‘That is racist language,’ said Yu.
‘So you’re desperate. You owe someone a bundle. Fair enough. What I don’t understand is, how can it be so urgent? Whoever it is, they’re not coming to collect. We’re in fucking Simandou.’
‘You should leave right now.’
‘Listen, Angus, we both know what you were going to do and we also both know I can’t prove anything. But if you think you’re keeping any of this, you’ve got tailings for brains. And you’ll show a little bit more respect from now on, eh?’
Since the takeover Bezant has been trying to learn Mandarin from a language tape but it doesn’t cover any of the words Yu is muttering as he leaves the shed. For an instant before he slams the door a rectangle of dawn nudges limply at the fluorescence within. After making sure the latch is closed, Bezant retrieves his rucksack from the nook beside the eyewash station and goes back to the box on the table. He’s in the process of counting out the twenty-two stacks of bills he’s going to take back to his quarters when he feels something hard against the back of his neck.
‘That doesn’t feel like a firearm,’ he says evenly.
‘It’s not,’ says the person behind him. ‘It’s a cordless rivet gun. It won’t make much noise. Put your hands behind your head.’
She has an American accent. He doesn’t recognise her voice.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I lived in at least ten different flats and houses (depending on how you count it) during the two years it took me to write and edit this book, so I’d like to express special gratitude to all my hosts, landlords and flatmates, including the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and the Omi International Arts Center in upstate New York, plus the British Council for all the travel. I’d also like to thank Professor David Sulzer and Dr. Carl Hart for talking to me about the chemistry of pleasure, although I must emphasise that I never offered them the opportunity to check the manuscript and so they cannot be held responsible for the outrages against serious neuroscience committed within. Finally, for all their help, I’d like to thank Jane Finigan and everyone at Lutyens & Rubinstein; Drummond Moir and everyone at Sceptre; David Forrer and everyone at Inkwell; and Gary Fisketjon and everyone at Knopf.