‘Get away from the agent! Move! Or we’ll shoot! Down on the ground! Hands behind your back! Now!’ They are barking orders at me, but I can’t obey. I don’t want to obey. I need to get the healing stone. I need hear what she was going to say. I reach to open the Chest and I hear the officers screaming, ‘Hands up. HANDS UP . HANDS UP !’ I reach into my Chest anyway.

I hear the first gunshot, immediately followed by dozens more. As the hail of bullets fly around me, my wrist starts to tingle more strongly than ever. It doesn’t hurt anymore, and the bracelet starts to expand, covering my entire arm with a sheath of red material before spreading and popping open like an umbrella. I have no idea what is going on and I really don’t care. I can only think of my healing stone and the limp body of Walker so close and yet so useless. Suddenly, I’m behind a six-foot-high shield that curls up over my head and under my feet. The bullets bounce right off of it.

An orchestra of gunfire erupts, and countless bullets ricochet off my shield. After a couple of minutes, they become less and less frequent, like microwave popcorn that’s almost done. When the gunshots finally stop, the red material compresses itself back into the arm sheath, and then shrinks into the tingling bracelet around my wrist, all of its own volition. I look down, amazed at how effective it is, how perfect its timing is.

Walker is still lying unconscious by my feet. The officers with their guns trained on the back of the truck just a moment ago are gone, but I hear gunfire outside. I’m torn between looking for my healing stone to revive Walker and going outside to see if Nine needs help. I want to wake her up, force her to tell me where Sam and Sarah are, but I can’t leave Nine alone if he’s in trouble. I decide that Walker will keep – she’s clearly not going anywhere and I just have to hope she doesn’t die on me. I take the opportunity to stuff a Chest under each arm and run out. As soon as I emerge I see the officers running in the opposite direction. I don’t know what Nine did while I was in there getting to know my bracelet a little better, but they all look terrified.

‘Ah, Nine?’ I call over. ‘What exactly did you do to them?’

He smiles. ‘Just used my telekinesis to lift them all about thirty feet in the air. Then I offered them a choice: go higher or run away. I applaud the wisdom of their decision, don’t you?’

‘Looks like they made the right choice,’ I say.

‘Hey, I thought we were bringing the agent woman with us,’ Nine says.