They were going to kill her.

Maddy knew this, but it made no difference. Somebody would end up killing her anyway: the terrorists, the government or the military, but this time the threat was imminent. There was some vague idea in her mind that if they saw she was unarmed, they might just beat her up and dump her somewhere out of town with a long walk home. She could hope for that, at least.

It was not knowing when they would come for her that was the worst. Going from day to day, trying to work and eat and sleep as if nothing was going to happen, that was the hardest part. Leaving town was pointless: they knew her real identity; tracking her anywhere on the planet would be easy. Leaving Mars was equally pointless: she didn't have enough money to go anywhere else, and it risked compromising her identity which could be exploited with the other group that wanted to find her, the Syndicate.

So she watched and waited and looked over her shoulder occasionally, and slept little. She had a crude but legal stun gun bought for personal protection after arriving on Mars months ago, but it would be of little defence against armed terrorists. She had thought of obtaining something more deadly after seeing some police officers in the street wearing side arms that could put a hole in concrete large enough for her to climb through. There was no doubt an underworld source of weapons here on Mars, but arming herself was basically pointless: despite her use of guns in the past she had no proper training in how to use them. Terrorists would be much more capable than her.

On the morning of the third day they came, and they knew where to find her. She'd given up sitting beside the dome looking out at the scenery. The view held no joy anymore; even the desire to paint it had faded. She was in a diner eating breakfast when two Helots appeared outside the front window, silent and unmoving, looking in at her. They were different to the ones who'd come to the workshop.

There was no doubt a back exit to the place, but Maddy knew enough not to try it. They would have it covered, and any show of resistance would be met with a fatal degree of force. Two out the front, probably another two at the back. There was also a Helot working behind the counter—even he could be part of it.

They let her finish breakfast. As she rose and slung a black satchel over her shoulder, the Helots stirred, one reaching under his robes. Were they bold enough to draw a weapon here? Maddy paid for her meal and stepped towards the door, her full stomach making her feel nauseous. As the door slid open, the Helots moved in to either side. They made it look so casual, so accidental, that they should follow her down the street, one on either side. The one with the weapon was slightly behind; the other kept pace with Maddy, walking on the side she carried her satchel.

'Do you want to do it here, or somewhere else?' she asked after a few minutes of silent pacing. The Helot walking beside her didn't look, didn't even register that he'd been spoken to. 'I mean, this is a crowded street. We could step into an alley or whatever if you'd like to be less obvious.' She was startled by her own bravado.

'Keep walking,' was all the Helot said. 'A few more minutes.'

'I'm not armed, so your friend can put the gun away.'

'It's best not to speak, Hawthorn. You will have that opportunity soon.'

They walked on in silence. