Sovereign bond markets in London and Frankfurt are in freefall.

The Prime Minister’s office is holding on line one, and the Board of Governors needs your authorization to execute the stabilization protocols now.

We are looking at exposure in the region of two hundred billion.”

The number landed in that ballroom like a stone through ice.

My mother’s mouth opened and shut without a sound.

I took the tablet from Alistair, and the ballroom, my family, the wine, the whole small theater of my humiliation simply fell away, because there was work in my hands now and the work did not care about any of it.

My eyes ran down the cascading red figures.