‘Technically, it’s a painkiller,’ Roth said. ‘At least, that’s how they envisaged it, when they invented it back in the fifties. Then, it was used solely as a medical drug. Before long they started putting it in patches, and fuckin’ lollipops, and pretty soon after that it was all over the place. Over time the lines between medicinal and recreational applications became kind of blurred, like they are with morphine.’

‘Except that fentanyl is between fifty and a hundred times more potent than morphine,’ Segal said. ‘Which is the main reason for its far greater popularity among the increasingly drug-dependent Western public. Fatal overdoses from prescription and non-prescription pain-relieving medications are outstripping the likes of heroin by a greater and greater margin each year. The modern synthetic opioid crisis is a fast-growing problem, with fentanyl emerging as its biggest contender. All the bans and regulations in the world can’t stem the supply. Not with four hundred thousand manufacturers across China generating over a hundred billion dollars annually.’

‘And it’s toxic as hell,’ Roth said. ‘Drug squad dogs trained to sniff out heroin or coke all day long will die if they get just a tiny whiff of fentanyl fumes. Some addict who gets through thirty to forty bags of smack a day can use a single bag of fentanyl and drop dead on the spot. A quarter gram dose can be fatal. One pound of it is enough to kill two hundred thousand people. And one ton? We are talking major kick-ass lethality. A chemical weapon of mass destruction.’

‘The maths are pretty simple,’ Segal said gravely. ‘One ton of pure fentanyl is sufficient to kill four hundred million people.’

Ben looked at Roth, then at Segal. It seemed like an impossible number. His mind began to swim. ‘That’s more than double the population of Western Europe.’

‘And they’ve got nine times that quantity,’ Roth said.

‘That’s not all,’ Segal said. ‘It gets worse again.’

Chapter 49

‘How can it get any worse?’ Ben said.

Roth laughed. ‘This guy’s a hoot. I can’t wait to hear the punchline.’