“Then it’s a good thing we’re not heroes,” said Milo. “The curfew’s at eight, that’s when all the kids have to get off the streets, and sunset tonight is, what, ten-thirty? Then it’s an hour’s wait until it’s actually dark. So ten o’clock is when we meet at the bunker. It’s tight, but I think we can do it. By then, Amber and I will have Jesper in tow and hopefully you guys will have the code to let us all in.”

“You need any help?” Kelly asked.

“We’ll be okay on our own,” said Milo.

Kelly frowned. “Is it because I haven’t showered today? Warrick takes forever in there.”

“I really do,” said Warrick.

“I’m gonna shower the moment we finish talking.”

“It’s not your hygiene,” said Milo. “Amber and I, using Shanks’s key, should be more than enough to snatch Jesper. The fewer the better. We bring him to the bunker, which you will have opened, we wait for the barrier to drop, and, when it does, we take Jesper to Naberius.”

“Where you’ll kill him,” said Javier.

“Where we’ll do whatever we have to do,” said Milo. “Then we’ll rejoin the rest of you while the town takes care of the Hounds, and wait till morning. Anyone have any questions?”

“Just ethical ones,” Javier said. “But I don’t suppose anyone’s interested in those.”

“What about the Narrow Man?” asked Linda. “We’ve taken his sacrifice away. We had hoped he wouldn’t notice until it was too late, but obviously that chance has passed.”

“Hey, yeah,” Warrick said. “What’s to stop him from just snatching some other kid?”

“We’ll need to keep an eye on him,” Ronnie said. “On Oscar Moreno, rather. I’ll do it. The rest of you get the code and I’ll tail Moreno, if I can find him.”

“He knows your face,” said Amber. “He knows all our faces.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” said Virgil, “we’ll follow Moreno, all right? We’re not completely goddamn useless, and he hasn’t seen our faces.”

“Uh, he’s wearing Javier’s, though,” said Warrick.

“I’m an old man,” said Javier. “He’s not going to recognise me.”

There were some uneasy glances passed around.

“We’re not imbeciles!” Javier snapped. “We can find someone and follow him and make sure he’s not off kidnapping any more children. It’s not rocket science.”

“But it might be dangerous,” Ronnie said.

“Son, at our age going to sleep is dangerous,” Virgil told him. “This is nothing.”

“Well, okay,” Linda said. “That sounds like a … like a good idea? Maybe? I think it does. We’ll take Austin with us, then. Cool.”

Virgil nodded. “That’s settled.”

“Amber’s parents,” Kelly asked. “Are they likely to cause us trouble?”