They were bundled down the steps into the garden, towards the main entrance, and Alison realized that this was it. Whatever piece of grand theft, espionage or ritual sacrifice they meant, it was to happen in this ludicrously grandiose setting. She tried to shout, then. It was surprisingly hard to, because it felt so very un-British. Yes, she was being abducted by murderous brutes, but was that really any reason to compromise her dignity? And yet she got a yell out as they hustled her down the stairs. She shouted for help at the top of her voice. Cried out until the echo came back to her from the ornate walls of the huge building. There must be security, police—someone.

There was a distant jeering cry, her only response: some late-night partygoer who’d interpreted her yells as drunken revelry. Beyond that, nothing, and a hand like a lead weight on her shoulder.

“No more of that.” The big man looked embarrassed for her.

“I will not cooperate with you,” she told his broad, brutal face. “You’re going to have to kill me.”

If anything, the prospect seemed to depress him.

“All be over soon,” he promised, which probably wasn’t the reassurance he intended.

Then they were up the grand steps and through the front doors, held open by another of the same ilk, this one wearing a uniform jacket over his shoulders like a short cape. Museum security, only I can’t see him getting past the interview stage. She felt sick, and hoped the jacket’s original owner was all right somehow.

There was another pair already in the entrance hall, beneath the arching blue whale skeleton suspended above. A third was stationed up the stairs by Darwin’s statue, as though she had a critique to give about On the Origin of Species. The team who had brought in Alison and Khan started touching fingers and faces again, something between a catch-up and a business handshake.

“Stay here. Don’t make trouble, please,” Alison’s captor said. “Then we are gone, and you can be home, with your pet.” His wide face contorted itself, burlesquing sincerity. “This is all for the good. We are not your enemies. We will not hurt you. Kay’mal Khan has told you what this is. Do not interfere or it is dangerous. Please.”