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uniform. It was important in his position to radiate authority. “Trust me, we’ve got everything under control. It’s getting better every day. Didn’t you see for yourself yesterday?” He held up the hanger holding his shirt. Bother. He’d have to wear a tie as well. He hated these sudden heat waves. Up here in the north of the island the summers were not supposed to be so hot. The days should be long, clear, sunny, just as they were when he was a child. Wispy white clouds floating across the blue, picture-postcard sky, the air just warm enough to make it a sheer pleasure to take a dip in one of the island’s many lakes …
    “Yes, yes, the pipeline wasn’t a bad move,” said Bolström, breaking into his thoughts. “But things have got to go faster, old friend, or we’ll never be able to get rid of these northerners. There are more of them than us southerners, and they’re always going to vote for their own people if we don’t slam the door shut now! There were good reasons why they were never given the vote before!”
    The man took out the silver cuff links he’d been given for Christmas, an expensive gift from a child. He would wear them to show he appreciated the thought, even though he didn’t particularly like them. He sighed. “Listen, Bolström,” he said. “The king, curse him, still has far too many supporters for his reforms, even here in the south. They think, ‘Oh, human rights, wonderful! It’s only fair. We really want to see the northerners prosper. One united Scandia, and justice for all! ’ They think it would be good if our universities were stuffed with blackheads. That’s what they call justice, Bolli! They really believe in it!”
    There was a pause at the other end. “And the military?” Bolström asked in a low voice. “How far have you got with them?”
    “You think we’re not working on them?” hissed the man. “How stupid do you think we are? All of us sitting here waiting, ready to go. After all, they’re hardly likely to be against us. Every single general comes from a good southern family. But it’s still too soon to strike. First we have to soften up all the naïve idealists, and that’s what we’re doing now. When they can’t get enough decent food to feed their children, even the most liberal southerners will soon change their tunes, believe me. Then they’ll cheer every machine gun we use to blast the blackheads out of parliament!” He pressed a half-smoked cigarette into an ashtray on the glass top of the desk, and lit another one.
    “Don’t you tell me what you have to do! I’m the one who planned it all!” said Bolström. “But now we need to have soldiers all over the country. And what about the king? He’s the one who landed us in this mess in the first place! What are you doing to undermine him and his family? Nothing! It was the same when we were at school together — you were always such a time-waster, it drove me crazy. You’ve got to tighten the screws!”
    “It’s all fine and well for you to talk. You can just sit there in your tropical paradise, relaxing from dawn to dusk, and whenever you get bored, you pick up the phone to give me a long-distance lecture.”
    “Captain!” Bolström yelled in frustration. “The time to act is now!”
    “Look, the press is working on whipping up dissatisfaction. People over here are getting angry, only you don’t hear about it all the way on the other side of the world. The royal glamour is already getting nicely tarnished — in case you hadn’t realized, I’m doing more than my share on that front, too. Be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
    “Say what you like, Captain, I’m coming back,” said Bolström. “Things are reaching a crisis point, and I need to be there. Just make sure that I can enter the country without any hitches — have some of your people among the border police. I’ll let you know the time of arrival so you can see to it that the right people are on duty at