They ran on, faster and faster, until they were almost at the wall. He could see a dull yellow light from inside the tunnel. They were almost there! Only a few more steps! And just as they reached the opening, just when he thought they had made it, about six men dropped to the ground in front of them, blocking them.

Marcus never stopped moving—his hands a blur of steel as his knife flashed—and two of the men fell, gurgling gruesomely as the blood gushed from wide gashes in their throats. The remaining four closed in on him even as more men slid down the ropes in front of them and Colby and his men jumped on them, shouts and the sound of blows permeating the air.

Marcus was fighting so fast he was a shadow, cutting a path through his assailants, even as more and more Renegades slid down the ropes. ‘Run!’ he shouted, even while ducking under a club swing to slash across his assailant’s ribs and, in the same motion, stab him in the small of his back for good measure.

‘Run!’ echoed June in Albert’s ear and, each holding one of Theo’s hands, they ran, making their way through the melee.

Two men moved in front of them to stop them, knives glinting, and then Marcus was somehow there again, slashing and spinning through them in a flurry of motion so swift it was impossible to tell what he was doing, although the men fell almost instantly.

But it was a lost cause. More and more of the attackers kept appearing, sliding down the ropes all around with almost mechanical regularity. And now more men were pouring out of the tunnels as well.

‘Through the tunnel!’ shouted Marcus. ‘Right, left, second left, right and—’

The rest of what he said was drowned out in the loud clash of steel as he brought his knife up, just in time to deflect someone else’s from his eye.

The three of them ran past the new arrivals, skirting another fallen man, into the opening and the low tunnel beyond, as fast as they could. They could hear footsteps thudding behind them.

As they ran, Albert frantically racked his brains to remember what Marcus had shouted.

‘Right! Here!’ he yelled as they passed an opening in the wall on the right, skidding through into the tunnel beyond. But turning around had cost them a precious moment, and their pursuers were closer.