‘You can’t answer it,’ Amir warned as the phone continued to blare out its jaunty ringtone.

‘But I have to,’ said Connor, his thumb hovering over the Accept icon. ‘It’s Charley.’

‘She’s betrayed us for Equilibrium, remember?’

Connor hesitated. ‘I need to hear that from her before I truly believe it.’

‘No, don’t!’ pleaded Amir, making a grab for the phone. But Connor held it out of reach. Amir glared at him. ‘You answer that, and it’ll give away our location.’

Connor glanced at the screen, the flashing number compelling him to respond. ‘But you bought these new phones so we couldn’t be traced.’

‘Any phone can be traced once the SIM card and IMEI number are identified. Besides, it might not even be Charley. You said her number had been disconnected.’

Zhen and Lăolao looked on with bewildered expressions as the mobile continued to ring in Connor’s hand.

‘I’ve only phoned Charley on this. Who else could it be?’ Despite Amir’s warnings, Connor accepted the call. He knew his heart was ruling his head, but he had to speak to Charley, even if it was for the last time. Laying the phone on the breakfast table, he pressed the speaker icon so Amir could hear too.

‘Hello? Charley?’ he said, hopeful and hesitant.

‘I thought your girlfriend’s number would get your attention,’ replied a cold calculating voice that made Connor’s skin crawl.

‘Kill the call!’ cried Amir, reaching for the phone.

‘NOT if you want Colonel Black to live,’ said Mr Grey quickly.

‘He’s alive?’ gasped Connor, exchanging a stunned look with Amir.

‘Well … he’s still breathing, if that’s what you mean.’ Connor could almost see the cruel smile slicing across the assassin’s anaemic face. ‘And, if you want him to continue breathing, I’d strongly advise you to surrender and hand over the flash drive.’

‘Never!’ said Connor, the word coming out as hard and heavy as a stone. Much as he hated himself for abandoning the colonel in his hour of need, he knew the former SAS soldier would be the first to understand. The flash drive was the only leverage they had over Equilibrium; Colonel Black himself had drilled that fact into him. To give it up now would be to give up everything.

‘You’re as headstrong as he is,’ snorted Mr Grey. ‘Perhaps you need some convincing.’

The phone pinged with a picture message. Fearful of seeing Colonel Black beaten, broken and bloody, Connor and Amir peered reluctantly at the screen. But what they saw gave them a far greater shock. The photo – a green-tinted night-vision shot – showed the grim and claustrophobic interior of a metal shipping container. Packed inside, a cluster of young teenagers and adults huddled together in the almost pitch-darkness. Connor recognized the muscular bulk of Jason, the bleached blond hair of Marc, Richie’s round face and Ling’s black bob among the frightened captives, a haunted look of despair in all their eyes. Jody, Gunner and the other instructors kept watch over the recruits, but their faces were gaunt and their own eyes sunken with fear and exhaustion.

‘Their limited water supply will soon run out,’ Mr Grey explained matter-of-factly. ‘But personally I’d be more concerned about oxygen levels. Shipping containers are notorious for poor ventilation. They may just … suffocate.’

Connor gripped the table so hard his knuckles went white. Amir slumped down on his stool, their team’s predicament hitting him like a punch to the guts. Until that moment they hadn’t known what fate had befallen their friends. Now they knew … Their friends were in a living hell.

‘Let them out!’ he demanded, slamming the table with his fist and causing the phone to jump.

‘That’s a little difficult,’ replied the assassin coolly. ‘They’re in the middle of the ocean. By the time their cargo ship arrives at Shanghai Port, I don’t expect many, if any, to have survived the long journey. Unless someone alerts the captain, of course. But that’s not going to happen until Equilibrium has the flash drive.’

Connor looked to Amir whose face reflected his own horror at the situation. The stakes had changed. He might have been willing to gamble Colonel Black’s life for the drive, but how could he justify sacrificing everyone in Buddyguard? Equilibrium had forced them into an impossible dilemma. If they didn’t surrender the flash drive, they’d be sentencing their friends to certain death. But if they did hand it over, then Equilibrium would remain in the shadows, free to continue its secret reign of terror.

