Time passed. Max didn’t know how long. Five minutes? Ten? Over the comms, he could hear a low hum of voices from inside the dining room. The occasional person shouting for quiet. A low hum of other voices. Crying. When the three coughs came, however, they were louder than the other noises. Max couldn’t identify who had given the signal. Sami, perhaps. He emerged from his hiding place and, checking he was still alone, crept to the kitchen door. He took a deep breath, then stepped inside.

The kitchen was immaculate. There were metal counters and huge pots and pans on shelves, but no sign of food preparation. Max guessed the terrorists had struck before the kitchen staff had started to prepare lunch. There was a metal partition between the kitchen and the dining hall, but it was shut. A single door in one corner was the only way in. Max approached it.

‘I’m by the door,’ he said into the comms. ‘Give me the all-clear when nobody’s looking towards it and I can enter without being seen.’

There was a moment of silence. Then three more coughs.

‘Here goes nothing,’ Max muttered to himself. He opened the door and slipped into the dining room.

14

Block Green

The first thing Max noticed was the fear. You couldn’t see it. You couldn’t hear it. But you could certainly sense it. The air was thick with terror, like a cloud of invisible gas.

Before even scanning the room, Max put his back to the wall next to the door and slid down to the floor. There were several other kids sitting cross-legged near the door. A couple of them noticed him. He made a shushing gesture at them. They lowered their heads. They looked as if they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves. He looked around to check that none of the adults in the room had noticed his entrance. He was sure they hadn’t.

Hector’s intel had been good. There were indeed about two hundred and fifty children in the dining hall. They were sitting in groups – not classes, because the kids in each group were all of different ages, and the groups were of different sizes. Many of the younger kids were crying. Some of the older kids were doing what they could to comfort them. Arms round shoulders. Quiet words of encouragement. But the older kids were plainly terrified too, and the younger ones could tell.

Along the left-hand wall was a door with a toilet sign over it. Max knew that led to the area they hadn’t been able to access. Three tearful young kids – two boys and a girl – were standing in a line outside it. They were the only children standing up. Everyone else was cross-legged or on their knees. A few of the younger ones were lying down.