‘Some of my blogs were in Icelandic, some in English. Martin had read one of the English ones. He contacted me. I told him I was getting serious aggravation from Quartizon. He offered to help. He said he had information about Peter Driscoll that might get them off our backs. But he wanted our help too. To find out what exactly Quartizon’s plan was. The big picture, he called it. There’s no reason their land-buying operations should be limited to Iceland. And Quartizon’s strings are being pulled by Nishizaki in Japan. So, what’s really going on?’

‘I believe the Nishizaki Corporation has criminal connections,’ said Wada. ‘I believe investigating them is what got Kodaka killed.’

‘We should leave this alone,’ said Erla. She looked appealingly at Kristjan. ‘It’s too dangerous.’

Kristjan scowled. ‘Let them get away with it? Fuck no. We’re Icelanders, Erla. This is our land. They have no right to do any of this.’

‘But we can’t stop them.’

‘Maybe we can. With Wada’s help. She’s Japanese.’

‘Why is that important?’ Wada asked.

‘Quartizon opened an office in Reykjavík last year. Very small, very low key. I know someone who works there. He doesn’t like what they’re doing – even the things he actually knows about – but they pay well, so … he just does his job. But he likes to drink. And when he drinks … he tells me things.’

‘What kind of things?’

‘Recently, Quartizon have leased bigger premises right in the centre of the city. It’s opened as some kind of art gallery, but according to my friend it’s a front for something big that’s in the pipeline. The company’s running a hush-hush project he’s frozen out of called Emergence. He’s no idea what it’s about. He’s not approved for access to the files. Only the Japanese staff – and there are only a few of them – are in the know. Plus Driscoll, obviously.’

‘Is Driscoll here, in Reykjavík?’

‘We think so. Preparing for the launch of whatever the fuck Emergence is. If we could find out what it’s about …’

Erla grabbed his arm and began talking rapidly in Icelandic. Wada caught the names Quartizon, Driscoll and Caldwell as Erla went on. The expression on Kristjan’s face suggested he wasn’t really listening to her. When she’d finished, he rolled his eyes.

‘We either do something or we do nothing,’ he said after a moment. ‘And I’m not going to do nothing while Driscoll sells bits of my country off like fillets of fish. From what my friend’s told me, Wada, you might be the person we need. The Emergence files are all in Japanese, so he couldn’t understand them even if he opened them. But you could, couldn’t you?’

‘You said he did not have access.’