‘We have a choice to make,’ said Connor, his voice echoing off the crumbling brick walls of the disused warehouse. Late-afternoon sunlight filtered in through the upper tier of broken and boarded-up windows that shouldered the burden of the warehouse’s collapsing roof, while the three of them sat in a tight huddle at one end of the cavernous space.

As soon as the tour bus had arrived at its first destination in Shanghai, they’d disembarked with the other tourists and made a quick getaway. Through a combination of Amir’s memory for directions and Zhen’s knowledge of the city, they’d managed to navigate their way back to the warehouse that had once been Colonel Black and Bugsy’s bunker. Now it was their last remaining refuge in the whole of China.

Connor looked at his two friends. Their faces were washed-out, their eyes ringed with exhaustion. Zhen perched on the old office chair, her knees clasped to her chest, her hair still tied in a bun. Amir wearily propped himself against Bugsy’s workbench, the array of electronic equipment untouched since their departure for the train station a week and a lifetime ago. His friend stared off blankly at the far end wall, his body slumped in defeat. Connor himself was bone-tired and almost at his wits’ end. They were back where they started, yet in even more peril than before. But with Alpha team and their instructors’ lives still in jeopardy, and with the bitter knowledge that Equilibrium was responsible for his father’s death, Connor was far from broken.

‘We could head back to Zhouzhuang and try to meet up with Zhen’s cousin,’ he suggested.

Zhen shook her head. She showed them her smartphone, which displayed a news app in Chinese. Connor immediately recognized the photo of the water town with its canals. ‘The whole area is swarming with police. They’ve set up roadblocks. You wouldn’t get ten kilometres down the highway before you were captured.’

‘Then we look for alternative routes to Hong Kong,’ said Connor.

‘We’ve already done that.’ Amir sighed heavily. ‘Zhen’s cousin was our best chance out of here and you blew it!’

‘Listen, I’m sorry,’ said Connor, feeling the guilt hanging round his neck like a noose. ‘I should’ve listened to you. I was stupid for answering that call, but I had to know … had to speak to Charley.’

Amir nodded, his gaze forlorn and far away. ‘I understand. I wanted to know too.’ He turned to Connor, his eyes red and rimmed with tears. ‘I’m more angry with her for trying to deceive us – to our very faces! Like you, I’d clung to the hope that Colonel Black had been wrong, that Charley was still one of us – our friend.’ He crushed a polystyrene cup that had been left on the workbench and angrily tossed it away. ‘She’s nothing but a heartless traitor!’

It hurt Connor to hear his friend say such things about Charley. But how could he argue with him? The simple fact was that Charley had betrayed them and now they found themselves in a desperate predicament. ‘Well, if we can’t get to Hong Kong, what do you suggest?’

‘Hand over the flash drive to Equilibrium.’

‘What?’ Connor’s jaw fell open. ‘We can’t do that. After everything we’ve read on that drive, Equilibrium has to be exposed. Destroyed! They’re terrorizing the world and no one knows the truth. They murdered my father!’

‘I know,’ said Amir sadly. ‘They also killed Bugsy and Steve. But this might be the only way to save Colonel Black and the rest of our friends. It could just save us too.’

‘How? The drive is the one thing that can bring Equilibrium down.’

‘I realize that, but I don’t see we have any other option. If we can’t get the flash drive to Stella Sinclair in London, then we may as well exchange it for the lives of our friends.’

Connor now understood Colonel Black’s moral dilemma when he’d insisted that sacrifices might have to be made for the sake of the flash drive and the greater good. They too were now stuck between a rock and a hard place – and all the time the gap between them was closing.

Zhen cleared her throat. ‘Once Equilibrium has the drive, won’t they simply kill us all to keep their secret safe?’

Connor nodded. ‘Zhen’s right, Amir. We can’t trust them.’

Flicking a stray piece of polystyrene cup off the bench, Amir shrugged in response. ‘Then I’m out of ideas.’

The three of them lapsed into silence. Equilibrium had them against the wall. They couldn’t escape the country. They couldn’t go to the authorities. And they couldn’t save their friends unless they gave up the drive. Connor held his head in his hands. ‘I’m afraid Equilibrium has beaten us.’

‘If a battle cannot be won, do not fight it,’ agreed Zhen.

Connor looked up. ‘What did you say?’

‘If a battle cannot be won, do not fight it. The great Chinese general and philosopher Sun Tzu said that –’

‘I know who he is. My sensei in jujitsu was always quoting him.’ Connor’s expression hardened from defeat to determination, a steely glint entering his green-blue eyes. He had the spark of an idea – a dangerous one, a risky one – but an idea nonetheless. ‘There is another choice.’

Amir and Zhen both stared at him. ‘What?’ asked Amir.

‘We do the one thing Equilibrium least expects: go on the attack.’

Amir recoiled in shock. ‘Sorry. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Sun Tzu say if a battle cannot be won, then do not fight it?’

Connor nodded and grinned. ‘Sun Tzu also said, If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. We know ourselves and what we’re capable of. The real question is, who or what is Equilibrium?’