Ark Angel

beer?”
    “Water will be fine,” Alex replied.
    “In Russia, children drink alcohol from an early age.”
    The door opened and a young woman came in, carrying the first course on a tray: melon and serrano ham.
    Alex had no idea how many people worked at Neverglade; the servants had the knack of staying invisible, except when they were needed. He helped himself to iced water. Paul arrived and sat down without speaking. The servant left and the three of them were alone.
    “Has Paul shown you around?” Drevin asked.
    “Yes. It’s quite a place.”
    “I bought it when I first came to your country. The original Neverglade was a sixteenth-century manor house. There’s a story that Queen Elizabeth I stayed there and saw a production of Twelfth Night in the great hall. But I wasn’t fond of the architectural style. The house was too dark, and it only had eleven bedrooms. It was too small.”
    “What happened to it?”
    Drevin sighed. “A dreadful accident. It burned down. This present castle rose out of the ashes’or rather, I brought it here. I liked it the moment I saw it. The only problem was that it was in Scotland. But happily I was able to do something about that. Have the two of you decided what you’re going to do tomorrow?”
    “I thought we might go for a walk,” Paul said.
    Drevin turned on him and Alex saw something flash in the grey eyes. It was very brief and he couldn’t be certain, but it was almost a look of contempt. “Surely you can think of something more adventurous than that!” he said. “Why don’t you take the horses out? Or the dirt bikes? Of course, you’re both recuperating.
    Paul from his appendix operation. And you, Alex”—the eyes came to rest on him—“from your cycling accident.”
    “Yes.” Was Drevin questioning his story? “I went over the handlebars and hit a fence.”
    “You must have been going very fast.”
    “I was, until I hit the fence.”
    “Then perhaps dirt bikes aren’t the best idea.” Drevin thought for a moment. His fingers were tugging at his ring but his face gave nothing away. This was a man who was used to keeping his secrets to himself.
    “I’ll tell you what,” he said.
    “I have a conference call tomorrow morning. With the launch just over a week away, I have to keep in constant contact with my own people as well as NASA and, of course, the British government. But in the afternoon, how would you like to race against me?”
    “On horses?”

    “Go-karts. You may have seen I have a track here. I built it for Paul, although I’m afraid he seldom uses it.”
    “I do use it,” Paul protested. “But it’s no fun when you’ve no one to race against.”
    Drevin ignored him. “I have several karts,” he went on. “You’ll find it quite exhilarating, Alex. You against me. What do you say?”
    “Sure.” Alex didn’t much like the sound of it but there was something about the way he was being asked.
    He’d felt the same when Drevin had invited him to stay. He wasn’t really being given a choice.
    “And to make it more fun, why don’t we have a bet? If you beat me, I’ll give you a thousand pounds.”
    “I’m not sure I want a thousand pounds,” Alex said. It wasn’t the money that bothered him; he just wasn’t sure he wanted to take it from this man.
    “Well, in that case I’ll give it to any charity you care to name. But you don’t need to worry. There is absolutely no chance that you will win. Paul can be the flagman. Shall we say two o’clock?”
    “All right.”
    Drevin picked up his knife and fork and began to eat. Alex noticed that his son hadn’t touched his food.
    Already he could sense the gulf between them. It was obvious with every word that was spoken, every moment that they spent together. Once again he asked himself what he was doing here. And once again he found himself wondering if it had been such a good idea to come.
    Two hours later, Alex was making his way back to his room on his own. Nikolei Drevin had gone out into the garden to smoke a cigar. Paul had announced he was tired and had already gone to bed.
    He was walking down the main corridor on the ground floor. There was a fully equipped gymnasium and an Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool at the far end, and Alex was tempted to go for a swim before bed.
    He wasn’t tired any more. He wanted to dive into the warm water and wash away some of the memories of his first day at Neverglade. He was tempted to ring Jack Starbright. She would have