Maier lay on a bunk covered with a straw mat. He couldn’t move anything but his eyes. It was almost dark. The room in which he lay smelled of old stone, of moss, of wild animals. A suite in a luxury hotel it wasn’t.
Outside, from somewhere unimaginably far away, he could hear birdsong, perhaps a few insects. No people, no engine noises. Maier felt incredible and assumed his mental well-being to be the result of the drug they’d given him. Or perhaps his euphoria had something to do with the fact that he was still alive. Wherever he was now, his life couldn’t be worth much to anyone but himself.
Shadows moved around him. He tried to turn his head – to no avail. He was paralysed.
“You see, Maier, it’s my mission to find out who you are. I will not let you go. You can no longer walk anyway.
