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thigh, then his genitals. It was the most grotesque thing Karim had ever witnessed. He looked at her face, the pretty face he had so much admired when he first caught sight of her, and found it ugly. To his horror, the man’s penis began to stiffen.
    ‘He may be nearly dead,’ she said, ‘but his nerve-endings still have life in them. Instinct takes over. He becomes excited, in spite of everything. The heart begins to beat faster. The lungs pull in more air. It gets harder to keep still, harder to conserve energy. Watch.’
    And her fingers moved cunningly back and forth, bringing the man’s organ slowly and painfully to new life. Karim could hear the laboured breathing grow harder and tighter. There was a moan, and as he looked the man struggled to keep what little control he had. Huang Zhengmei stroked and feathered and tickled his swelling penis, like a cheap prostitute hurrying her John to climax.
    ‘Ask him again,’ she said. ‘From the beginning. If he gives straight answers, I’ll stop. If not, I’ll make him come.’
    She remained intent on what she was doing. Karim looked at her, at her small breasts and perfectly rounded backside, at her thin arms and well-toned legs. He should have felt desire, he should have felt his own genitals urging him; but all he could feel was revulsion.
    ‘The M80 stage of the weapons project had five protocols. Did you know that?’
    The prisoner turned his eyes full on Karim. And for a moment Karim was sure he smiled at him. Then, with an effort of will that later seemed to Karim past belief, he pushed himself back and his feet forward, knocking the top board out of position. All his weight was taken suddenly by his neck.
    Chang Zhangyi shouted and tried to get the cage open in order to stop his victim slipping out of his clutches. But by the time he had him upright again, it was too late. Swearing, Chang Zhangyi released the bolt that held the upper part of the cage in place, and the body swung forward, collapsing on the floor.
    Huang Zhengmei had already started to dress again. She saw Karim eyeing her.
    ‘You will not talk about this to anyone,’ she said. ‘Do you understand?’
    He nodded.
    ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I’m not a fool.’
    ‘Some of the biggest fools here are the scientists. Try not to be like them. You are not at home. You are not in a safe place.’
    He nodded and turned to Chang Zhangyi.
    ‘Did he have a name?’ he asked. It seemed important to him to know.
    ‘Why do you want to know?’
    ‘I watched him die. I would like to know what he called himself.’
    Huang Zhengmei’s voice broke in.
    ‘Hyde,’ she said. ‘His name was Matthew Hyde. He was a British agent. Now do you understand why it was so important to find out what he knew?’

Part II

RADIANT BLACK SKY

CHAPTER NINE
    E lizabeth Laing took a long sip from her gin and tonic, and made a face only she could see, reflected back from the long mirror facing her. She felt friendless and at odds with the world. Sex always made her feel disrupted. Her drink tasted foul. She’d stepped up the gin recently, and was finding excuses to imbibe at the most inappropriate times. ‘Maybe I’m developing an alcohol problem,’ she thought, and as usual scolded herself for being a baby. Her need for booze was nothing more than a reaction to having broken free from her husband of twenty-six years.
    She still didn’t know why she’d stayed with David so long. After all, she told herself, nobody could describe her as clinging, and she wasn’t exactly the loyal type. Anthony wasn’t her first affair, and wouldn’t be her last. She looked herself up and down in the cheval glass and almost smirked.
    Not bad for forty-six, she thought. A bit of cellulite on the bum, a spot of sagging in the chest, but nothing to worry about yet. Maybe the menopause would change everything, but she was convinced she had quite a few years yet before it came. And when it did, she had her programme worked out: daily