She was right. I gripped the wheel hard and again remembered the look on Casey’s face when we had stood together in Wallace’s bedroom, his eyes on the half-coin in my open hand. In that moment I felt sure he had acted decisively in order to keep us from interfering with the plans Wallace had tried to warn my predecessor about.

NINETEEN

There wasn’t much left of Wallace’s house. It must have been a hell of a blaze, I thought, breathing shallowly to avoid taking in too much smoke.

I pulled the jeep up across the street from where Wallace’s place had been. The air was thick with ash, and I had the feeling that the rain had probably done most of the work of putting out the flames.

On the way through town, we had narrowly avoided crashing into a jeep full of Patriot agents speeding down a narrow road, and had seen other agents wandering in and out of vacant houses. Fortunately, in the chaos none had thought to stop us and ask where we’d been all night.

I saw most of the other Pathfinders gathered in a loose knot farther down the street. They were watching as two of Major Howes’ troops half-heartedly poked through the still-smouldering remains. A few of them glanced our way and muttered among themselves. I also noted the presence of three Patriot agents standing by another jeep parked next to Wallace’s front gate, caught up in what looked like an intense conversation. That was fine by me, because it meant they weren’t paying us much attention.

It didn’t look to me as if Wallace could possibly have got out alive, particularly given how very inebriated he had been the last time I saw him. I could see how the palm trees lining the street nearest were themselves blackened from the blaze. Faint wisps of smoke still rose from their singed leaves.

I looked around at the houses next to Wallace’s – all of them built from wood and brick. It struck me that, if not for the late-night storm, half the town could easily have gone up in flames. I wondered whether that might in fact have been Casey’s intention, and realized any remaining doubts regarding whether he was responsible for the fire had fled.

As I watched, one of the soldiers stepped out through the gate and went to confer with the Patriot agents. Where was Mayer, I wondered? Or any other of the Authority’s civilian staff? Shouldn’t they be here?

Or were the Patriots now in charge?

‘We were away for just one night,’ said Chloe, ‘and now . . .’

‘Casey did this,’ snarled Rozalia from the back seat. ‘I guess he got tired of waiting for Wallace to find someone else to confess to. Well, fuck it. He got what he deserved.’

‘Nobody deserves that,’ I said, staring at the smouldering walls and the collapsed roof.