Dont do that again, he said, holding up one fist and then flinging its fingers open. An Avilon Security ID materialized in the air, before fading after a few moments. Otherwise Ill have to knock you out for the rest of the journey.

Youre . . . ?

The police, said the Freeholder. Welcome to Avilon. Now shut the hell up.

He closed the door hard, and she heard him climb back up into the trucks cabin. They were soon under way once more.

Well, thats that, then. Shed clearly walked into a trap, and a carefully prepared one at that.

She let her head fall forward on to her knees, giving herself up to hopeless exhaustion. As a result, she barely noticed when the truck finally came to a halt, a few hours later.

She squinted painfully as the compartment door opened again, letting daylight flood back in. The Freeholder reached in and grabbed the collar of her jacket, dragging her out and depositing her in a heap on the yellow soil.

She looked around, seeing they had come to a halt in front of a vast sprawling building that looked as if it had been modelled on a fairytale castle. It sat at the centre of a few dozen acres of carefully tended lawns and coppiced trees. It was, even by the excessive standards of Avilons population of the ultra-wealthy, stunningly tasteless.

Get up, said the Freeholder, as the two bead-zombies came over to stand behind him.

How long have you been working for Sifra? she asked as calmly as she could, staring up at him. She was damned if she was going to let him see how frightened she really was.

He told me to bring you here, the Freeholder grunted. He didnt say whether you had to still be in one piece. He gestured towards a nearby gate. So how about you shut the fuck up, and start

She jumped up and ran. One thing she knew about bead-zombies was that they werent very good at moving fast.

For the first few moments, she thought her legs might actually give way beneath her. She was still afflicted by numerous aches and cramps, and one ankle felt strangely numb. But she ignored all that, letting her frank terror of ever again setting eyes on Anil Sifra empower her muscles to carry her away as far and fast as humanly possible.

She sped back along the same narrow road on which the spider-truck crouched. Just a few kilometres away she could see the glistening towers of Cockaigne Avilons primary settlement rising up to pierce through the containment field more than a kilometre overhead.