“Excellent. Can you pass me that glass beaker?”
“What exactly are you doing?”
He attaches two wires to a multimeter with alligator clips, causing the needle to swing wildly. “I’m making an enzyme-catalysed fuel cell. If I get this right, we should be able to charge our phones using icing sugar.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so distant, Niko. Truly. I want to make it up to you.”
“That sounds promising. Perhaps you could start by putting the kettle on?”
“Is this for the experiment?”
“No. I thought we might have a cup of tea.” He sits up and stretches out his arms. “It’s over, then, that project you were working on?”
Behind his back, she takes the Glock 19 pistol from her waistband holster and transfers it to her bag.
“No,” she says. “It’s just beginning.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Luke Jennings is the author of the memoir Blood Knots, short-listed for the Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of several novels, including the Man Booker Prize–nominated Atlantic. As a journalist, he has written for The Observer, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Time. Visit his website at www.lukejennings.com.
Also by Luke Jennings
Breach Candy
Atlantic
Beauty Story
Blood Knots: A Memoir of Fishing and Friendship
The Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet (with Deborah Bull)
Stars (with Laura Jennings)
Stars: Stealing the Show (with Laura Jennings)
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Copyright
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2017 by Luke Jennings
Cover design by Gregg Kulick
Cover photographs: Kristina Hruska / Millennium Images (woman); Howard Kingsnorth / Getty Images (city)
Cover copyright © 2018 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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First North American ebook edition: April 2018
Originally published in Great Britain by John Murray (Publishers), August 2017
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ISBN 978-0-316-51251-0
E3-20180202-JV-PC