a place of nightmares. hanging from the middle of the ceiling is another grotesque sculpture, three times the bulk of a large man, and made of metal, fly-blown animal parts and knotted rope. it is vaguely cruciform, but its swaying, creaking bulk is not even faintly christian. it is a perverse, sickening image, evoking insanity and agony.
swann steps inside. nix's chair has its back to him. the folds of nix's robe are visible, however. swann hears a muffled sobbing from the far side of the room.
pan up from the twitching baboon corpse to swann as he struggles with the girl's gag. he has laid his gun on the ground beside her.
nix has swann trapped against the wall and is working his fingers against swann's temples. working, working, like a psychic surgeon plying against the belly of a patient.
on nix, doing just that: rising up. right hand clamped to his bloody chest, left hand reaching for swann.
the five assassins, including the girl, stand around nix's body. swann has his arm around the girl.