‘Brooke told me,’ Jackson went on. ‘After we were ambushed at Green Park I got back safely with Robbie and Ethan, but I had to leave DogNut, Courtney and Brooke behind. Brooke was the only one made it. She’s been at Buckingham Palace apparently. She was quite badly hurt. It’s where she met the others. These Holloway kids.’

‘At the palace?’

‘Yeah.’

Justin gave Boggle a ‘told you so’ look and fell silent.

‘So what do we do about it then?’ said Boggle once it was clear that Justin wasn’t going to say anything else. ‘If we do have a saboteur?’

‘What can we do?’ said Justin. ‘Keep an eye on everyone. Listen to what they’re saying, see if anyone’s acting any different.’

‘Why would anyone do it, though?’ said Jackson, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘Why would anyone want to hurt the rest of us? It’s crazy, you calmly talking about a saboteur. It doesn’t make any sense.’

‘Crazy is right,’ said Boggle.

‘Who’s missing exactly?’ said Justin.

‘You mean missing or dead?’ said Jackson.

‘I mean both,’ said Justin.

‘Five,’ said Jackson. ‘Two missing, three dead. Would have probably been a lot more if Brooke hadn’t shown up with the new kids. I can’t believe that somebody here just, basically, killed five of us.’

‘Who’s dead?’ said Justin, trying to ignore Jackson.

‘That we know of for sure?’ said Jackson, her voice shaking with emotion. ‘So far we’ve found the bodies of Jason Hickley, Emma Hudson and James Stornay.’

‘We’re going to take them up to Hyde Park and burn them,’ said Boggle. ‘If we bury ’em they’ll just be dug up.’

‘So who’s missing then?’

‘Paul Channing and Stacey Norman.’

‘Five in one night,’ said Justin, clenching and unclenching his fists over and over again. ‘That’s really not good.’

‘None of this is good,’ said Jackson. ‘But it’s not your fault, Justin.’

‘It could have been a whole lot worse,’ said Boggle.

‘I know.’ Justin was still clenching his fists. ‘But it was bad timing, with Robbie out of action.’

‘Bad timing or good timing?’ said Jackson. ‘Those new kids turning up made all the difference.’

‘Don’t you think perhaps it was a bit too lucky?’ said Justin.

‘What was?’

‘Those kids arriving last night, just after the sickos got through. Saving us. Being heroes. They’ve come straight here from the palace and we’ve welcomed them in …’

‘Come off it, Justin,’ said Boggle. ‘Now you’re being paranoid. Just because they were at the palace …’

‘Am I?’ Justin interrupted. ‘We can’t trust them. We have to be very careful. First DogNut, and now this new lot, who we know nothing about …’