‘They brought both of us here, I have to assume. They injected me with a knockout drug. You too?’

‘Yes.’

‘I haven’t seen anyone – apart from you – since I came to.’

‘What in Christ’s name is going on?’

‘Never mind Christ. What’s your name?’

‘Nick Miller.’

‘Means nothing to me. I’m Michaela Morrisette. You look like that means nothing to you either.’

‘It doesn’t.’

‘But we’re here for the same reason, aren’t we? We must be. We’re being held prisoner.’ She rattled the padlocked hasp on the door of her cage. ‘The question is who by? And why?’

‘Any ideas?’

‘Just one, Nick. And it’s not good news if I’m right. Nishizaki.’ She saw Nick’s grimace of recognition at her mention of the name and nodded, as if her worst fears had been confirmed. ‘I see you know him.’

‘Know of him. You?’

‘We’ve had dealings. What about Peter Driscoll? Ah. I see you know him too.’

‘Why should having Nishizaki and Driscoll as … mutual acquaintances … land us here?’

‘You really have no clue?’

Nick did have a clue, of course, though it wasn’t any more than that. Michaela Morrisette, on the other hand, appeared to understand exactly why this had happened to her, if not to him. ‘Look, if you know why we’ve been brought here, just tell me, will you?’

‘OK. Well, I’m a climatologist at Cambridge University. I did some research work for Driscoll’s company, Quartizon, and therefore, indirectly, for Nishizaki.’

‘You worked on the Emergence project?’

She frowned. ‘What do you know about that?’

‘There was an auction in Reykjavík last week. Options on parcels of land were sold for huge sums of money.’

‘Yeah. So I heard. Backed up by my research. Except many of those options weren’t backed up by my research. A lot of fraud went down at that auction. When I found out about it, I raised hell with Driscoll and Nishizaki. Next thing I know … I’m here. So, why are you here?’

Yes. Why was he? There could only be one explanation. And as Michaela had said, it wasn’t good news. ‘Driscoll and Nishizaki used to be allies. I don’t think they are any more.’

‘And so? Which of them had us kidnapped?’

‘It has to be Nishizaki.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m …’

‘Yeah? What are you?’

Nick hesitated. But, in the end, there was nothing to be gained by holding out on his fellow captive. ‘I’m Driscoll’s son.’

‘You’re his son?’

‘I only found out recently. I’ve never actually met him. But, yes, I’m his son.’

‘And Nishizaki knows that?’

‘I reckon he must.’

‘Jesus.’ Michaela aimed a kick at the bucket in her cage. It crashed against the wall and fell on its side. ‘I guess I won’t be doing that again if we’re here any length of time.’