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much as possible about what’s happened.’
    ‘You haven’t the authority to assign me tasks here.’
    ‘No. We know. But we’re doing it anyway. We want you to try to get an overview of the situation as quickly as possible and report back here.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘We have certain contacts here. Since this country doesn’t officially exist for us, we don’t need to stick too rigidly to protocol. A helicopter will transport you to a particular point, which naturally you can choose for yourself. It will then return to the same place at a pre-appointed time and pick you up. You will come back here. You can be away three days at most, or find some other way to report back, otherwise …’
    ‘What happens otherwise?’
    ‘Otherwise we shall have to resort to different methods.’
    ‘What sort of methods?’
    Behind him he could hear the politicians muttering amongst themselves. He did not turn round but contented himself with waiting for their answer. It took about a minute or so.
    ‘The friendly superpower that I referred to just now hassignificant interests of both a political and an economic nature in keeping our country under surveillance. It is, however, extremely tied up in other parts of the world and has no wish to intervene without due cause, particularly not in the current confused situation. If, on the other hand, it turns out that antisocial elements are attempting to exploit the situation, then we can request … military assistance. I hope. On a limited scale. This superpower is, as I say, extremely committed elsewhere. But it will help us, we are sure of that. If it’s politically expedient. Always assuming the antisocial elements don’t manage to take over the administration, which is basically out of the question anyway.’
    ‘What do you mean by antisocial elements?’
    The answer was the only thinkable one.
    ‘Communists.’
    Silence. It had all gone quiet out on the airfield, too. The only sound was the rain.
    ‘Well, Jensen. Will you go?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Now? Right away?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Excellent.’
    Jensen made no reply.
    ‘Are you armed?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Perhaps you should be.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘You never know. We’ll take care of that detail.’ Jensen still did not move.
    ‘One more thing,’ he said.
    ‘What’s that?’
    ‘Immediately before I went on sick leave, I was ordered to arrest forty-three doctors working in my district, among them my own police doctor. I assume similar orders were issued to all districts.’
    ‘We don’t know anything about that,’ His Excellency hastened to say. ‘That’s a police matter.’
    ‘Could those arrests conceivably have anything to do with subsequent developments?’ Jensen asked, unruffled.
    ‘Definitely not,’ said the Minister for Education.
    ‘I’ve already said there was no connection,’ said His Excellency.
    Renewed silence. It was the minister who broke it. The minister was a youthful forty-year-old with blue eyes, a slight squint and an effeminate look around the mouth. He was clearly the one who made the decisions.
    ‘Where do you plan to land?’
    ‘The airport.’
    ‘You haven’t any imagination,’ His Excellency said in a petulant, reproachful tone.
    ‘That’s right,’ said Jensen. ‘I haven’t.’

CHAPTER 9
    It was a jet-powered helicopter, but the journey was still a slow one. The weather conditions were poor, with mist and low, fast-moving cloud, and the ground remained largely out of sight. Violent gusty showers of rain and wet snow beat against the Plexiglas windscreen, and the pilot took the aircraft up to a less turbulent height.
    Jensen stopped looking out. There was nothing to see. Instead he took out the gun that was weighing down his jacket pocket in an annoying manner.
    The gun was a 7.65 millimetre Beretta pistol. It was old, but he had selected it because he was familiar with the mechanism. He had also been given three extra magazines and a brown leather holster.
    Jensen hadn’t fired a