Finally, when he felt that everything had been drained from him, a new syringe was inserted into his vein, and a bucket of water was thrown in his face. He snapped to full consciousness, his heart racing.

“Take him,” his interrogator said.

The two men unlocked his shackles and marched him back upstairs to his bedroom and into the bath. “Clean yourself up,” one of the men said, and he was left alone.

He used the toilet, emptying his bowels, then threw the soiled suit into a laundry hamper, shaved, showered, and flung himself into bed. A half hour passed before his pulse began to return to normal, then he fell asleep.

He came awake with someone kissing him on an ear.

“Wake up, my darling,” Jennifer said. She helped him sit up and get into some clothes. By the time he had dressed he was feeling fairly normal again. “It’s time for dinner,” she said, then walked him downstairs and onto the terrace, where a table had been set again.

Alex was already seated, eating caviar with a spoon and washing it down with iced vodka. “Sit down, Roger, sit down,” he said jovially.

Roger dug into the caviar and blinis, the first food he had eaten all day.

“You did quite well today,” Alex said.

“Did I? How?”

“You made them believe you. Either you told them the truth, or MI-6 trained you very well to withstand interrogation.”

Roger shook his head. “No.”

“No, what?”

“No, they didn’t train me for that. I never attended their training school.”

“I’m sorry I disappeared today,” Alex said, “but your interrogation required that more than one officer question you. Fortunately for you, both of us came to the same conclusion: that you were truthful.”

“I don’t remember much of what they asked me,” Roger said.

“That is the effect of the drugs you were given. A subject can be interrogated, then forget, and, if he is interrogated again, his answers can be compared to the transcript of his earlier session. Good, no?”

“If you say so.” Half a roast chicken was set before him, and he tore into it with his fingers, washing it down with wine.

He did not begin to feel full until he ate ice cream for dessert.

“You are tired,” Alex said. “You should go to bed now. You and I will meet in the morning, then you will be returned to England.”

Roger said good night, then left the table with Jennifer in tow. She got him into bed, serviced him orally, then tucked him in.

—

The following morning, after a hearty breakfast, he sat down with Alex in the library.