“You didn’t need to shuttle me out of there, you know. I can handle men like Gerard Fox.”

Garrick’s eyes were unreadable. “Give him time to absorb what you’re saying.”

Anna huffed out a long breath, anger fizzing below the surface. “That’s exactly what we don’t have.” They were complacent here in their safety, something she’d never been at Magdon. Security there had been too fragile and transient, as scientist after scientist died at the hands of scavengers or Chittrix.

He stopped and took her by the shoulders. “We’ll deal with it. Let’s take it one step at a time.” And then he tugged her hand again, pulling her further into the never-ending shadowy tunnels. Walls loomed above her head, suffocating after the open space of their journey from London.

Anger and fear ricocheted around her brain as she descended further into the warren of the base, Violet tagging a discrete distance behind. Fox was a fool, unwilling to acknowledge another point of view if it meant agreeing to someone else’s game plan.

She glanced at Garrick. He believed her. If Julia had the Sweeper, and she convinced Garrick it was worth the risk, the others would follow. She was sure of it. She saw the way his sister and Foster regarded him while in the presence of the General. It was her only foothold.

She followed him through grey swing-doors which marked the small medical wing of the base. The walls were painted gleaming white in stark contrast to the entrance. Anna’s heart skipped. Julia was propped up in bed on a faded red blanket, a beaten, curled paperback on her lap, and a dark-haired man sitting next to her on a grey plastic chair. He was the rangy one with the mohican and intense dimples from the armoury. Julia turned the second the doors clattered and squealed. Anna, ran over and pulled Julia, generous breasts and all, into her arms. She took deep calming breaths of her friend, inhaling antiseptic and citrus soap.

“Thank God, Julia. I didn’t know if you were alive.”

Julia hugged her fiercely in return. “Anna.” The book slid to the floor between them with a loud slap, and when Anna finally let go, her face was hot and salty with tears.

Relief flowed through Anna’s body like Valium, relaxing muscles she hadn’t even known were tied up in knots. She gave Julia’s shoulders a happy squeeze. Julia smiled, her eyes shimmering. Her chestnut hair hung in an uncharacteristic mess around her face, and there were new lines of exhaustion at the corners of her mouth.

“You ok?”

Julia nodded. “Just a sprained ankle.” She gestured at Garrick. “I saw you two together in the atrium. I prayed he would bring you back. I just—”

Her breath came in short gasps as she tried to force the words out. “After everything. After the last six months. You’re all I have left. We’re family.”

She coughed and waved her hands at Anna in disbelief.

Anna looked down. Her clothes were stained with pyrethrin and caked in river mud. Her trousers were torn and bloody. Dirt was rammed under her fingernails and ground into her skin. A crumbling circle of dried mud surrounded her on the white tiled floor. God knew what her face was like. She gave a small laugh. “Yeah. I guess I am in a bit of a state.”

The dark-haired man acknowledged Anna with a curt jerk of his head. His arms were folded firmly across his chest. “Doc.”

From across the room Violet pulled a confused face, looking from Anna to Sawyer. “You two already met?”

“Something like that,” Anna said.

She took Sawyer’s proffered hand and shook it. His palm was warm and calloused, his grip firm and strong. Intelligent hazel eyes took her all in. He then clapped Garrick on the shoulder, an infectious grin lighting up his face. Maybe there was more to him than the swagger. At the very least, he had taken good care of Julia.

Julia pulled Anna close, resting their foreheads together. “What was that at Magdon, Anna?”

Anna didn’t answer straight away. Garrick was right. There was more to what had happened than some random Chittrix activity. “I don’t know yet.”

“I didn’t see Blake. Did you?”

Anna shook her head, trying to lose the mental image of the webbed, body-shaped parcel being taken from Magdon by the Chittrix. “I don’t know how he could have made it out of there alive on crutches. We only got out by a thin thread.” She pulled back from Julia and sat down on the bed. Her skin was gritty and sore under her clothes. She ached for a hot shower and soap to scrub away the dirty river water that still clung to her.

Julia ran her hand appreciatively across Anna’s breastplate. “Your armour.”

Anna nodded. “I had my bug-out bag. The one you forced me to pack.” She smiled for the briefest instant. “What about you? Our data and the Sweeper?”

Julia visibly brightened. “All safe.”

We have a chance.

Excitement pushed the words out Anna’s mouth in a rush. “They’re swarming at the primary hive. Young queens. There’s too many to take out with smaller explosives. It’s exactly what the Sweeper was built for.”

Julia’s eyebrows creased in concentration. “The egg chambers are the most protected.” She bit her lip. “In the centre of the hive.”

Anna nodded in agreement. “Yes, it’s risky but I think we can destroy them with the Sweeper.” She stopped, searching the room. “Where is it?”

Julia pressed Sawyer’s forearm. “Would you get my backpack?”

Sawyer bent and pulled a muddy, blue nylon backpack from a battered metal cabinet beside the bed. He placed it on Julia’s lap wordlessly.

They all stared for a moment.

Julia unsnapped the two front straps and pulled the coiled blue cord through the plastic toggle, opening the mouth of the pack wide. She reached inside and pulled out a stack of worn notebooks held together with faded red elastic bands. Placing them on the blanket, she delved back inside and withdrew a dirty, grey metallic box. All six sides were perforated with black steel mesh and crisscrossed with slick, yellow enamelled safety bars.

“Have you been carrying that the entire time?” Sawyer’s voice was incredulous. “You didn’t think to mention you had a bomb in your backpack?”

Julia tilted her chin defiantly. “Yes and no. I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

Violet gave a low whistle of appreciation from the far side of the room.

“Sheesh.” Sawyer sat down heavily on the metal chair, muttering. “Fox is going to love this.”

“He already knows.” Anna took the device from Julia.

It was cold in her hands and heavy, due to the density of the sound-amplification tech inside. Her fingers ran over the familiar shape Julia had laboured over for the past six months. This was fighting back. She regarded Garrick directly.

“We need to do this. You know that, don’t you? There isn’t a choice anymore.”

Garrick sighed and ran a palm across his eyes. When he opened them again, he wasn’t smiling.