CHAPTER 2An Admiral Speaks
Three men sat in a luxurious room at the summit of the highest building in rebuilt London.
From high windows the dying light of the setting sun threw long streamers of red and gold, orange and pink, yellow and soft amber across the polished surface of a paper-littered table, reflecting in warm hues from the panelled walls. As the light died selenium controls clicked and subdued fluorescents restored the illumination.
Admiral Hogarth sighed and picked up a thin sheaf of papers from the pile before him. A tall man, his back die-straight and his thin shoulders square to his slender body, he fitted his neat uniform as though born to the black and gold.
Sparse white hair swept back from a high forehead and his eyes, pale, washed out blue, glittered from either sid
