Claire knew there was no assuming safe until they were far, far away from here, and she started to say it – and then it was obvious, because the trap sprang shut.

Claire didn’t really notice the dark offshoot tunnel as they approached it; the glow of streetlights at the end was much too alluring. It was only when a group of figures stepped out of it, into her path, that she was forced to skid to a halt. There were three of them facing her – two armed men, and one standing still in the centre who didn’t fit the template she’d become used to seeing.

A man, but carrying something different. Bulky.

Jesse hardly paused at all. ‘Trap!’ she yelled, a sudden and shocking sound that echoed from the tunnel’s concrete like thunder. At the same time, she pushed Claire out of the way, up against the far wall, to get her out of the line of fire.

As Jesse brought up her assault rifle, utterly unconcerned with being outnumbered, the figure in the middle raised that bulky, clumsy thing he was holding, aimed, and fired. Or at least that was what Claire assumed happened – there was no light, no sound, nothing but a shiver that went through Claire’s nerves as if she’d stood close to lightning.

And Jesse gasped, dropped her weapon, and staggered backward, hands clapping to her head as if she’d been stunned. She let out a sharp, agonised cry, and suddenly dropped down into a crouch – a fear position, a child’s futile attempt to hide from her tormentors.

She was sobbing.

And it hit home to Claire with a white-hot surge of rage what was going on. That was VLAD. Her VLAD, being used on her friend.

But it works, some ice-cold part of her said. The field test is successful. She told that part of her to shut up and die, and lunged off the wall, trying to get to the man holding her creation and pointing it at Jesse.

It was Dr Davis, and he looked elated. In fact, he was grinning in triumph.

Claire yelled in inarticulate fury, and lunged toward him. She saw one of the armed men standing next to Dr Davis turning toward her, and the barrel of his gun swung with him …

… And then Michael was in the way, grabbing the gun and slamming it up with stunning force into the man’s face. Her would-be shooter dropped like a sack of mud … but then Dr Davis hit Michael point blank in the back with a shot from VLAD, and Claire, rushing at him, saw Michael’s face go alabaster white, his blue eyes terrifyingly wide as he pitched to his knees.

Like Jesse, he curled into a protective ball, shivering. Unlike Jesse, he was making a hoarse, faint, screaming sound.