some of the payment in advance and Jonny did ask. He had upped the figure and now wanted £7,000 for the the three passports, £2,000 to be a down payment.

“I thought I was a sort of citizen of the world,” Silver said, “free and class-less. A Robin Hood/Scarlet Pimpernel kind of character, equally happy in the company of villains as of nobs. As at home with the crooked as with the straight. I’m learning how deeply conformist I am. I offered him a check. He laughed. That laughter taught me a lot, among other things that my belief he liked me was just illusion. He never liked me, he never thought about it. I was useful and he used me. Of course he wouldn’t take a check. He was amazed, he said, that I hadn’t brought cash with me. As soon as the bank opened this morning he came with me and I drew the money out.”

“If it’s invested,” I said, knowing very little about these things, “didn’t you have to give them notice you wanted to draw such a large sum? Didn’t you have to get your stockbroker or whatever to sell some of them?”