The resulting explosion tore apart McCormick’s body and everything within twenty metres of it, including Marshall, his entire office, and the final computer that held anything related to the AME shield. Iain Marshall had no time to react, or even notice the explosion, before he vanished into the fireball.

Roth did not see the explosion – just the sudden appearance of static on his screen and a moment’s pause before the room shook horribly around him – but it was immediately obvious what had happened. Roth ran towards the exit into the Floor B corridor, jaw hung open in shock, as human staff began to scurry around in panic. Most of the way down the corridor, smoke emerged from Marshall’s office.

Oliver Roth had never felt so saddened to be right. Given the choice between survival and victory, Joseph McCormick really had chosen victory.

Chapter 27

For the first few moments after they pressed the button, Ewan heard nothing. Just as he began to wonder whether the detonator had worked at all, the shockwave hit the stairwell and threw all three of them off the top step.

Ewan landed halfway down, bashing his ribs against the stairs. He cursed in pain, but was distracted by a sudden realisation.

That explosion came from above.

‘Did anyone else feel…’

‘Yeah,’ said Alex, pulling himself up using the bannister. ‘That came from one of the upper floors.’

Ewan hauled himself upright, and reached his uncoordinated hands in the direction of his pockets.

‘Give me a second, I’m phoning comms.’

‘Now?’ asked Alex. ‘Why not stick with the plan, and barge upstairs to grab McCormick while they’re distracted?’

‘We need to find out what the hell that was.’

As he inserted the battery into his phone, his eyes landed on Kate. She sat in silence, holding up her last victim’s radio. Voices were starting to yell.

‘Nick! Get to the bloody radio!’

Nathaniel Pearce…

‘You’d better tell me what the hell that explosion was,’ bellowed Nicholas Grant. ‘It felt like it came from your floor!’

‘It did!’ came Pearce’s wail. ‘Iain’s office is gone!’

The breath halted in Ewan’s throat.

‘Gone?’ Grant screamed.

‘Yes! Literally gone! I’m standing here right now… there’s just a pile of black debris and walls splattered with fire! It’s still burning now!’

Ewan looked around, and found confused expressions that mirrored his own. It all sounded too good to be true.

‘The AME computer?’

‘Destroyed,’ Pearce wailed, like a man who had just lost a family member. ‘The rebels have won. All my technology… all the research I ever did on AME… it’s gone, and the computer’s in a billion pieces…’

Hold on, thought Ewan, did we seriously just win? How the hell did we do that?

What did McCormick do?

Alex was pumping his fists in delight. Kate looked as confused as Ewan, but nonetheless she was smiling.