“Too bloody right, ah. Everyone in the game, all the Berlin hands anyway, knew damn well something was about to happen, and while nobody said it aloud for fear of jinx, everyone looked at the Wall while they thought it. And nobody, nobody, wanted anything that might throw history off course.” His swirling became agitated, and whisky sprayed from his glass. Setting it on the table next to him, the old man raised his hand to his mouth and licked the drops away.
“When you say nobody …”
“Well, I don’t mean nobody, obviously. I mean nobody on our side.”
— Dead Lions (Mick Herron), Loc. 1042–7