The Resistance

way out of the building now.’
    No one moved for a few seconds, then, gradually, as the guards began to move through the room, the journalists began to stand up. One by one, their belongings were taken from them and they were ushered out of the building into the night. A stretcher appeared; Richard Pincent was lifted on to it. Derek Samuels followed the guards carrying it.
    Eventually the room was empty, but for Jude, who was still holding his gun, the guard he was training it on, and Peter and the guards holding him. Hillary waved away Peter’s guards; Jude watched carefully as they left the building, then sent the guard he’d been holding after them, holding the gun at his side, just in case. Hillary turned to him, her lips pursed. ‘These tapes,’ she said, her voice brittle. ‘You will give me all copies, do you understand?’
    Jude looked at her in disgust. ‘So you can destroy them?’
    ‘So that we can investigate your claims fully,’ Hillary said silkily.
    ‘File them away, you mean.’
    Hillary smiled. ‘The Authorities will follow due procedure,’ she said. ‘And I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. Either you give me the tapes, or I’ll have you arrested, do I make myself clear?’
    Jude looked at her for a moment, then reached into his pocket and handed over a disk. Hillary took it, her eyes lighting up. ‘And now you will give me the gun,’ she said icily. ‘You won’t get out of here alive unless you do.’
    But Jude just laughed. ‘You really think there’s only one copy?’ he asked. ‘You really think I’m that stupid?’
    Hillary hesitated. ‘More copies?’
    ‘Of course there are,’ Peter said, taking his lead from Jude. ‘The Surpluses have been rescued. Anna’s safe. And believe me there are more copies of the disk. The images have been transmitted into cyberspace. Anything happens to us and they will be everywhere.’
    Hillary’s eyes narrowed. She turned back to Jude who had one eyebrow raised.
    ‘He’s right,’ he shrugged. ‘If you don’t let us go, things could be very bad for you.’
    ‘For Richard Pincent, you mean,’ Hillary corrected him. ‘He is at fault here, not the Authorities.’
    ‘Right,’ Peter said, sarcastically. ‘And the fact that you knew all about it isn’t important? What was it you said . . . “ Who’d have thought Surpluses could be so useful ?” You think that will go down well in the inquiry?’
    Hillary’s eyes widened in shock.
    ‘See? It’s not just the Surpluses we’ve got on tape,’ Peter said levelly. ‘Let us go, or it goes public.’
    Hillary was silent for a few moments, then she took a deep breath. ‘I want you to go,’ she said, her voice angry and low. ‘I want you to go, and I want you to disappear. Breathe one word about what happened here today, raise your heads above the parapet just slightly, and you’ll know the power and ruthlessness of the Authorities, do I make myself clear?’
    ‘Sure, whatever,’ Jude said, turning to leave.
    Peter, meanwhile, was still staring at Hillary. ‘And you come near me or my family and you’ll know the power and ruthlessness of the Underground,’ he said bitterly. ‘Do I make myself clear?’ He moved over quickly to stand beside Jude. Then, slowly, surely, they walked towards the door, looking over their shoulders as they did so, then down the steps, and through the gates. A man emerged from the trees outside the compound, giving the sign of the Underground, and they followed him in silence to the main road, then through a deserted builders’ yard to a road on the other side where a car was waiting for them.
    ‘You know the disk I gave her was a list of codes from one of my clients,’ Jude said, as they approached the car.
    Peter frowned at him, then smiled wryly. ‘So you don’t have anything on tape?’ he asked.
    ‘Not a thing,’ Jude winked. ‘But she doesn’t know that. Not yet, anyway.’
    Quickly, they got into the car and it sped off, down back roads, on to a dual carriageway, into the country. Every so often Peter turned round, his darting eyes checking for other cars on the road, for any sign of danger.
    ‘I guess we’re going to be doing a lot of that in the future. Looking over our shoulders, I mean,’ Jude said thoughtfully.
    ‘Welcome to my life,’ Peter said with a shrug. Then he looked at Jude and grinned. ‘Actually, I mean it. Welcome to my life.’

Chapter Thirty-Four
    Peter stared at the computer screen uncertainly as it