They were no less of a shock to everyone else in the room, and a babble of incredulous exclamations followed. I struggled to absorb the horrible fact bin Ishmael had hurled at me, but long before I’d recovered Jacky had seized command of the situation. With a fierce roar he made everybody else shut up; then he fired some crisp questions at bin Ishmael, and rang off with a promise of immediate action. ‘Madeleine, get me and Roald a shot of antalc each, will you?’ he rapped. He threw off his evening tweed jacket and replaced it with a casual day cape, shrugging it into place with the same movement that served to press the caller button for his car and bring it from the garage to the front door. ‘For me as well, please,’ Helga called, disengaging herself from Marin van’t Hoff, who had taken a great fancy to her. ‘It sounds as though I might be able to make myself useful.’ Madeleine brought three little glasses from the liquor console, brimming with anti-alcohol. I gulped mine down, and it felt in my guts as though I’d swallowed a cold breeze.
