'I wouldn't bother asking for an autograph.' Bohrmann smiled. 'It's not Maximilian Schell;

'Really?' Oliviera seemed disappointed.

'No. His name's Sigur Johanson and he's Norwegian. He could tell you a thing or two about what happened in Europe. He and I, and some people from Statoil…' Bohrmann gazed after him and his expression darkened. 'Actually, you should probably wait for him to tell you himself He comes from Trondheim, and there isn't much of it left. He lost his home.'

There it was again, the reality of the horror, proof that the TV pictures were real. Anawak drank his water in silence.

'OK.' Ford glanced at his watch. 'Enough of the chat. Time to head over and hear what they've got to say.'

THE CHATEAU HAD several conference rooms. Li had chosen a medium-sized one, which was barely large enough for the group of intelligence operatives, government representatives and scientists who were due to attend the presentation. She knew from experience that when people were crammed in together they either got on each other's nerves or developed a sense of community. Either way, they lacked the opportunity to distance themselves from one another or from the business at hand.

The seating plan had been drawn up accordingly. The delegates were thrown together in a mix of nationalities and fields of expertise. Each chair came with its own small table, including a jotter and a laptop. The visual section of the presentation would take place on a three-metre by five-metre screen with loudspeakers for the sound and a remote-control for the PowerPoint display. Amid the plush, conservative furniture, the mass of high technology was sobering.

Peak turned up and took his place on one of the seats reserved for the speakers. He was followed by a man in a crumpled suit with an enormous girth. There were dark patches under the arms of his jacket. Strands of thinning white-blond hair had been scraped across his broad head. He wheezed audibly as he held out his hand to Li. Five swollen fingers stuck out like baby balloons. 'Hi, Suzie Wong,' he said.

Li extended her hand and resisted the urge to wipe it on her trousers afterwards. 'Jack. Good to see you.'

'Of course it is, baby.' Vanderbilt grinned. 'Go on, girl, knock 'em dead. And if they don't start clapping, strip. You'll get my applause.'

He wiped the perspiration off his forehead, gave the thumbs-up and winked, then plumped down next to Peak. Li watched him with a frosty smile. Vanderbilt was deputy director of the CIA. He was a valuable operative and the CIA would miss him. She decided to destroy him slowly when the moment came. There was still a long road ahead, but she'd soon have the fat pig squealing in the dirt. Too bad for the stellar Jack Vanderbilt.

The room was filling.

Most of the delegates didn't know each other, so they took their seats in silence. Li waited patiently until the scraping of chairs and rustling of papers had subsided. She could feel their tension. With one look at each face, she could divine the mood of every individual. Li had taught herself to read people's souls.

She walked up to the lectern and smiled. 'Please make yourselves comfortable.'

A low murmur swept through the room. A few leaned back stiffly and crossed their legs. Only the good-looking Norwegian biologist with the scarf draped carelessly round his shoulders was reclining in his chair with a nonchalance that verged on boredom. His dark eyes fixed on Li. She tried sizing him up, but Johanson's expression gave nothing away. She wondered why. He'd lost his home, so the disaster had affected him more directly than most. He should have looked depressed, but he evidently wasn't. Li could think of only one explanation. He wasn't expecting to hear anything new. He had a theory more pressing than sorrow or despair. Either he knew more than all of the rest, or he thought he did.

She'd keep tabs on him.

'I know that you're all under tremendous pressure,' she continued, 'so I'd like to offer our heartfelt thanks for making this meeting possible. Above all, I'd like to thank the scientists who've joined us today. With your help I sincerely believe that we can start to consider the events of the recent past with optimism. You give us cause for hope.'

Li spoke in a calm, friendly tone. She had their undivided attention, but Vanderbilt's mouth was open and he was picking his teeth.

'I guess many of you will be asking yourselves why we didn't decide to hold this meeting at the Pentagon, the White House or the Canadian parliament. On the one hand, we wanted to offer you a working environment that was as comfortable as possible. The delights of Chateau Whistler are legendary. But the key point in its favour is the location. The mountains are safe; the coastline isn't. There's not a single city on the coastline of America or Canada that would be safe for us.'

She let her eyes roam over the upturned faces.

'That's the first reason. Another is the relative proximity to the British Columbian coast. All the phenomena that we've been witnessing – anomalous behaviour among animals, mutations, changes to hydrate deposits on continental slopes – can be found right here. From Chateau Whistler you can take the helicopter to the coast in no time. We're also within easy reach of a number of leading research centres, most notably the lab in Nanaimo. We set up a base here a few weeks ago to observe the behaviour of the whales. In the light of developments in Europe, we've decided to expand it into an international crisis centre with the best crisis-management team in the world. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is you.'

She paused for her words to take effect. She wanted her listeners to be aware of their importance. It was expedient to encourage their sense of pride, of being part of the elite, despite the tragic circumstances. It sounded absurd, but it would discourage them from blabbing to outsiders.

'The third reason for being here is that we won't be disturbed. Chateau Whistler is cut off from the media. Needless to say, it doesn't go unnoticed when a hotel in a sought-after location suddenly closes its door and military helicopters are circling overhead. But we've never given an official statement as to what we're doing here. Whenever anyone asks us, we say we're on an exercise. Now, there's plenty they could write about that, but nothing concrete, so mostly they don't bother.' Li paused. 'It's not possible, and it's certainly not advisable, to tell the public everything. Mass panic would be the beginning of the end. Keeping everyone calm permits us to go about our work. I'm going to be frank with you here: the first casualty of war is always the truth. And don't be mistaken, this is war – a war that we need to understand before we can win it. We have an obligation to ourselves and to the rest of humanity. From now on, you may not speak to anyone, not even your closest friends and family, about the work you do for this committee. At the end of this meeting each of you will have to sign a declaration of silence, which will be taken extremely seriously. If any of you has any reservations, I would appreciate it if you could voice them now, before the presentation. As I'm sure you realise, you're entitled not to sign. No one will suffer any inconvenience for declining to comply. But anyone intending to do so should leave the room now and will be flown home at once.'

She made a bet with herself No one would go, but someone would ask a question.

She waited.

A hand was raised.

It was Mick Rubin. He came from Manchester, England, and was a biologist, an expert on molluscs.

'Does that mean we won't be able to leave the Chateau?'

'You can leave whenever you want. But you can't talk about your work,' Li told him.

'And what if. . .' Rubin wasn't sure how to finish.