‘There’s another thing,’ Lili said. ‘Those vests some of them are wearing – they have a special kind of detonator. I heard them calling it a kill switch. I think it means that once they press the switch with their thumb, the vest is primed. As soon as the switch is released, the vest detonates. So, as soon as the switch has been pressed …’

‘… if the target gets shot, the vest explodes.’ Max finished the sentence for her.

‘Right,’ Lili said. She looked even more frightened now. Nobody could fake that kind of fear. Max knew, because he felt it too.

‘She’s telling the truth,’ Max said quietly.

Lili looked confused. ‘Who are you talking to?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ He took a deep breath, then went for it. ‘I need to cut one of the cables circling the room. Can you help me by distracting the terrorists?’

Lili looked thoughtful. ‘I can do better than that,’ she said after a moment. ‘But we have to move fast.’

‘Right,’ Max said. He managed a smile. ‘Lightning fast.’

Lili nodded seriously. She looked as though she was about to explain her plan. Just then, however, the door opened. T7 appeared. He looked from Lili to Max and back again. Her features morphed. The other Lili – hard-faced, aggressive and a bit scary – reappeared. ‘Get back in there,’ she said, her voice loud enough to be heard back in the hall. ‘Now!’

Max bowed his head and did as he was told. As he entered the hall followed by Lili and T7, Lili pushed officiously past him. She strode across the hall towards T1, who was still on the stage. Max watched as she had a hushed conversation with him. So did everyone else in the hall. Lili pointed at Jack, who was still unconscious on the ground in front of the stage. T1 nodded. Lili walked off the stage and stood beside Jack. She scanned everyone in the room. Max was still standing up, and she pointed at him. ‘You!’ she called out across the hall. ‘Come here.’

The room fell silent. Max felt all eyes on him as he picked his way across the hall. When he reached Lili, he looked down at Jack. Max was shocked. Jack’s face was pale, bruised and smeared with blood. His right arm looked broken, bent at a strange angle at the elbow. Max looked for the faint rising and falling of his chest. He couldn’t see it. He glanced up at the others on the stage. They were watching intently. Abby’s mistrust of Lili was plain to read on her face.

‘The sight of this idiot is upsetting the small children,’ Lili said. ‘You must help me move him.’ She walked round to Jack’s feet. ‘I will take this end, you take the head end. We will move him to the back of the room.’