Carte Blanche

him that my solicitor had the gun and the note—there was no solicitor, of course, but I bluffed well. I said if I didn’t call him in an hour he would send everything to Scotland Yard. Was it a gamble? Of course. But a calculated one. The man blanched and immediately asked me what I wanted. I named a figure. He paid in cash. I was on my way to opening a small collection company of my own. It eventually became Green Way.”
    “That gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘recycling,’ doesn’t it?”
    “Indeed.” Hydt seemed amused by the comment. He sipped his wine and gazed out at the grounds, the spheres of the burn-off flames glowing in the distance. “Did you know that there were three man-made phenomena you could see from outer space? The Great Wall of China, the Pyramids . . . and the old Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island.”
    Bond did not.
    “To me discard is more than a business,” Hydt said. “It’s a window onto our society . . . and into our souls.” He sat forward. “You see, we may acquire something in life unintentionally—through a gift, neglect, inheritance, fate, error, greed, laziness—but when we discard something, it’s almost always with cold intent.”
    He took a judicious sip of wine. “Theron, do you know what entropy is?”
    “No, I don’t.”
    “Entropy,” said Hydt, clicking his long, yellow nails, “is the essential truth of nature. It’s the tendency toward decay and disorder—in physics, in society, in art, in living creatures . . . in everything. It’s the path to anarchy.” He smiled. “That sounds pessimistic but it isn’t. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world. You can never go wrong by embracing the truth. And truth it is.”
    His eyes settled on a bas-relief. “I changed my name, you know.”
    “I didn’t,” Bond said, thinking: Maarten Holt.
    “I changed it because my surname was my father’s and my given name was selected by him. I wished to have no more connection with him.” A cool smile. “That lovely childhood I was mentioning. I chose ‘Hydt’ because it echoed the dark side of the protagonist in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which I’d read at school and enjoyed. You see, I believe we all have a public side and a dark side. The book confirmed that.”
    “And ‘Severan’? It’s unusual.”
    “You wouldn’t think so if you’d lived in Rome in the second and third centuries A.D.”
    “No?”
    “I read history and archaeology at university. Mention ancient Rome, Theron, and most people think of what? The Julio-Claudian line of emperors. Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero. At least they think so if they read I, Claudius or saw Derek Jacobi in brilliant form on the BBC. But that whole line lasted a pathetically short time—slightly over a hundred years. Yes, yes, mare nostrum, Praetorian guards, films starring Russell Crowe . . . all very decadent and dramatic. ‘My God, Caligula, that’s your sister !’ But for me, the truth of Rome was revealed much later in a different family line, the Severan emperors, founded by Septimius Severus many years after Nero killed himself. You see, they presided over the decay of the empire. Their reign culminated in what historians called the Period of Anarchy.”
    “Entropy,” Bond said.
    “ Exactly .” Hydt beamed. “I’d seen a statue of Septimius Severus and I look a bit like him so I took his family name.” He focused on Bond. “Are you feeling uneasy, Theron? Don’t worry. You haven’t signed on with Ahab. I’m not mad.”
    Bond laughed. “I wasn’t thinking you were. Honestly. I was thinking about the million dollars you mentioned.”
    “Of course.” He studied Bond closely. “Tomorrow the first of a number of projects I’m engaged in will come to fruition. My main partners will be here. You will come too. Then you’ll see what we’re about.”
    “For a million, what do you want me to do?” He frowned. “Shoot somebody with real bullets?”
    Hydt fondled his beard again. He did indeed resemble a Roman emperor. “You don’t need to do anything tomorrow. That project is finished. We’ll just be watching the results. And celebrating, I hope. We’ll call your million a signature bonus. After that, you’ll be very busy.”
    Bond forced himself to smile. “I’m pleased to be included.”
    Just then Hydt’s mobile rang. He looked at the screen, rose and turned away. Bond guessed there was some difficulty. Hydt didn’t get angry but his