Oakenfold Special School lay at the end of the street, silent and empty. Not even a buzz to suggest there was an active shield surrounding it. It was the perfect trap: invisible, indestructible, and already proven to be fatal.

Two men in dark navy uniforms appeared not far from the house. Kate retrieved her weapon, but on closer inspection they were just who she had hoped. Ewan and Alex had returned from their search for clone uniforms.

‘OK,’ Ewan whispered as he walked through the front door and passed around another two sets of clothes. ‘There’s yours, there’s McCormick’s… I think we’re set.’

‘Do we seriously think this’ll work?’ asked Kate, looking down at the uniform being handed to her. It must have belonged to one of the clones Simon had shot during their escape. Not that the disguise would serve much purpose, since Nicholas Grant had never produced a female clone before.

‘We’ve at least got a chance,’ answered Alex. ‘Besides, it’s May nineteenth now. Twenty-four hours from the AME shield going up, any risks are acceptable.’

It wasn’t quite the answer Kate wanted. But she could hardly choose to not accept it.

‘Did you see Raj?’

Ewan looked at Alex. They were both noticeably uncomfortable.

‘There’s not much left to see,’ said Ewan. ‘I wouldn’t bother. Won’t do you any good.’

That was the answer Kate had wanted. She had needed to ask the question to stop it bouncing around in her skull, and now she knew there was no need to go to the entrance and look for herself. She lay down on the living room floor and rested a blanket over herself.

‘The shield’s still up,’ Alex said to her. ‘So if you were thinking of stealing some more research…’

Kate shook her head. In front of her, Ewan was doing the same.

‘They’re not going to bring the shield down unless they absolutely have to,’ Ewan said. ‘Which they will, once they start hauling the research back to New London. Anyway, any idea how much sleep we’re likely to get?’

Not that any of us will actually sleep.

‘Literally no idea at all,’ said McCormick, who seemed to have awoken out of nowhere. ‘The supply trucks could arrive at any time. Safe to say they’ll be gone before the evening though.’

‘Even with all the machines they’ll be loading?’ Kate asked.

‘No, they won’t be transporting much besides paper. The only bits of hardware here are the border points, which are useless without the laptop Mark destroyed. And the electricity generators in the sports hall are just normal generators, nothing to do with AME research. It won’t take long to pack up everything and transport it to New London.’

‘Or to some mystery location away from New London where their secret backup is,’ Alex mumbled.