‘Time is of the essence. Tick tock!’ said Mr Grey. ‘Equilibrium expects you to deliver the flash drive in person at their headquarters within twenty-four hours.’

‘Err … that’s a little difficult,’ said Connor, echoing the assassin’s own words in an effort to regain the upper hand. ‘We’re already out of the country.’

‘Oh, I doubt that very much,’ said Mr Grey. ‘Your dial tone was local and, according to the network signal trace, you’re in … Zhouzhuang!’

Amir shot Connor a look of I told you so, then buried his head in his hands. Connor cursed his heart’s weakness for answering the phone. He should have heeded his friend’s warning. Now he’d put them both in jeopardy and given Equilibrium back the advantage.

‘How convenient for you,’ continued the assassin. ‘That’s not far from Shanghai. I look forward to welcoming you into the Hive. Perhaps on this occasion, Connor, you’ll stop by long enough to catch up with your girlfriend. Unless you’d like a word with her now …’

There was a muffled sound of the phone exchanging hands.

‘Connor! Is that you?’ said Charley’s voice on the other end of the line, high and panicky.

‘Yes,’ he replied, his own voice tight with emotion.

‘Listen, you have to do what Mr Grey says. Otherwise Equilibrium will kill all the recruits – including me!’

‘Why would Equilibrium want to kill you? You work for them! You betrayed us … didn’t you?’

There was silence on the line. Connor’s heart was thumping so loud in his chest that it was all he heard. He’d had to ask the question, but now dreaded the answer. Then Charley replied, ‘What are you talking about, Connor? Equilibrium kidnapped me. The spinal therapy was just a ruse to get me to China. They tricked me.’

‘What!’ exclaimed Connor in horror. Even after everything he’d read in the operation files, he couldn’t believe the depths to which Equilibrium had sunk – exploiting a young girl’s disability to their own ends. He knew Charley had invested all her hopes and dreams in that one pioneering treatment and he couldn’t even begin to imagine the bitter anguish she was now going through. His heart went out to her.

‘You know I wouldn’t do anything to harm you, Connor,’ she insisted. ‘I love you.’

These were the words Connor wanted to hear and he felt his throat choke with emotion. ‘I love you too, Charley.’

‘Then please save me,’ she implored. ‘By the way, are Amir and Zhen with you too?’

‘Y-yes,’ Connor managed to reply. ‘They’re right by my side.’

‘Good. Now you must –’

The call was suddenly cut off as Amir snatched up the phone. He opened the back, yanked out the battery and prised the SIM card from its slot. Then he snapped it in half, stamped furiously on the phone and threw the broken pieces with all his might over the courtyard wall and into the canal. ‘I told you not to answer that call!’ he shouted, his fists balled up in rage.

‘I-I-I had to,’ Connor stuttered, never having seen his friend so angry.

‘We have to leave, now!’ ordered Amir, taking charge for once and hurriedly gathering up the flash drive, his tablet and Go-bag. ‘Thanks to you, Equilibrium have traced us to our location. But with any luck it’ll only be accurate to fifty metres or so. That gives us a narrow corridor to escape if we leave now. We’ll need to find somewhere else to hide until the truck arrives.’ He glanced irritably over at Connor. ‘Why are you smiling?’

Connor hadn’t realized there was a smile on his lips, but he felt it in his heart. ‘Because Charley didn’t betray us.’

Amir shot him an unexpectedly fierce look. ‘Then tell me this – how did she know about Zhen?’

Connor opened his mouth to answer. But nothing came out. He glanced over at their young guide who stood beside her grandmother, watching the frantic packing with increasing alarm. Amir was right. He’d not mentioned Zhen at all during their brief conversation. Charley couldn’t have known about her.

Amir shook his head in dismay. ‘She even got you to reveal we’re all together. Charley’s certainly a class act! Now grab your Go-bag and –’

A knock at the door caused them all to freeze.

Amir’s eyes flared in panic. ‘They can’t have got to us that quickly!’

Connor spun towards the door. ‘But would Equilibrium bother to knock?’