‘No, I don’t,’ he replied. ‘That’s the one thing I don’t think. But I don’t know what else I can do.’

‘I’m not sure I should even consider helping you do this,’ she said, with a touch of outrage in her voice.

Saul punched the air in frustration, barely able to contain his anger. ‘Listen to me, goddammit. I’ve been through hell ever since you came asking me for help, so unless there’s some genuine flaw in my logic, some reason why we shouldn’t do exactly what I just described, I can’t see why the hell you wouldn’t want to help mequo;

‘All those people—’

‘Are never going to make it into the Array alive,’ he said. ‘Believe me, I’m here right in the thick of it, and nobody’s going in who isn’t being allowed in. The whole place is surrounded by soldiers, tanks and drones, and I’ve already seen more dead bodies than most people get to see in a lifetime. It’s a war zone, Olivia. No other word for it.’

Another trumpet-like blast from the sonar tanks a way off in the distance briefly drowned out the clamour of the crowds.

‘Do you realize what I’d have to do to find out who has that kind of clearance?’ she said. ‘You’re asking me to hack into the ASI’s own databases.’

‘To which,’ he reminded her, ‘you have privileged access as an ASI employee yourself.’

‘That makes no difference. It’d set off a trail of security alerts leading straight back to me.’

‘I think we’re long past the point where we need to worry about stuff like that. There are much more important things to consider than what happens to either of us, Olivia.’

‘Okay, okay,’ she said, sounding defeated. ‘But I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to locate that kind of information, even assuming that I can find it.’

‘All I’m asking is that you try.’

‘You really do sound like a callous son of a bitch, you know that? Between you and Mitchell, I don’t know which one of you has changed the most.’

Saul stiffened as he remembered Donohue’s unfinished warning. ‘What about Mitchell? How has he changed?’

She made an exasperated sound. ‘Why?’

‘Just humour me.’

‘Nothing I can really put a finger on, okay?’

‘Please,’ he said, ‘just try.’

‘There’s just something about the look on his face that sends chills through me. I don’t know how else to describe it. Maybe that’s because I know what happened to him. Anyway, why? Is it important?’

‘I don’t know,’ Saul replied. ‘Go and find out what you can, and get back to me straight away. We can talk about Mitchell later.’