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Chapters (52)
  1. Title
  2. Copyright
  3. About the Book
  4. About the Author
  5. Also By
  6. Contents
  7. Dedication
  8. Roll Call
  9. A Brief History of the Time Wars
  10. Jane
  11. Luke
  12. Matthew
  13. 1
  14. 2
  15. 3
  16. 4
  17. 5
  18. 6
  19. 7
  20. 8
  21. 9
  22. 10
  23. 11
  24. 12
  25. 13
  26. 14
  27. 15
  28. 16
  29. 17
  30. 18
  31. 19
  32. 20
  33. 21
  34. 22
  35. 23
  36. 24
  37. 25
  38. 26
  39. 27
  40. 28
  41. 29
  42. 30
  43. 31
  44. 32
  45. 33
  46. 34
  47. 35
  48. 36
  49. 37
  50. Epilogue
  51. Author’s Note
  52. A Note on Recruitment

She paused again, then sat back in her chair. ‘Jane, I have to warn you – if you continue to . . . experience difficulties . . . in communicating, then the hearing will arrange a medical examination to ascertain whether there is any physical reason why you cannot speak. If there is not, then I’m afraid, Jane, you will be subject to the full extent of . . . well, you can guess. Jane, I say this with all concern. They will hurt you very badly –’ this repetition of Luke’s phrase convinced Jane that Luke had been sent in to make her speak – ‘and, sooner or later, you will tell them everything they want to know. Everyone does in the end. Jane, you are refusing to cooperate. Refusing to speak. It is very possible that after a full interrogation you will be unable to speak. Ever again. The irony of that would appeal to some of my colleagues. I beg of you – think very carefully before proceeding with this refusal to cooperate.’

Silence fell in the little room.

Why am I doing this? thought Jane. Why don’t I just say what I saw? Which is nothing. And all I heard was two people having an argument and you get that all the time here. I didn’t actually see anything. Why am I putting myself through this for that worthless piece of . . . ?

She closed her eyes and saw Luke’s face, filled with concern and sincerity, urging her to confess to the murder he himself had committed.

Well, he could just fire truck off. Today was the day young Mr Parrish would finally be forced to face up to the consequences of his actions.

A soft voice asked, ‘Are you ready to talk to me now, Jane?’

Opening her eyes, she looked at Varma sitting opposite, let her breath out in a long sigh . . . and nodded.

24

24

Varma was far too experienced an officer to let her satisfaction show. Yes, the wimp Lockland had held out for longer than anyone had expected. Varma herself had lost a considerable amount of money in the sweepstake, but she’d get most of that back in side bets because she was the officer who’d induced Lockland to speak. From here it was only a short step to a full confession. She’d be receiving her commendation in an hour. Another one to go up on the wall.

She set up her scratchpad to record, pushed it out of Lockland’s line of sight and smiled invitingly.

Jane took a deep breath . . .

And the emergency siren went off.

Varma leaped to her feet. ‘Shit.’

Because this wasn’t the fire alarm. This eldritch, shrieking, teeth-on-edge screech signified a radiation warning. Somewhere in this building a massive radiation leak was building. There had been – or was about to be – a serious incident. One of the pods was about to blow.