When I finally stomp down the stairs, someone flashes their torch in my face. I swat it away. It’s Ven. He raises an eyebrow.

‘I’m not in the mood for a lecture,’ I say. ‘I wasn’t doing any harm up there.’

‘Well, it’s certainly true that you have a limited ability to impact on anything. I just came to tell you there’s a planning meeting for captains, their vices and the assassination team tomorrow morning at eight. Don’t be late.’

‘What?’

‘Let’s hope your reactions are a little quicker when you’re trying to shoot The Leader’s head off, shall we?’

‘I’m not on the team. You told me I wasn’t on the team.’ What the hell is he playing at?

‘If I can tax your feeble brain just for a moment and ask you to access your memory – I appreciate that it’s not something you do often and that it may cause you some pain – now think; did I actually ever say you couldn’t be on the team?’

‘Yes, I mean . . . well, you said that I didn’t have all the necessary skills.’

‘Come on, Blake, if I only allowed you to do things you were fully qualified for you’d never do an efwurding thing. You’re on the team. Make sure you’re at the meeting.’

I should be happy, but I’m not. ‘Why have you always got to play mind games, Ven?’

Ven smirks. ‘Why do people normally play games?’

He thinks he’s so clever. ‘In psychological terms,’ I say, ‘play serves a purpose in preparing immature minds for real-life situations. I hope you’ve learnt something from messing with my head, Ven.’

Just for once it’s nice to walk away having had the last word.

As I reach the landing of the next floor down I see the glow of a solar lantern and hear voices. I give into my curiosity and take a closer look. Paulo, Robin and a dark-haired girl are sorting through piles of clothes. I stop in the doorway.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask.

‘Something very important,’ Robin says smugly.

‘Clothes for the Big Day,’ Paulo explains.

Robin holds up a frilly dress against herself. ‘I would look good in this, wouldn’t I?’ Without waiting for an answer she puts down the dress and tries on a smart jacket instead. It’s much too big for her, but she twirls around anyway.

‘Robin . . .’ Paulo warns.

I take a look at the heaps of clothes. Someone has done an excellent job. There are a number of uniforms, some for guards, others for delivery people or event stewards. They’ve also got some smart outfits for children. The sort of thing that kids from a Learning Community might wear on The Leader’s birthday.

‘This is good stuff,’ I say. There must be clothes for every member of the Resistance here. ‘Where did it all come from?’ I ask.

‘Not telling,’ Robin says.

‘The Aqua team,’ the dark-haired girl says.

‘Nard,’ I say.

She laughs at my tone. ‘Are you not a fan? He is a bit . . . you know, but he certainly gets his job done.’

‘Here,’ Paulo says, ‘take the labels off these.’ He pushes a bundle of clothes across a table towards me. I start pulling tags off jumpers. My eyes widen when I see the prices. I wonder if Nard actually steals things from shops or if someone else does it for him.

I turn back to the girl. ‘If by “a bit you know” you mean he’s an utter jerk, then I agree.’

Paulo just blinks, but Robin throws down the hanger she is holding. ‘Why are you being mean about Nard? Don’t be horrible. He’s nice. He gave me Bear. That’s not horrible, is it?’

I’m surprised to hear that Nard has done anything for anyone.

‘She’s his little pet,’ the dark-haired girl explains to me. ‘Calm down, Robin, you can’t deny that your Nard is a bit intense. And he loves his guns, doesn’t he?’

He loved them too much to let me borrow one, anyway.

‘So? I like guns, too,’ Robin says.

‘Everyone in the Resistance spends time with guns.’ Paulo is playing the peacemaker as usual.

‘Not as much as Nard,’ the girl insists. ‘And it’s not just guns, is it? I got stuck on guard duty with him once and I had to hear all about his knife collection.’

‘You’re all just jealous,’ Robin snaps.

‘Robin, have you got a pair of size four boots over there?’ Paulo is trying to change the subject.

‘You lot never like anyone I like. Nobody likes Nard. Nobody likes my friend Jed. You think the people I like are stupid.’

‘That’s enough, Robin.’ He leans over to take the boots and speaks into her ear. ‘Stop making a fuss or I won’t let you out to play with Jed.’

I don’t think the dark-haired girl hears, but I do. I feel perversely pleased that Paulo is going against Ven and letting Robin play with her little friend.

Robin looks thunderous, but says nothing and we all sort the clothes in silence for a few minutes.

‘Are you on the Assassination team, Paulo?’ I ask.

‘Blake, you know we’re not supposed to discuss our individual roles for the Big Day.’

Another one of Ven’s stupid rules.

‘All right, I won’t discuss that. I’ve just been wondering whether you’ve ever tried it before, the Resistance I mean – surely you could have killed The Leader before now?’

‘Nard says that. Nard says shoot him quick.’ Robin looks thrilled that she’s found something that Nard and I agree on.

‘It’s not that simple,’ Paulo says.

‘You’d only need one volunteer,’ I say.

‘One volunteer to get around The Leader’s bulletproof car or to take out the pack of bodyguards he travels around with?’

‘There must be times when a sniper could get a single headshot. That’s all it would take.’

‘That’s all it would take to kill The Leader. It’s not all that it would take to kill the Leadership. If we’d killed him before now, we’d have been the bad guys. We have to get people to understand that he’s the enemy before we kill him. Then they’ll know that we’ve done the right thing.’

‘We could have done Nard’s Plan Scarlett,’ Robin says.

‘You’re not supposed to know about that,’ Paulo says.

‘Everybody knows about it,’ the dark-haired girl says. ‘It just blowing the Leadership up, isn’t it?’

Paulo pushes more clothes at the girl. ‘We really shouldn’t be discussing any of this. Let’s concentrate on getting this done so I can get half an hour’s sleep before I’m expected to organise something else, shall we?’

All through the night I can’t stop imagining that single shot to The Leader’s head. Which makes me wonder about what Kay said. What do I care about destroying more – the whole oppressive government or just my father?