‘Does it have to be placed there?’ Max asked, pointing down at his boxers.

‘Course not,’ said the man. ‘You can tape it to your nose if you want. But if you’d prefer to avoid being shot in the head, I’d put it somewhere out of sight in an area they’re less likely to search.’

Max gave the sarcastic man a sour look. ‘You a friend of Hector’s?’ he muttered, but didn’t wait for a reply. He tore off a piece of duct tape and followed the man’s instructions.

‘We need to tape the wires up your chest,’ the man said. Max threaded the wires through his boxers. The man tore off strips of duct tape and sealed the wires to his skin. He took another loop of wire and placed it over Max’s head, round his neck, and connected it to the first wire. ‘Induction loop,’ he said. ‘Okay, get dressed.’

The clothes he handed Max were exactly the right size. A pair of old jeans. A T-shirt and a threadbare V-neck jumper. Looking around, Max saw that the others had taped their wires to their bodies and were pulling on similarly nondescript clothes. Abby reappeared wearing jeans, a hoodie and a baseball cap. Max noticed that she’d removed her cartilage piercings. Made sense, he figured. They would have made her stand out. Her gait was slightly awkward. Max could tell she was wearing a wire too. He made a mental note to move as naturally as possible.

One of the guys approached holding something that resembled a matchbox. He opened it up. It was filled with cotton wool, and inside nestled a skin-coloured earbud. ‘Put this in your ear,’ he said.

‘What is it?’

‘Covert wireless earpiece. Invisible to the naked eye. Latest tech. Only available for …’

‘… high-level military operations?’

‘Right. You’ll be able to hear your controller through it.’

‘Can anybody hack into it?’ Max had heard that this was possible.

‘It’s what we call secure covert comms,’ the guy said. ‘Encrypted at both ends. It’s impossible to hack.’

Max took the earpiece and gingerly placed it into his ear. It was uncomfortable, and he felt sure that it must be very visible to anyone standing next to him. But the man looked and grunted in satisfaction before moving on to the others. The woman who had taken Abby away approached. She carried a pair of trainers. They were nothing fancy, and looked as if they had been well worn, with spots of mud here and there. She turned the left shoe upside down and twisted the heel clockwise. It clicked around to reveal a hidden compartment containing a razor blade and a small button compass. ‘You try closing it,’ she said, handing the shoe to Max. He took it and clicked the heel shut. ‘Put them on,’ the woman instructed. Max did as he was told.