‘Hang on,’ I say as her hand tightens around my arm. ‘You mean we’re going in there?’ I jerk my head towards the barracks buildings crouched low beyond the fence.

‘We’re off duty,’ he says, eyes twinkling as he looks at me. ‘It’s time to let our hair down. Not that any of us have got much to let down, mind you, regulations being what they are…’

Rach laughs like it’s the funniest thing anyone’s ever said. Shadow passes over us as a crow flies over the moon.

‘I’m not allowed into the barracks,’ I say, panic rising in my throat. ‘None of us are, unless visiting’s officially on. Not even Ma…’

I trail off as I remember. How Jason banned her from even walking past the main entrance. Like her gigantic Kayleigh-belly was proof to the whole of Warchester that some scrounger was about to leg it with all her army money. Like we ever really had a right to it in the first place. So what if I had a dad who was killed in action? He was gone before he even knew my name. He probably never remembered Jason’s.

‘Now I can tell you’re a Gates,’ he says, cocking his head. ‘You know which rules are worth keeping. That’s why your brother’s going to make sergeant in record time. You’re right, of course. Officially. But when off-duty calls, all bets are off. Being off-duty’s as important as being on, if you ever want to be successful in combat.’

‘She’s up for it, aren’t you, Carls?’ Rach’s grip tightens on my arm.

‘Come on,’ Tommo says, smiling. ‘Be off-duty with us. No one does off-duty better than the army.’

‘Good girl,’ Rach hisses between her teeth, and I find myself nodding.33

Maybe Jason does get it, I think, remembering him clearing the room of dirty laundry faster than I could blink, hating myself for imagining the bright and shiny fresh food all stacked up in the fridge. Maybe he just can’t say so. It’s not like I ever can either, is it? The right words don’t come even when I try and get some out.

We follow as Tommo leads us along the edge of the fence to a small opening between the bars almost totally hidden by brambles. It’s so tight I have to hold my breath to squeeze through. There’s a low hiss as a small camera mounted on the top of a fence post swivels and points straight at us as we slip towards the inner fence.

‘Don’t worry about that,’ Tommo says, guiding us through a side gate hidden within the bars. If he hadn’t pushed on the right one no one would ever know it could open. ‘It’s been dead for months. Still looks but it can’t see…’