His voice is drowned out by a loud whirring sound. Through the blackouts, lights flash. It’s the sound of propellers. A helicopter.
‘Oh, and here she is now.’ Ravensloe feigns a cheerful voice. Then he points at Atlas. ‘You. Have youanythingto show for your work in Zoology? Any information to give your Prime Minister in the morning?’
Atlas snorts. ‘I’m afraid not,’ he says. ‘I did pass on a lot of information to the Coalition, though.’
The Guardian behind him lands a punch to his head, smashing his face against the floor. Dr Seymour and I both scream.
‘And you?’ Ravensloe says, looking at us. ‘Have you cracked the dragon code? Or will I be sentencing you both to death this evening?’
I look at my friends, at Atlas’s bleeding face pressed to the floor by the Guardian’s boot, at Dr Seymour’s defiant glare saying one thing, but the hand pressed to her stomach another. We’ve lost before we’ve even begun. Ravensloe has us now, and Marquis and Sophie are out there in the dark. What if the Guardians find Karim and the dragonlings before they reach Chumana? Maybe we should have just waited for the rebels to get here, continued to play along …
I look from Ralph’s goading face to Ravensloe’s expectant one.
‘Yes,’ I tell him calmly. ‘I’ve cracked the code.’
Ralph’s sneer disappears.
‘Viv!’ Atlas shouts. ‘Don’t be stupid. You can’t—’
‘They’ll kill us if I don’t,’ I snap. I glare at Ravensloe. ‘Won’t you?’
‘If you fail to complete the work required of you, you will be judged for your crimes and punished accordingly, as made very clear to you when you accepted this job,’ Ravensloe says. ‘Unfortunately, those crimes now include treason, which is punishable by death.’
‘If we’re guilty of treason, then so is the Prime Minister,’ Dr Seymour says. ‘She’s on the verge of putting Britannia under foreign rule.’
I close my eyes. Marquis and Sophie might still live, but Sophie will spend the rest of her life in Granger’s Prison as a class defector. Serena will be demoted or forced into marriage. And Gideon? I don’t even know what he did to get here.
‘She’s lying, Deputy Prime Minister,’ Ralph says sharply. ‘She doesn’t have the code.’
‘I’m not lying,’ I say. ‘I’ve been learning it for months, but I needed to be sure I was giving the Prime Minister the correct information. I’ll give you the code and all of its translations, but only if you let the rest of the recruits go. Only if you pardon them.’
‘They failed to keep their side of the deal, Miss Featherswallow—’
‘Giving Wyvernmire the code is the only chance you have at cancelling this alliance,’ I say.
Hesitation flickers in Ravensloe’s eyes.
‘If it’s confirmed, the Bulgarians will turn against thePrime Minister eventually. We all know that’s inevitable.’
I glance at Atlas staring up at me from the floor.
‘So let Atlas and Dr Seymour go, call off your search for the others and I’ll give it to you.’
Ravensloe moves slowly out from behind his desk, his eyes on Ralph.
‘Guardian 707, if I am not mistaken, your time in the German Freikorps taught you a wide range of persuasion techniques?’
Ralph stands up straighter. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘What were they?’
‘The techniques were for use on dragons, sir,’ he says. ‘We couldn’t use brute force, which was easily equalled by our prisoners, so we resorted to subtler, sharper techniques.’ Ralph removes a long, thin knife from his belt. ‘The fine art of cutting was one.’
‘Would you care to demonstrate?’
Ralph gives Ravensloe a stunned look, as if trying to gauge whether he is serious. Then he smiles. A Guardian grabs me from behind and thrusts me towards Ralph.
‘No!’ Atlas and Dr Seymour scream together.
