The Last Enemy

Thank you.

'The weather today in London

'is much the same as it was in Beijing,

'although a couple of degrees cooler.

'We are expected to arrive at London Heathrow

'in around four hours from now.

'That's as long as we don't get stuck in any holding patterns...'

'..which puts us

'just over 45 minutes behind schedule.

'So, relax, and enjoy the rest of the flight.'

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

'All passengers from flight EZ759,

'please proceed immediately to security.'

- Mr Ezard? Mr Stephen Ezard? - Yes?

ID, please.

Come with us, please, sir.

You're being fast-tracked.

This is very helpful.

- Who laid this on? - I have no idea, sir.

Is it a wedding or a wetting, sir?

Who organised this?

All I've got is, er, Mr Stephen Ezard,

Beijing flight, going to North London, Highgate Church.

It's my brother's funeral.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, sir.

Can't we go any faster?

I really am very late. My plane was delayed.

I'm afraid we don't have clearance to break monitored speed, sir.

Monitored speed?

I've been away... almost four years.

You'll be noticing the changes, then, sir.

But one saying was dear to Michael's heart.

'The insignificant man makes demands on others,

"the significant man makes demands on himself."

All of us here today know that Michael was a very significant man.

- Michael Ezard? - Yes.

Are you the brother?

Yes.

We couldn't wait.

I didn't know Michael had a brother until today.

Didn't think there'd be such a large crowd.

Those who knew him loved him.

Still, at least you got here in time to throw dirt on the coffin.

That's important.

I've known Michael for years.

A lovely, lovely man. You must be so proud.

Yes.

We'd lost contact for four years.

I knew he was working in some sort of voluntary organisation

in the Middle East, but, well, I thought he was looking

for something more prop... Er, permanent.

Michael changed people's lives.

- What do you do? - Erm...

Michael... was like a brother.

Down here!

Well, this is nice.

Yeah. Grew up here.

Ended up sharing the place with my brother.

Er, you haven't, er, forgotten anything, sir?

Er, no, I don't think so.

Who did you say sent y...?

Hello?

No blood, no girl.

Oh, erm, I'm... I'm from upstairs.

- Ah, a friend of Michael's? - His brother.

I didn't know he had one.

Batz. Andrew Batz.

Erm, Stephen Ezard.

Come in, Stephen. Come in, come in.

I moved in about a year ago. I haven't touched the place yet.

Erm, I've been away quite a long time, and, erm...

I know Michael... likes to have an open house policy...

Oh, yeah. Some guests are noisier than others.

Only met Michael a couple of times, but you can tell straight away,

he's a lovely man, lovely man.

I think some of them take advantage,

overstay their welcome. - Yes.

- Do you know who's staying now? - No idea.

I've heard some music, footsteps.

Well, I'm sure I'll sort it out.

How-How is Michael?

Stay. Stay and talk. It might help.

No, I'll be fine. Thank you.

Who are you?

Yasim.

Yasim who?

Same as you. Ezard.

I'm Michael's wife.

Well, his widow.

I didn't know Michael was married.

I knew he had a brother.

A famous one, too.

Ezard's Theorem.

There's a woman lying in there, unconscious...

Nadir.

Nadir? Nadir who?

Nadir bint Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Fulani.

Well, she looks very ill.

- She is. - I'll enough to need a doctor.

I am a doctor.

Nadir, we have a visitor, baby.

Stephen, Michael's brother.

Which is wonderful, really, really wonderful

because what we need most of all is a cook.

OK, my love, I'm gonna give you a shot of morphine.

I've got pictures.

She left in a hurry, yesterday.

She's dropped something.

It could be a blood sample.

'Full surveillance. Find the girl.'

If you are Michael's wife, why weren't you at his funeral?

I had a patient to look after.

Medicines to collect.

Who is Nadir bin Saleh Al-Fulani?

An aid worker, same as Michael.

We all worked for the same charity

on a Hepatitis B inoculation programme.

What's wrong with her?

I don't know.

How exactly did Mich...?

So, why China?

That's where I work best.

Because?

It's peaceful.

It's very... foreign.

I haven't got a clue what's going on,

the world doesn't intrude, I can concentrate,

I'm not distracted by the minutiae of other people's lives.

Michael told me something about your work, studying killer bees.

Several years ago, I developed a... mathematical model,

the genesis of which was a statistical analysis

of insect swarm, in which killer bees played a component.

A very small, theoretical component.

And all this time, I had you in a bee keeper's outfit.

Another one of Michael's good stories.

Yasim, we have to talk about Michael.

All I had was a phone call.

What happened?

I was, erm, in a medical tent...

'..working.'

'I saw him flash past in his jeep.

'He always drove too fast.'

He went into the mountains to deliver medical supplies.

He hit a land mine.

He didn't come back.

I'm so sorry, my darling. I shouldn't have left you.

I won't leave you again.

The blood sample?

All taken care of. That's why I had to leave you.

The doctor will run tests.

We'll hear back from him in a few days.

Whoever he is, whatever he is... he's an old one.

Police?

No. He'd have made six phone calls and taken a dump by now.

One of ours?

God knows.

What's he doing in Nadir Al-Fulani's flat?

Shit! He's seen us.

Help me turn her body.

It's just air escaping.

I can manage now. You can go.

Tell me about today.

Tell me about Michael's funeral.

They drove me out to where he'd been blown up.

I collected body parts...

..what little I could find.

Nothing was recognisable.

That's when I said my goodbyes.

Well...

..was it a good funeral?

I missed it.

Well, most of it.

And it was Humanist.

There was no vicar, except everybody acted like one.

Michael was buried with our parents.

I didn't expect anyone to come,

but there were hundreds of them from all over the world.

And... they loved him.

They really loved him.

Yeah, Michael had a knack of making everyone think

they were special to him.

A complete stranger would suddenly feel they'd met a friend for life.

I hate him!

I hate him! I hate him for dying like that!

It was so like him... roaring away in that stupid jeep.

Self-important.

He had to take care of everything and everyone!

I'm glad I wasn't there today...

..to see all those brave, smiling faces,

hugs and laughter, tears and jokes.

That's exactly what it was like - one big, happy Humanist family.

All claiming him as theirs.

He was mine!

It's good I didn't go.

I'd have been screaming at them, "Say something bad.

"Say something nasty, cruel, dirty.

"Say something HONEST!"

He never made me feel special.

Ever.