They spoke for another minute or two, but there was a new brittle quality to Olivia’s voice, as if she no longer quite trusted him. The rain eased off as their call ended, the sun finally breaking through the clouds. Thousands of faces were now turned upwards, while Saul himself leaned, exhausted and weary, against a roadside bollard.

People, he’d already noticed, were giving him a wide berth. He could imagine what he must look like, drenched in blood, mud and sweat. What would they all think, he wondered, if they realized he was trying to take away the one shred of hope they were all desperately clinging to?

Don’t think about that, he urged himself, all too aware of just how easy it would be to sink into a bottomless feeling of malaise. He had to keep moving, figure the rest out as he went along. He was never going to get to Arizona without putting serious distance between himself and the Array, and that meant a lot more walking unless he could find some form of transport. At the very least that would keep him busy while he waited to hear back from Olivia.

Hauling himself upright, he started walking again, wondering where the hell he was going to lay hands on some food. He was still running on adrenalin after his encounter with Donohue, but at some point soon he was going to have to eat.

As it turned out, he waited only a few minutes before Olivia got back to him.

‘Send me your coordinates,’ she told him briskly. ‘I need to know exactly where you are right now.’

Saul did as requested. ‘It’s going to be a lot harder than I thought to get out of here,’ he told her. ‘Every car I come across is either burned out or a total wreck. But I can see what looks like a medical drop zone just south of here, with manned choppers landing and taking off. There might be some chance of swinging a flight back to Orlando, or to somewhere else I can get to Arizona from.’

‘Stay put for now,’ she advised. ‘I’ve got hold of the names of some senior staff who’re cleared to carry EDP codes.’

‘I’m impressed,’ he remarked sincerely.

‘What can I say, I’m resourceful. But under any other circumstances I’d be facing about six life sentences right now. Is that impressive enough for you?’

‘I guess it is. So, who’s on your list?’

‘Turns out one of the people you want is holed up in a hotel near the Array. Place called the Dorican. You know it?’

Saul stared over at a row of hotels a couple of kilometres beyond the medical drop zone. ‘I see it. What’s his name?’

‘Constantin Hanover.’

Saul laughed. ‘You’re shitting me.’

‘You know him?’

‘You could say that. I wonder what he’s doing there?’