“Well, at one point during the run-up to all this, Isaac lets slip . . . sort of hints . . . that he’s built a . . . a working crisis engine . . . d’you know what that means?”

The man’s face was set hard and his eyes were very wide.

“I am a liaison for those who report from Brock Marsh,” he hissed. “I know what it would mean . . . it cannot . . . is it . . . Wait a minute, that would make no sense . . . is it . . . is it true?” For the first time, the man seemed truly rattled.

“I don’t know,” said David hopelessly. “But he wasn’t boasting . . . he sort of mentioned it in passing . . . I just . . . have no idea. But I know that’s what he’s been working on, on and off, for years and fucking years . . .”

There was a long time of silence, when the man on the bed looked thoughtfully into the far corner of the room. His face ran a quick gamut of emotions. He looked thoughtfully at David. “How do you know all this?” he said.

“ ’Zaac trusts me,” said David (and that place inside him winced again, and he ignored it again). “At first this woman . . .”

“Name?” interrupted the man.

David hesitated.

“Derkhan Blueday,” he muttered eventually. “So Blueday, at first she’s really chary of talking in front of me, but Isaac . . . he vouches for me. He knows my politics, we’ve done demos together . . .” (again that wince: you have no politics, you fucking traitor) “It’s just that at a time like this . . .” he hesitated, unhappy. The man waved peremptorily. He had no interest in David’s guilt, or his rationalizations. “So Isaac tells her she can trust me and she tells us everything.”

There was a long time of silence. The man on the bed waited. David shrugged.

“That’s all I know,” he whispered.

The man nodded and stood.

“Right,” he said. “That’s all . . . extremely useful. We’ll probably have to bring your friend Isaac in. Don’t worry,” he added with a reassuring smile. “We’ve no interest in disposing of him, I promise. We may just need his help. You’re right, obviously. There is a . . . circle to be squared, connections to be made, and you’re not in a position to do it, and we might be. With Isaac’s help.

“You’re going to have to stay in touch,” said the man. “You’ll receive written instructions. Be sure to obey them. Obviously I don’t have to stress that, do I? We’ll make sure der Grimnebulin doesn’t know where our information comes from. We may not move for a few days . . . don’t panic. That’s our affair. Just you stay quiet, and try to keep der Grimnebulin doing what he’s doing. All right?”

David nodded miserably. He waited. The man looked at him sharply.

“That’s all,” he said. “You can go.”