“As for you, did you ever spare a thought for your victims?  Did you ever stop to think how it might impact them?”

“They were all insured, so they didn’t lose anything” Arkin came back, a little too quickly to make the reply sound spontaneous.  It was obvious to Gray that it was a line he spouted to anyone who questioned his career choice, be they the police or social workers.

“Well, let me tell you something about insurance companies, Simon.  They don’t get a call saying ‘I’ve been burgled’ and run round to replace everything.  They do all they can to put the blame on the home owner, trying to prove that they were at fault for making it easy for the burglar.  For example, if you opened a front door, grabbed the keys of a brand new Mercedes and drove it away, the insurance company will say the blame lies with the home owner for not securing the keys properly.  They lose their forty grand motor and don’t get a penny back.”

Gray placed a cup of water next to Arkin’s plate and popped a straw in so that he could drink from it.  “You know, it’s ironic that you never spared a thought for your victims, because now there are three hundred families out there about to vote as to whether you live or die.  Not just them, but their friends and families, too.  That’s thousands of people all voting, and I don’t think many will be asking for you to be set free to heap more misery on them.  Oh, and don’t forget everyone else in the country who has been burgled in their lifetime.  I don’t think you can count on their votes, either.”

Gray left Arkin to his banquet, satisfied with the look of impending doom on his face.  He wheeled a trolley into the next cell and again removed the tape from the young man’s mouth.

“Why are you doing this to me?” his prisoner asked.  Faced with the prospect of repeating his little speech, Gray said “Shut up, dickhead, and eat your dinner.”

Once the prisoners had been fed and watered he took a stroll around the outside of the building.  The factory had once produced earthenware and stood in its own grounds.  He had chosen it because it sat well back from the main road, affording him plenty of notice should anyone approach.  The sole remaining building was two stories high and in pretty good repair.  Most of the windows had been smashed and Gray had broken the others before boarding them up using two inch thick planks of wood.

The four sides of the building had been cleared away and there was thirty yards of ground which an attacking force would have to cover.  Apart from the chance of being picked off by Gray, they would have to negotiate knee high razor wire and numerous motion sensors, not to mention the anti-personnel mines.  Beyond the open ground there were swathes of knee-high grass and the remnants of the other factory buildings which once stood proud but were now reduced to rubble.  If anyone wanted to mount an attack there was little in the way of protection within a hundred and fifty yards of the building.