«We thought we might be of some assistance.» King Isabel Carlos II faced each volunteer in turn, not smiling but assessing them with solemn, grateful calm. «Who is in charge here?»

«Ge… eh… we…» After a quick scan of her panicked fellows, the Deputy Counsel Marden Navarro settled on, «We don’t know,» but her silent eyes answered just as clearly, «You are now, Your Majesty,» perhaps adding, «praise God.»

Spain’s nod thanked her. «Chair Kosala should arrive shortly with disaster relief. Meanwhile, we should forget the EU lines of succession and start to examine the lines of succession of the nation-strats to find substitutes to repopulate the Parliament and European Council, and arrange a broadcast to calm the press. Scaliger and De Vries»—even Perry’s people he knew by name—«can you two help my former Press Secretary draft a statement?»

«Of course, Your Majesty!»

Further commands from Spain and Spain’s staff rained like healing dew upon the room. Panic turned to action as experienced hands plucked out folders and backup discs, not much changed from their arrangement of five years before.

“¡Everyone’s dead, Your Majesty!” Navarro lapsed into Spanish with her King, as if that small comfort might soften the news. “¡Even the ones who weren’t at Parliament¡ Council Members, MPs, and others. ¡They’ve all been murdered!”

«I know. It was Merion Kraye. That is Casimir Perry.» The King did not chide his subject, but would not let his royal title hijack any facet of that office: not its powers, not its titles, not its French. «I received a message from Kraye just after the first missiles hit. It’s a prerecorded confession. I have already sent it on to Papadelias. Kraye intentionally gathered as many officials as they could at Parliament before the attack, and published the whereabouts of others on the net so mobs could find them if Kraye’s own agents failed.»

«Then Kraye—Perry—planned the missiles!»

«They expected an attack. We can’t be certain yet if they arranged the missiles or trusted public wrath to do so, but the rest of the deaths, those who weren’t lured to Parliament, those I’m sure they planned.»

«How?»

Perhaps His Majesty had already guessed what forces Kraye had gathered, Madame’s castaways, hundreds, burning for vengeance, happy to be aimed like bullets at the clients and allies of she who had destroyed their loves and lives. But if he knew, the King knew too that there is a time for details, and a time for action. «Deloucé, call the stock exchange, make sure it’s shut down. Czerwinski, call the Mayor’s office and get a report on what emergency action they’ve taken. Southcot, go through the list of building staff and confirm who is physically here, who is missing, and who is dead. Tiburon, tune in to the three emergency broadcast channels, Brussels’s, Papadelias’s, and Romanova’s, and keep us updated.» His Majesty paused, spotting tremors in many hands. «I am asking you to exceed your duties, not your capacities. This crisis is a horror beyond what anyone should have to face, but it is not beyond what the human race has faced in the past, and overcome. We are not weaker than our ancestors. We will do this.» Spain hesitated, but accepted as the Deputy Council offered him the Prime Minister’s chair. «I know it is an unendurable task, Navarro, but I must ask you go through the Parliamentary and Consiliar Rosters name by name a second time. In crisis there is a tendency to declare the missing dead before it is known with certainty. There must be some who slipped through Kraye’s net.»