Jonathan wakes up in a luxurious guest room, recovering from his severe injuries. He is on Crystal, Roper’s private island. His primary caretaker is Jed, Roper’s beautiful mistress, who tends to his needs while performing a variety of upper-class personas. Roper’s son, Daniel, also visits, sharing details about the island’s inhabitants and revealing that there is a “question mark” (254) hanging over Jonathan’s true identity.

As Jonathan heals, he observes his surroundings, noting that he is under constant, subtle guard by Roper’s men, Frisky and Tabby. He recalls his arrival on the island by private plane. Dr. Marti, the physician who treated him, visits and asks probing questions about Jonathan’s background under the guise of a medical examination. The interrogation becomes more direct when Major Corkoran takes over. He confronts Jonathan with the details of his criminal past, including his aliases (Pine, Linden, Lamont), the theft from the Meister Palace hotel, and the killing of his former business partner, Jumbo Harlow. Jonathan sticks to his cover story, and the chapter ends with him feigning deep sleep to escape Corkoran’s questioning.

In London, Rex Goodhew recalls a recent, disturbing meeting. His minister, along with Barbara Vandon from the US Embassy and Neal Marjoram of the rival Procurement Studies Group, argued that Burr’s agency should hand over the Roper investigation—codenamed Limpet—to their “Pure Intelligence” (269) services. Goodhew staunchly refused, defending his agency’s jurisdiction.

After the meeting, Marjoram walks with Goodhew and delivers a threat from his superior, Geoffrey Darker: Either Goodhew ensures the Limpet case is transferred, for which he will receive a tax-free bribe of £750,000, or his career will be destroyed. The chapter ends back in Miami, where Burr, aware of the forces moving against him, instructs his colleague Rob Rooke to have an international arrest warrant issued for Jonathan’s alias, Thomas Lamont, to burn his old identity and solidify his new one with Roper.

On Crystal, Corkoran continues his interrogation of Jonathan, pressing him for details about his criminal past in Cornwall, his theft from Meister’s, and his abrupt departure from Cairo after the murder of Sophie. Jonathan maintains his cover story: that he is a victim of circumstance who only reacts when wronged. He feigns reluctance to engage, however, hoping to perform the role of someone who simply wants to leave the island as soon as possible.

Soon after, Roper and Jed return to the island, and Jonathan is summoned to meet the chief. In a large, sunlit study, Roper questions Jonathan directly. He is friendly but probing, asking about his motives for saving Daniel, his past, and his knowledge of Sophie and her lover, Freddie Hamid—revealing that Freddie asked him to pass on his thanks to Jonathan for identifying Sophie’s body, and adding that Freddie had been worried he might have had to go himself. Roper dismisses Corkoran’s suspicions and tells Jonathan that his old Lamont passport has been shredded but that a new one is being prepared. He makes it clear that while he is grateful, any betrayal will be met with extreme violence. As they speak, Jed enters the room. Roper smiles and announces that Jonathan is “joining the family” (301) for a while. Later, from a hidden location, Jonathan makes his first successful call to Burr on the “magic box” (301) communicator. The chapter concludes in London, where the shaken Goodhew confides in his informant, Harry Palfrey. Palfrey explains that a corrupt, unaccountable faction within British Intelligence, codenamed Flagship, works to protect criminals like Roper for financial gain. When Goodhew presses him about American involvement, Palfrey says only “Pass,” and when asked who is behind it, he whispers “Ask your master” (303)—though so softly that Goodhew, in his deafness, is not absolutely sure he heard correctly.

Jonathan settles into a new life on Crystal, living in a cottage in the staff area known as Townside. He observes the island’s routines and the parade of wealthy, often corrupt guests—bankers, lawyers, and aristocrats—who form Roper’s court. Roper begins grooming Jonathan, taking him on walks and speaking candidly about his philosophy on power and the arms trade. Meanwhile, Jonathan is increasingly obsessed with Jed, who seems to him a collection of artificial personas. He uses the hidden communicator to report details about Roper’s visitors to Burr.

Tension mounts when Jed’s friend, Caroline Langbourne, confides that her husband, Sandy—a close associate of Roper’s—is a crook. This revelation creates a rift between Jed and Roper. Jonathan is then formally brought into the operation. Langbourne oversees his signing of documents making him the managing director of a Curaçao shell company, Tradepaths Limited. Roper delivers a new New Zealand passport in the name of Derek Stephen Thomas, though Langbourne makes clear Jonathan will not be keeping it freely. Jed interrupts the signing, jokingly—but pointedly—warning Jonathan to be careful and not do anything he does not want to do. Later, when reporting to Burr, Jonathan provides an update but deliberately omits any mention of his growing preoccupation with Jed or her conflict with Roper.

While Roper and his associates are off the island, Jonathan executes a plan to break into Roper’s private inner office. With the house staff occupied and Jed away on a pony trek with the children, he gains access to the master suite. After observing the personal effects in the bedroom and dressing room, he picks the lock to the inner sanctum.

Inside the plain, functional office, he uses a camera disguised as a Zippo lighter to photograph documents. While handling a file, he discovers a long strand of Jed’s chestnut hair, realizing with a shock that she has been spying on Roper as well. Terrified for her safety, he is interrupted by the sound of the riding party returning unexpectedly early. He quickly restores the room, relocks the door, and stages himself in the main bedroom arranging a vase of flowers he brought as a prop. Jed storms in, furious with Daniel over a fall, and is enraged to find Jonathan in her room. Jonathan, feeling a new sense of protectiveness, confesses his obsession with her but also his frustration with the way in which she hides her true self. He then reveals that people like both of them end up spying on Roper, simultaneously admitting his own presence in the office while warning her that Roper would kill her for leaving such a careless trace behind.