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‘You seem to be very well informed about me. I am sorry I cannot say the same.’
Schulz leaned forwards and laid down his pen. ‘You boughtmyisland. It was to be mine. It had been agreed, but then your wife intervened. She does not like me, and I return that sentiment to her.’
Aleksey almost choked out loud, ‘You’reher despicable little new-money European?’ He wished he could have an opportunity to tell this story to Phillipa, but it wasn’t looking all that likely.
The older man didn’t appear to need any response and continued as if musing to himself, ‘Yes, it was agreed. But her new husband is weak, and he listened to her and not to me.’ He began to swing his chair, thinking. ‘Perhaps weak is the wrong word. His star is ascending, clearly. There will then be no one to control him as there once was, and he will be a more useful ally. But it was to be my island and then I would have found the photographs.’
‘So you knew they were there.’
‘Oh, yes. My father always knew. It was agreed you see that when he got to safety he would gather all his trusted men around him once more, and he would return. And when that time came, he was going to repay the debt he owed to the British Royal Family: or those who should have been on the throne. He promised to reinstate the duke and the duchess to their rightful place: King and Queen of England.’
‘He…reneged on that agreement? I am shocked. Was he not afraid such a thing would ruin his otherwise sellar reputation?’
‘Be careful, Nikolas. I am keeping this pleasant, no? I would not like to change my mind about that. Which I could. You would tell me anything I wanted to know with a little persuasion.’
Aleksey snorted. ‘You have vays of making me talk?’ He quickly gave his favourite small wave of dismissal to forestall the other man’s incipient anger at the mocking. ‘I take it back: you clearly don’t know anything about me at all. So, I presumeDavid and Wallisdidn’t appreciate being betrayed, given all they’d done to facilitate your father’s escape?’
‘No, they tried to blackmail him—they would release the photographs if he did not keep his promise. You must remember what the world was like then. Every single resource was being spent trying to find the men who had brought so much misery upon the world. They were being hunted like wild dogs.’
‘Misery? It sounds as if you approve and are following their playbook.’
‘Me? I am merely a humble civil servant.’
‘Huh. I used to say that too.’
‘Ah, we are both men of the world. No, I do not admire my father’s philosophy. He took the socialist ideal but he ruined it with his nationalist obsessions. I have taken socialism in its purer form, and I will reset the entire world. It will be aglobal-socialist order. You will own nothing, and you will be happy.’
‘Uh huh. Is the Russian you stole this yacht from happy?’
‘He is. If you redefine the word, Nikolas, everyone can behappy.’
‘But some will be happier than others?’
He actually smirked. ‘Yes, we are indeed men who understand the realities of life. I stoke the fires of war—a little payment to this politician here, that little payment to that one there, and hey presto, we have an incursion. We have little flags. We havechaos. Have you read your Bible, Nikolas?’
‘No, I read someone else’s.’
‘You are quite a funny man. That, I was not told. Old, decrepit, at death’s door and, what was that last one?…ah, yes, a waste of oxygen. Those things I was told. The Bible gives us a blueprint forchaos, Nikolas. It comes on four horses. I thought it terribly amusing when I saw the name of this vessel, for I am the first of the horsemen. Messiah or antichrist I leave for history to decide—I am someone willing to do the work. The second horseman is war, which we now have. Then will come famine and plague in his wake—well, we’ll call them pandemic and food shortages; we are modern men. And then I think you can work out the final rider for yourself. I am building thefuture…’
‘So...’
‘So indeed. Your friend is faking. There is no need. There is nothing either of you can do. Please sit up, Mr Rider.’
Ben slowly swung to sitting, and Aleksey gave him one swift glance before turning his concentration back to the lizard.
‘Come.’ The older man rose swiftly from behind his desk and strode out of the stateroom. He barked something to the guards outside. Ben put a hand on Aleksey’s arm and murmured softly in Danish, ‘Over the side whenever there’s an opportunity and we swim for it, yeah? They’re going to kill us anyway.’
Aleksey nodded and replied in the same language. ‘Head?’
‘Hurts.’
‘Okay.’
When they reached the deck, they saw that diving over the side wasn’t going to be an option. They couldn’t see Light Island. They couldn’t see any land at all. While they’d been inside, the yacht had been powering on. Off to one side, leering as if from a grinning mouth, were the teeth: Les Dents, black, vertical, barren. The boat was slowing, using their sheer sides to get some shelter from the wind.
Each of the gunwales to port and starboard were guarded by armed men, and these weapons were not hanging from slings, but were held pointed at them, ready.
Schulz was standing talking to a man in a pilot’s uniform.
