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time since he’d made up his mind to expose what really went on in this preposterous power base, he felt frightened. So many powerful heads would roll – would he get away without losing his own?   The underground car park was just as desolate as the building above it. One or two cars had been left behind in the wake of the PR party earlier that night, when alcohol had been flowing freely: chilled, sparkling and free. Kramer slotted his card into the automatic machine and the barrier duly rose. The area around Breydel was creepy and deserted at night. An inner city district devoid of life, where the footsteps of a lone wanderer echoed between the vacant façades of office block after office block, and put the fear of death into the well-fed rats that held sway in the vacant properties in Rue Bellaiard.   Olof Kramer felt more at ease when he got away from all that and emerged into the traffic on the rain-soaked streets of Brussels.   The tunnel was closed off. A couple of police cars with flashing blue lights were parked sideways-on

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across the approach road. Drivers still out at that time of night allowed themselves to be directed into side-streets and lengthy diversions. Kramer drove through the district where all the foreign legations were packed. Several of them represented countries that were not members of the European Community but nevertheless received generous grants from the EU.  Grants that so often ended up in pockets for which they were not intended. He shuddered when he thought about all the wheels he would start turning. This time it would not be just the Budget Control Committee that would receive a copy: he had learnt from his mistakes.    It took him almost a quarter of an hour to get home. The garden lights were not working. Some of all that rain must have seeped into the outside socket and blown a fuse. This was the second time in less than a week. He must remember to phone an electrician and get it mended professionally. The drive was long, and it was important that it should be properly lit. Several of the neighbours had been