Jacob has no other alternative, so he tells him, with blood flowing from the reopened split on his lip, with his face and body aching from the blows and kicks. He tells him about Myriam at the museum and how her men hunted him, how they shot at him. He tells him about Alexa in Shatila and how she called a friend who ran a clinic for the Palestinians in the refugee camp. That she took the chip out of his back and gave it to him in a small plastic bag without asking any questions. That he tried to find out what was on the chip, but that it was password-protected. About how he hesitated and didn’t know what to do. And how, finally, he decided to trust Yassim and take the plane out of Beirut. When he gets to that point in the story he closes his eyes and sobs so hard he doesn’t think Yassim can hear him any more. But hands press around his neck again.

‘So where is the chip now?’ Yassim asks. ‘What the fuck did you do with it?’

Jacob’s thoughts spin. There’s nothing left, he won’t survive this. But he has to keep a cool head, he has to win some time. ‘I hid it,’ he whispers.

Yassim lets go and so he’s able to speak.

‘I had it removed,’ he says. ‘And then I gave it to someone to keep it safe.’

‘Who?’ Yassim says.

‘A friend from the Swedish embassy,’ Jacob whispers. ‘She doesn’t know what is on it, only that it is mine. But if she doesn’t hear from me she will hand it over to the authorities.’

Yassim just looks at him and shakes his head quietly. Then he throws himself on top of Jacob, presses Jacob’s belly against the mattress, puts a knee in his back, grabs him by the hair and pushes his head down. Then he leans over and whispers in his ear: ‘Then it’s time to call this friend now.’

He lets go, sits up, turns around and says something in Arabic. One of the men by the door answers.

‘You’d better be telling the truth,’ Yassim says. ‘You don’t understand what kind of trouble you’re in.’

Jacob can’t even gather the strength to turn his head, but he can hear Yassim’s footsteps making their way out of the room. Hear him saying something to the other men, hear the door opening and closing and the lock being turned.

Only then does he turn on his side.

And that’s when he notices it.

He’s lying on something. Something hard and sharp.

Something that wasn’t there before Yassim came into his cell.

*

Jacob lies there, immobile, until he’s sure that Yassim and the others are gone. His whole body is throbbing and tender from the beatings, and the wound on his back is burning.