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Back The Beast Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. THE BEAST
  3. About The Beast
  4. Contents
  5. Epigraph
  6. Tuesday
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. Wednesday
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. Thursday
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. 33
  42. Acknowledgments
  43. About Alexander Starritt
  44. More from Apollo
  45. About Apollo
  46. Copyright

Around him, the Beast was yawning, stretching out, waking up. At his back, he could hear the Sport subs throwing biscuits at each other. To his right, Turkish Anna and her assistants were answering the phones with their traditional ‘Bonjoo-er, Pictures’. Ahead of him, the bright wall of projected TV continuously shifted. In every direction out from the focal point at which he sat were hundreds of other hacks, chatting, typing, butchering the outside world into its various cuts: News, Features, Travel, Personal Finance, Health, Politics, Diary, Property & Gardening…

‘Fine,’ said Max, though Jeremy could see that he was still treating him carefully. ‘Once you’re settled in, can you pick up a Tragic Schoolgirl?’

So here he was, back at the bottom of the heap, being told which stories to pick up. ‘Got it.’

Max watched him, wondering whether he should make the natural joke about not meaning that Jez should pick up real live schoolgirls. Maybe he could be needled out of his despondency. But if Jez just got back into the work, he thought, it would all settle itself. ‘Totally straight-up-and-down story. Nothing unusual about it.’

Something popped into Jeremy’s mind. He said, ‘Actually, I just saw something quite strange outside.’

‘Was it the English summer?’

‘No, it—’

‘Was it someone paying money for a copy of the Impartial?’

‘No, it—’

‘Was it—?’

The chief sub reappeared at Jeremy’s shoulder, grinning horribly. ‘What was it, Jez? Go on, tell us, Jez, tell us, Jez, tell us, Jez. What was the strange thing you saw?’

Jeremy recoiled from him. ‘Nothing that interesting. Just these two people in burqas.’

And with that, the terrible machinery of the Beast was set in motion.

4

The two figures in burqas were still outside the building. They’d wandered a little way down the short street, consulted an iPhone, and returned to stand under the old-fashioned clock. One of them, Aisha, said to her cousin Leila, who was visiting from Abu Dhabi: ‘I’m sure there’s meant to be a Whole Foods here. Google Maps said it was in this building.’