The silence in the office was a physical presence, thick and heavy. Linsy stood before Michael Helwart’s imposing desk, the question hanging in the air between them like a challenge. "Can our trip to abroad be brought forward?"

Michael did not speak. Instead, he took a slow drag from his cigarette, the ember glowing like a malevolent eye in the dim light. As the blue smoke curled and dissipated, his dark eyes, usually so unreadable, sharpened into points of obsidian, fixing on her with an ...