“Oh, perish the thought,” said Nicolai. “The Cold War is over, and we are all good friends now, yes?” And then he looked at me and said, very casually, “Did your uncle Jack leave you anything, Eddie? Any special bequest, to remember him by?”
“The reading of the will won’t be for some time,” I said, just as casually. “But he did say he wanted me to have the Bentley.”
“Marvellous car, of course,” said Nicolai, nodding solemnly. “But nothing else?”
“No,” I said. “Why do you ask? Did you have something specific in mind?”
“Not really,” said Nicolai. “How was the funeral?”
“Very respectful,” I said. “We did the old boy proud. I just wish my parents could have been there to see it.”
“Have they still not turned up?” said Sir Perryvale, frowning. “There are too many people going missing these days.”
“Like Jason Royal?” said Catherine Latimer.
And then other people started chiming in, offering names of agents and adventurers, and even Major Players, who’d just vanished down the years.
Slowly, a bigger picture began to emerge. As everyone threw in a name, or two or three, the number began to add up. Whatever happened to Tarot Jones, the Tatterdemalion, the Totem of the Travellers? Or the Which Doktor, who specialized in supernatural illnesses? Or Chrome Delilah, the combat cyborg from the future? Name after name, of powerful people who’d just dropped out of sight, without any sign of struggle or foul play. And other, less illustrious names, but still well-known people, even significant ones, in their own spheres of influence. More people gathered around us as the conversation became louder and more worried, and even more names were put forward. It quickly became clear that none of us had realised just how many people had gone missing down through the years. Until we started putting the picture together . . .
Now, people in our line of work have been known to just drop out of sight, for a time, for any number of good or necessary reasons, but . . . I began to wonder if there might be a more disturbing reason behind it all.
“Could someone,” I said, “or even some organisation, be culling the super-secret society? Or securing useful people for their own purposes?”
“If it was anyone but you asking, I’d say it was probably the Droods,” said Isabella.
“No,” I said, “we don’t kidnap people.”
“No . . . ,” said Molly, in a way that made it sound more like Yes, but. “On the other hand, your family has been known to disappear certain people, when they’ve convinced themselves such action would be in the greater good. We’ve all heard stories . . .”
There was a general murmuring of agreement from all present.
“It’s not us,” I said firmly. “I’d know.”
“It’s not us,” said Cedric. “I’d definitely know.”
The crowd went quiet, as everyone looked at one another and realised we really didn’t know what was going on. Until Sir Perryvale cleared his throat, just a bit self-consciously.
“I have heard . . . something,” he said, almost reluctantly. “Just a whisper. About a secret and very exclusive Big Game.”
“Oh, come on!” I said. “Another Spy Game? I’ve already been through one of those, courtesy of the Independent Agent. How many of these games are there?”
“More than you’d think,” said Isabella. “Casino Infernale isn’t the only place where people like us come together to play games. People with powers and abilities like ours do love to show off what we can do. And who better to test ourselves against than each other? How else could we find proper competition? I’m amazed we don’t have our own Olympics, with medals and everything . . .”
“I have heard of this Big Game,” Nicolai said slowly. “Though not through any official channels . . . It is, as you say, a whisper, a rumour . . . One of the darker mysteries of our hidden community. A contest of champions, they say, where the competitors are secretly abducted and forced to fight each other to the death. No one knows how long it has been going on.”
The crowd was very quiet now, everyone frowning hard, thinking. About things they’d seen, or heard, or heard of, that suddenly made a lot more sense.
“How could something this important have been going on for so long, and I never heard of it?” I said finally. “Why hasn’t my family heard about it? I mean, we know everything! I’m pretty sure that’s in our job description.”