The hotel. Another new room to get used to, another new space to tame. The lift was too close to their room, doors kept opening and closing, a bell ringing, more possible danger. Lira lay down as soon as she came in. She was exhausted and fell into a coma-like sleep. When she woke up, Nwankwo had ordered some food. He turned on the television, to a news channel. At first nothing seemed to affect them, but all they had to do was wait. Sure enough, there was a story – a body on the Underground, shot with two bullets at Notting Hill Gate.

“Two bullets?” Nwankwo said.

“His accomplice will have wanted to shut him up. He finished him off. Louchsky will eliminate everybody, down to the last…” Lira sighed.

At the end of the news another story appeared: the death of Sunleif Stephensen, far from London, in the icy waters of the Faroe Islands. He had drowned in the sea off the shores of his home. The banker had gone out fishing alone, and the boat had been found empty. His body had been swept away into the deep waters. The newsreader implied that there might be some doubt about this so-called accidental death. There followed several interviews with British investors who had lost a great deal of money in the crash of Grind Bank. They looked as though they had drowned, in a way, as well.

“Down to the last one, I’m telling you.”

Night fell. The lift brought back the last drunken night owls who reeled noisily down the corridor. And then all was quiet. The hours passed, sleepless with fear of nightmares or attack. The two of them could easily become the next two bodies on the news channels, Lira and Nwankwo, lying side by side on their twin beds.

Then Lira started to talk, a meaningless stream of words, pouring out, as though she was still running. Having finally fallen asleep she was now in the middle of a nightmare. Her arms thrashed about in the dark, she knocked over the bedside light and sat up straight in the bed. Nwankwo was already beside her, calling her, trying to wake her up and rescue her from the underground maze she seemed to be trapped in. He held her head gently against his shoulder and pushed aside the sweat-soaked hair that framed her face, his fingers lingering on her cheeks. Lira caught his hand, kissed it, pressing it against her head and her neck. He mustn’t see my eyes.

She held the hand against her, trapping it between her head and her shoulder. Nwankwo’s fingers plunged into her already tangled hair, and then slowly travelled down, willed on by both of them, onto Lira’s neck, then between her breasts, and then onto her breasts. Their breathing changed pace, became heavier. Nwankwo still sat on the edge of the bed in the position of someone simply comforting her, but his hand now wandered farther, following the contours of Lira’s whole body, as if to say “You’re beautiful, you’re complete, you were magnificent today…”

Nwankwo had never really looked at white women. They belonged, in both ways, to the opposite side of the human race; but tonight it was just the two of them, alone against the rest of the world. Lira pulled him against her, throwing her head back, letting Nwankwo’s lips explore her neck. He mustn’t see my eyes. Sometimes they stopped moving, and then started again, not quite knowing how far they would go. Eventually their fingers strayed beneath their clothes, undoing buttons and belts and their two arched bodies were completely united, from head to foot, by a surge of life and the threat of death. He came inside her – they were rescuing one another on this bed in the middle of nowhere.

Afterwards they lay, still entwined, their breathing becoming more regular. Soon the fear would return and they would be back in their usual places. Lira dreaded Nwankwo’s first embarrassed words, the excuses he would stammer out to erase the whole event, so she spoke first:

“We’re alive,” she said.

 

US EMBASSY, COPENHAGEN

 

CONFIDENTIAL

 

SECTION 01.081720

 

SEPTEMBER 25

 

SUBJECT: SUNLEIF STEPHENSEN/WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM

 

THE BANKER SUNLEIF STEPHENSEN HAS NOW BEEN DECLARED PRESUMED DEAD BY DROWNING YESTERDAY IN THE FAROE ISLANDS. THE STORY HAS APPEARED IN THE PRESS AND ON TELEVISION EVERYWHERE, INCLUDING GREAT BRITAIN. THE PROGRAM IS CONTINUING AS PLANNED. WHEN STEPHENSEN ARRIVED AT THE EMBASSY HE HANDED OVER THE GRIND BANK COMPUTER FILES. OUR SERVICES IMMEDIATELY STARTED WORK ON THEM. STEPHENSEN APPEARED EXTREMELY AGITATED. HE WAS BREATHING WITH DIFFICULTY AND SPEAKING INCOHERENTLY, REPEATING OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT HE COULD NOT LEAVE THE ISLANDS. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET ANY SENSE OUT OF HIM AS HE WAS CLEARLY IN A STATE OF SHOCK. HE KEPT ASKING THE TIME. HE REPEATED OVER AND OVER AGAIN HIS ACCOUNT OF HOW ALL THE EMPLOYEES HAD STREAMED OUT OF THE BANK, OF HIS FAREWELLS TO HIS OLD GARDENER AND ESPECIALLY TO HIS OLD NANNY WHO HAD WORKED FOR HIM FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AND WHO HAD BROUGHT UP HIS CHILDREN. HE STARTED TO CRY. IT WAS DECIDED THAT HE NEEDED HELP AND A TRANQUILLIZER WAS ADMINISTERED. HE WAS NOT SHOWN THE ACCOUNTS OF HIS DEATH IN THE NEWSPAPERS.

 

TWO HOURS LATER, WE INFORMED HIM OF HIS NEW IDENTITY AND THE ADDRESS WHERE HE WOULD BE LIVING DURING THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. WE STRESSED HOW IMPORTANT IT WAS THAT HIS CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE INFORMED FOR THE TIME BEING. HE HARDLY REACTED. HE SEEMED MORE CONCERNED WITH THE FAROESE PRIME MINISTER’S ANNOUNCEMENT TWO DAYS EARLIER THAT THEY WOULD BE INSTIGATING PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HIM. HE MAINTAINED THAT THE FAROESE GOVERNMENT WERE WELL AWARE OF THE NATURE OF HIS ACTIVITIES AND HAD MADE NO OBJECTION TO THEM AS LONG AS THEY WERE GOING WELL.

 

SUNLEIF STEPHENSEN SAID THAT JONAS RASSMUSSEN HAD COME TO HIS HOUSE EARLY ONE MORNING ACCOMPANIED BY ARMED MEN. THEY HAD FORCED HIM TO HAND OVER ALL HIS PROPERTY APART FROM HIS HOUSE IN THE FAROES. THIS RASSMUSSEN IS A LAWYER BASED IN LONDON. HE HAS ACTED FOR SERGEI LOUCHSKY SEVERAL TIMES. THE FACT THAT HE BECAME PERSONALLY INVOLVED WITH SUNLEIF STEPHENSEN INDICATES THAT HE WOULD HAVE FOUND IT TOO RISKY TO EMPLOY ANY INTERMEDIARIES. THIS IMPLIES THAT THE BANK FILES CONTAIN IMPORTANT AND PROBABLY COMPROMISING INFORMATION CONCERNING THE BUSINESS DEALINGS OF SERGEI LOUCHSKY AT A TIME WHEN HE IS ABOUT TO LIST HIS COMPANY IN THE CITY.

 

SUNLEIF STEPHENSEN WILL BE TRANSPORTED IN SECRET TO THE UNITED STATES WHERE HE WILL BE GIVEN A NEW IDENTITY.