Inspector Anders and the Ship of Fools [antikvár]

THE EIGHTH OF OCTOBERT1HE BOMB exploded at 3.00p.m. on the thirty-third floor of the Frankfurt office tower; more precisely, in the boardroom of Chemtex AG, a space known as the 'fish-tank', twelve metres by six, situated at the western end of the floor and enclosed in walls of toughened multiple-ply laminated glass. The designers of this state-of-the-art security hadn't considered an assault from within. The thirty-third floor, otherwise, was open space dotted by a few groups of leather and chrome sofas. Sixteen managing directors, the combined management boards of Chemtex and InterDrug AG, had been meeting to transact special business. Very special business.The three witnesses, who'd been waiting outside that glass fortress at the eastern end, were thrown heavily to the floor. They were the head of strategic planning for Inter-Drug, Chemtex's chief of security, and the private secretary to the head of Chemtex. In shock, the two men later agreed that what they'd seen resembled sixteen buckets of red paint being hurled simultaneously against the unshat-tered glass walls of the fish-tank. The secretary wasn't able to say anything, and hasn't spoken since.Within minutes, the streets of the Frankfurt CBD were swarming with emergency vehicles. The shrieking of sirens and the clattering of police helicopters above the1