The Sudden Appearance of Hope

Chapter 52

Parker opened a casino in Macau.

I watched the announcement on the news, saw him shake hands, smile for the cameras. He was famous now. Everyone knew his name, the one and only Parker of New York.

Rafe Pereyra-Conroy signed a deal with the royal family of Dubai, to jointly develop an Islamic version of Perfection, extolling virtues worthy of devout people

virtues such as generosity, kindness, charity, pilgrimage, duty, honour, loyalty, modesty

modesty codes

veils for the women

women not to be seen with unmarried men

no kissing in public

rape victims punishable by jail

etc.

I thought about turning round, going back to Tokyo, finding Luca Evard, telling him look, look, it’s me, maybe if you arrest me everyone will see that you were right, that you’ve been chasing a forgettable thief, and then you’ll be happy and then you’ll love me, really love me, because I know you would if you could only remember me!

Sat in Kyoto airport and didn’t move.

Rolled Filipa’s bracelet round and round my wrist, a journey without end.

And after a while, because there didn’t seem anything else to do, because nothing else that I did had any meaning whatsoever, I logged back into the darknet.