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SILENCE ABSOLUTE, TOTAL FUCKING silence I stand and watch the other door, waiting for it to open, ready to attack No one&039;s co et me to panic and crack? Too late for that now

Both doors are locked, but the skylight above is open slightly I cliether, and try to haulchains are heavy around ht doesn&039;t feel strong enough to support ht I&039;ll pull it down before I-

"Going somewhere?"

I drop, spin around, and throwh to decapitate hies to sout I trip over the chair I was just standing on, falling back and cracking et up, but this bastard&039;s fast He pushes ht betweenI brace myself for his next strike, but it doesn&039;t come, and he lifts his foot off I look back and watch hi another chair for support, suck in a deep breath of air, and turn around to face him

What? How can he?

"You must be Danny McCoyne," he says, but I can&039;t answer "I&039; a smart, if a little crumpled, pin-striped suit and a remarkably clean white shirt, is one of our people He&039;s not Unchanged I do a double take, but I know I&039;ht This man is a friend and an ally, and I immediately knoe&039;re on the saht, but he stands tall with confidence and composure The surprise and confusion he obviously sees on ies for all the subterfuge and bullshit over the last few days," he says, gesturing for h into the next room He stops just inside the roo important He checks his trouser pockets, then pulls out a key and undoes the chains aroundarea and closes the door behind us

All I can do is stand and stare at Sahota I don&039;t knohat I was expecting, but he isn&039;t it in any way, shape, or forood foot and a half shorter thanat the temples He has a neatly trilasses For the first time in months I&039;m suddenly conscious of my shabby appearance-dead y, face covered in stubble and bristle

"Co me farther into the room It&039;s a wide, spacious, and relatively clean and uncluttered office-cu-area In one corner is a metal-fra folded back with e, lass has been boarded up), and in front of le chair on either side Sahota locks the door, then sits down at the desk with his back to theHe beckons for me to sit opposite

"Where do you want to start?" he asks in a clipped, well-educated accent as he pours me a drink and slides it across the table

"Don&039;t know," I ulps of water Truth is, I&039;ve got soto make sense of any of therins "It&039;s not unusual You&039;ve been through a lot"

"I don&039;t knohat I&039;ve been through"

He grins again "We wouldn&039;t have done it this way if there&039;d been any alternative"

"So what exactly have you done?"

"Which one of them looked after you? Selena, Joseph, or Simon?"

"Looked after me?! That&039;s not how I&039;d put it"

"Which one?"

"Joseph"

"And what did he tell you?"

"Lots of bullshit about breaking the cycle, not fighting fire with fire, holding the Hate He said the et"

"Did you believe any of it?"

I shrug my shoulders Truth be told, I&039;m still not sure what I believe

"Bits of it made sense"

"Well, some of what he said must have had an effect on you, because you&039;re here and he&039;s still alive You&039;d have killed him otherwise"

"He said I was only locked up here because of the Hate He said the et"

"And what do you think about that, Danny?"

"I&039;m not sure what I think"

"But you must have soent man like you lay there alone in the darkness for hours and didn&039;t think about what he&039;d been told"

"I think he was right when he said ere stuck in a vicious circle and that things are only going to get worse"

"Go on"

"But I don&039;t understand what difference that makes What else are we supposed to do? We can&039;t live with the Unchanged, we have to kill theht"

"So hoin a ithout fighting?"

Sahota stands up, picks up his drink, and walks over to theHe looks out, choosing his next words with care and consideration

"There is an alternative"

"Is there? I can&039;t see one"

"That&039;s because you&039;re looking in the wrong place You need to change your perspective, Danny, and that&039;s what this place is all about That&039;s e&039;re here Tellof Chris Ankin and his plans?"

"I heard his roup for a couple of days They said they were trying to build an army"

He turns back to face me "And what did you think of that?"

"Gut reaction?"

"Yes"

"As soon as we start grouping together in large numbers, the eneht We&039;re still outnumbered, and they still have a structured military with a just about operational chain of coht to them on limited fronts, and yes, they&039;d probably blow us out of the water While we&039;re concentrating on one of their cities, the others would still be standing strong They&039;ve already shown they&039;re willing to sacrifice thousands of their own to try to wipe us out You&039;ve only got to look at how they lost London -"

"What did happen to London?"

"You didn&039;t hear?"

"Not really, only a few details"

"It was early on, before these refugee ca we planned; rather it was so for the London showed us e could achieve The fighting on the streets must have been incredible I almost wish I could have been there There were hardly any of us in co we could have hoped for They reached critical mass"

"Critical mass? I don&039;t understand"

"The point of no return the point where it was iain any order, where the nu so intense that they could no longer separate them from us They didn&039;t knoas who any"

"They destroyed London?"

"The whole city and everyone in it Wiped out thousands of our people, but they took hundreds of thousands of their oith the, and I&039;m confused

"I still don&039;t understand What&039;s that got to do with you holding me here?"

"In the end it was their confusion and panic that destroyed London, simple as that But like I said, if we&039;d attacked with an ar and wiped us out before we&039;d even got close"

"You said I was looking in the wrong place"

"That&039;s right, and so were they"

"Still don&039;t get you Look, I&039; within riddles and just explain"

"Have you ever heard of a text called The Art of War?"

"I&039;ve heard the title Don&039;t know anything about it, though Never read it"