Julius tipped his head back as the taxi took a right and stopped for a busy pedestrian crossing. He felt every bit an awkward giant. Fifteen years old and seven thousand kilometres from anyone who loved him.

FORTY-FIVE

Georgia’s sister was dead, her mum gave her brain ache, it was painful being in the same room as her dad, and she hardly saw Maya now they went to different schools. Georgia needed something to belong to and RAGS filled that hole.

Zac came to John Pack’s workshop with a box of brushless motors he’d bought online, chatting and making coffee, while Georgia set up a survey drone.

The following evening, Georgia showed off her skills, delicately piloting the re-motored drone up the Red Parrot’s narrow staircase. Kamila and Elodie hugged her. There were laughs when she used a pulse of air from the impeller to topple a wire rack stacked with vegan shortbread, before a gentle touchdown on the cafe’s glass countertop.

Gerard had met with his sister and arrived during the flight demo with a copy of the prime minister’s diary for the next two weeks.

‘Sis wrote by hand, because they can track who sends what to the printers,’ Gerard explained.

The five members of RAGS gathered around two scrunched sheets of graph paper. The writing was awful, but Gerard had already circled one section with a highlighter.

‘Most stuff is indoors,’ he explained. ‘Meetings, lunches, parliament.’

‘So what have you highlighted?’ Elodie asked.

‘Saturday week looks like our best shot,’ Gerard answered. ‘The prime minister is attending the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Banque Générale building. It’s the first overseas bank to commission a new building in London for more than five years. The PM will put on a hard hat, pick up a shiny shovel and do his whole Britain is open for business, the economy will bounce back speech, before turning a couple of earth clods for the cameras.’

‘We might splatter some fat-cat bankers too,’ Zac added cheerfully.

‘What about our launch point?’ Georgia asked. ‘Where’s this building site?’

‘Google Street View shows buildings that have just been demolished,’ Gerard explained. ‘It’s in the City of London, surrounded by tall buildings.’

‘Anywhere we can get a look at the site?’ Kamila asked. ‘A hotel or something?’

‘Tower Fifty-Two,’ Gerard said. ‘It’s an office block with a restaurant and public viewing deck up top. We should be able to survey the site and pinpoint the area laid out for the speech and ceremony.’

There was a positive vibe in the cafe as Zac gave Gerard a cheeky kiss on the cheek. The three women laughed, but Gerard hated being touched and scoured his cheek with his shirtsleeve.

‘Zac and I are off-duty tomorrow,’ Elodie said brightly. ‘We can check out Tower Fifty-Two.’

‘You can buy me lunch,’ Zac teased, making Georgia ache with jealousy.