Wolf turned and locked the doors shut. A sea of bewildered and terrified faces stared at the three gunmen. ‘What do you want with us?’ quavered a voice from the back.

‘You can start by telling us where Van Brakel and Saunders are,’ Ben said.

Someone replied, ‘If you mean Fitzroy, they were here, but they left before the ceremony.’

‘Fitzroy. So that’s his real name,’ Wolf said.

‘Why did they go?’

‘I don’t know!’

‘Where are they now?’

‘I don’t know!’

‘But you do know plenty,’ Jeff said, taking out a phone. ‘And now you’re going to start talking. It’s confession time, ladies.’ He set the phone to video record and aimed the camera at the sea of faces.

‘Let me go and I’ll confess everything!’ one of them shouted, cracking. ‘I am a member of the Order of Thoth! I—’

‘Quiet!’ yelled another voice from the crowd, and a gaunt, bald man stepped forward. His face was flushed and contorted with rage and he jabbed an accusing finger at his fellows. ‘Don’t tell them anything, Brothers!’ He turned to Ben. ‘If you think you can expose us, think again. Who do you think owns the media, you fools? We’re the ones who tell the newspapers what to write. We dictate the facts that the public believe. Your claims will be discredited as fake news. Conspiracy theories. Hate speech. Nobody will ever take you seriously. Nothing you can do will make a jot of difference!’

‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that,’ Wolf said.

‘Set us free and we’ll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams!’ screamed another man, pushing the gaunt one out of the way.

‘Think you can buy anything, don’t you?’ Jeff said, recording every word. ‘How much did you pay the kidnappers to bring you the girl you were going to murder tonight? How much for the baby?’

‘Ask them how much Tristan Dudley stood to gain from sacrificing his daughter Annie to them,’ Wolf said. ‘Ask them how much their Grand Master paid to have Anthony Abbott murdered before he could blow the whistle on the whole gang.’

‘Fuck you!’ screamed the gaunt man, veins writhing like snakes in his temples and his eyes popping with hate. ‘May the wrath of our Lord Lucifer drag you to hell and roast the flesh from your bones! Death to the unbelievers! Ave Satanas! Ave Satanas!’

Ben wanted to step in and beat him down, but the camera was rolling and it was giving them exactly what Jasper Shelton needed to blow the world away.

Then everything changed. As the gaunt man opened his mouth to scream something more, his words were overlaid by a clattering roar from outside that seemed to have come out of nowhere and was suddenly so loud that it rattled the banquet room’s window panes.