Just then, I heard a sound like a cough, coming from somewhere far off. The sound repeated at regular intervals for some seconds, then cut off as abruptly as it had begun.

Yuichi turned to stare towards the entrance. ‘Who the hell’s shooting out there?’

Oskar went the other way, through the sliding glass doors next to the pool. From its far side, he had a clear line of sight along the side of the building, past the low fence that shielded the pool from prying eyes.

I heard what sounded like another rattle of gunfire, and then the sound of a car, accelerating into the distance.

‘Maybe it’s Casey,’ said Chloe, alarmed. ‘Maybe the Patriots finally caught up with him.’

‘If they have,’ Yuichi muttered, ‘that’s one whole lot of shooting to catch just one man.’

‘Wait,’ said Randall. ‘I thought he was working for the Patriots.’

‘Weren’t you listening?’ Yuichi hissed. ‘He double-crossed them!’

‘One of us should go and take a closer look,’ Oskar called back in to us. ‘See what’s going on.’

‘Maybe,’ Randall shouted back, ‘we should stay the hell right where we are until the shooting stops.’

‘Hear, hear,’ cried Selwyn. ‘We’re safe in here, whatever the hell’s going on out there.’

I had my doubts about that, but said nothing.

‘Rozalia’s out there somewhere,’ Chloe said to me. ‘She was supposed to be back by now.’

’And Haden,’ said Selwyn, overhearing her. ‘Where did Rozalia go, exactly?’

‘To look for the portable transfer stage the Patriots gave to Casey,’ I replied. ‘That’s why the Patriots are tearing the whole town apart. They’re desperate to find it. They interrogated Wallace before we got a chance to talk to him and, given the state he was in, I think he must have told them pretty much everything – including Casey’s plans for revenge against the Authority.’

‘But if the Patriots find that stage first,’ said Randall, ‘and catch Casey, we won’t have to do a damn thing!’

Yuichi regarded him with amusement. ‘Jesus, dude. Sometimes I seriously wonder about you, you know? You think those morons are going to be able to track a guy like Casey, when they’ve barely got any mission experience of their own?’ He pointed a thumb at me and Chloe. ‘It’s like they said. Our best hope for survival is finding him ourselves, because the Patriots sure as hell never will. We need to find Casey’s stage first.’

I felt full of nervous energy. ‘We need weapons,’ I said. ‘Not just for going after Casey; but in case whoever’s out there decides to start shooting at us next.’

Selwyn shook his head. ‘You’d need access to the base armoury, and it’s not like Major Howes is going to just hand us the keys.’

‘Hey!’ Oskar shouted from where he still stood by the pool. ‘Speak of the fucking devil!’