‘Mort Bramnik got my predecessor to carry out a secret investigation, on his behalf, into the incident that nearly got him and a lot of other people, including some of you, killed by Howlers. Bramnik had reason to suspect someone had deliberately sabotaged the mission.’ I paused for a moment, letting all of this sink in. ‘What he found is that Casey’s been leading a double life. He’s been carrying out acts of sabotage, on behalf of Langward Greenbrooke, and all in order to discredit Bramnik. In return, Greenbrooke was offering him early retirement with some hefty benefits.’

‘But what’s the point of all this?’ asked Selwyn, looking both shocked and befuddled.

‘If the Patriots could make Bramnik’s administration look incompetent enough, they’d have an excuse to put Greenbrooke or someone like him in charge of everything we do,’ I explained. ‘According to what my predecessor wrote, the Patriots even gave Casey his own portable transfer stage, so he could carry out his acts of petty sabotage at will, and without interference.’

‘This is insane,’ Oskar practically bellowed. ‘You can’t expect us all to believe Casey would ever—’

I raised a hand to stop him. ‘Just hear me out, okay? Casey was playing his own game, counter to the Patriots, the whole time. He recruited Wallace, who wanted revenge against the Patriots, and they concocted that whole incident with the Howlers just so they could get their hands on a complete set of transfer coordinates. Including the ones for our retirement alternates. Greenbrooke had no idea what Casey was really up to, with all the resources he’d been given.’

‘And all this that you’re telling us,’ asked Selwyn, ‘is in those pages?’ He nodded towards Yuichi, who was now deeply engrossed in my predecessor’s account.

‘Most, but not all. I just got back from the base hospital where Chloe and I managed to talk to Wallace. He was just about lucid enough to fill in a lot of the missing details. Including the fact that the fire this morning wasn’t an accident either. It looks like Casey tried to get rid of Wallace because he was becoming a liability.’

‘You can’t expect us to take your word for all this!’ Randall shouted.

‘I already explained you don’t need to take my word for it.’ I went over and picked up some of the pages Yuichi had finished reading and handed them to Randall. ‘Read it. That’s all I’m asking. The first Jerry realized that the Patriots were keeping close tabs on him after he’d confronted both Wallace and Casey. He was afraid that if he told any of you about any of this, they’d torture Chloe like they did Wallace, or worse. He waited for Bramnik to come back from the Authority so he could tell him what he found, except Jerry died before he ever got the chance.’