Sepulchre by James Herbert

side as he tucked into his ham salad. She tried a dismal attack on her own food once again, but gave up after a few mouthfuls.
    'I don't seem to be very hungry today,' she said, and wondered why it sounded like an apology. She lifted her glass and drank, finding the gin more sustaining than lettuce and cucumber.
    Halloran nodded and took a healthy sip of his whisky to keep her company. His smile was gentle.
    'What part of Ireland were you born in, Mr Halloran?' Cora asked, the sinking warmth from her second drink already beginning to relax her.
    'Call me Liam,' he replied. 'I wasn't born in Ireland. My parents were Irish, but I was born here in London, although I grew up in Kilkenny. My father was a captain in the British Army, and spent much of his time abroad while mother and I stayed on my grandfather's farm.'
    'And did you eventually join the army?'
    'It was a natural enough thing to do.' He put down his knife and cut pieces of cheese with the edge of his fork. 'I need to know a good deal about your employer, Miss Redmile. His private life as well as business.'
    'Cora.'
    'Okay - Cora. Tell me about him. Tell me how long he's been your boss.'
    'I joined Magma about five or six years ago, but I haven't worked for Felix all that time.'
    He encouraged her with a nod.
    'Felix took me on as his PA three years ago. I don't know why. He saw me when I was delivering some documents to Sir Victor's office one day from my department on the sixteenth. The documents were urgent and I interrupted their meeting. Apparently he asked about me and the next thing I knew he'd put in a request to have me as an assistant. I wasn't even sure who he was at that time, although I'd heard rumours.'
    'Rumours?'
    'Yes. No more than office gossip. Felix Kline's presence at Magma has never been official; you won't find his name mentioned in company papers, not even on a pay slip or P.45.'
    'Isn't that illegal?'
    'Not if he's never been employed by the Magma Corporation. As far as the outside world is concerned, he could just be paying rent for the penthouse suite.'
    'Except I bet even that isn't on record,' suggested Halloran.
    'The official resident is Sir Victor himself.'
    'So Kline's role for the Corporation really is that secret? Your board of directors is afraid that he'll be nabbed by the competition?'
    'More than that. There are over a hundred thousand shareholders of Magma, most of them UK registered: imagine their reaction if they found out their Corporation was guided by a mystic.'
    'It's a relief to hear you say that. I was beginning to wonder if I was the one who was out of touch with modern business practices.'
    Cora laughed and he was glad. She had been tense ever since she'd taken him away from the white room, as if the minor tussle she'd witnessed between himself and the heavy had upset her. Later, in the daylight, he'd noticed a faint darkness beneath her eyes, like smudges under the surface skin, the look of someone who'd recently found sleep difficult. Maybe she was concerned for her employer, worried because the danger to him was considered serious enough to warrant hiring a K & R agency, despite the fact that Kline already had his own bodyguards.
    'I gather - and this might sound naive given all I've learned so far today - that Kline has achieved fantastic results for Magma.'
    'That's an understatement.' Cora smiled at him before sipping from her glass.
    'When did the Corporation discover his talents?' Halloran left his fork on the plate and leaned forward, resting his folded arms on the table's edge. 'I mean, just who approached who?'
    Now she avoided his eyes. 'I'm not at liberty to say. I'm sorry, Liam, but my instructions are to supply you with information relevant only to your protection plans.'
    'Is there a reason for that?'
    'The same reason that just one person - you - will be allowed to stay close to Felix: secrecy, discretion, call it what you like. The less people who know about Felix Kline, the easier Sir Victor and