He’s seen through me! He’s done it so easily because I am green and probably staring at him too openly. And all my conclusions about a typical representative of office plankton are in reality worthless. He is a spy – a professional, probably – and a murderer, trained in Al-Qaeda camps. Damn, he even looks like an Arab! He will now approach me, discreetly stab me with a poisoned stiletto and carry on as if nothing has happened.
I was in uncontrolled fear. I was paralysed and only my teeth were knocking the resounding beat. Herr Hagen came right up to me. I had a faint hope he wanted something from the bar, even though I saw that he walked past the barman shaking a drink.
The moment of truth came.
‘Hello, mate!’ Herr Hagen said in English with an awful accent. ‘How are you doing?’
I coul
