‘Listen, little sister,’ he hisses. ‘Don’t fuck with what you don’t get. Stick to your playground – even though the army built that, along with everything else in this town. This whole country’s built on the army, every country lucky enough to call itself one is. We’re nothing without the military. You want to play by someone else’s rules, have aliens call the shots instead? You get to sleep at night with people fighting for you, every second of every minute of every day, and you just haven’t got a fucking clue, have you? Look 21around you.’ He waves a meaty hand in the air, at the whole rotten jumble we’re supposed to be grateful for. ‘You should be proud. Even Rach gets it.’

He smiles as I start to cry. The killer blow. Because what I really care about is the fact that Rach saw him before I did. She’s not his sister. And now Ma’s weeping too; of course she is.

‘Pack it in, would you?’ I sniff as I snap at her. ‘Like it’s nothing to do with you that we lost all the money we ever had? The only useful thing you’ve ever done is knock up with a squaddie in the first place, and even he was a loser who got himself killed before he could give a proper shit. And now look at us. Where’s all his danger money gone? All our insurance? That’s what they called it, right?’ I wipe my cheeks, reaching for Kayleigh as she bleats for me.

‘I swear spongers must just hang around Warchester, waiting for people to die, waiting to take advantage of where the latest chunk of change has been dropped in exchange for some squaddie who lost his life in some other shit-hole that’s worth nothing to anyone normal. If this town’s built on the army, then the army’s built on death. There’s no easier place to go scrounging if you know that. And Rach wouldn’t get anything unless it came with a free packet of fags. Which is obviously how you got her fawning all over you.’

I cuddle Kayleigh tighter as she snuffles into my shoulder.

‘It’s our duty, Carls,’ he mumbles, bending to scoop piles of laundry into his bag. ‘All of ours, especially the ones of us living here. That’s what she gets. Fags or not, she’s smart enough to get it. That’s the real intelligence, right there. And you’re the one that’s the swot.’

He snorts as Ma snivels, weeping on and on and on.

‘Like I don’t understand duty,’ I mumble into Kayleigh’s head.

Jason slings the bag over his shoulder as he straightens up, looking from Ma to us and back.

‘What else does she need?’ He jerks his head at Kayleigh. ‘And you? Come on, spit it out.’ 22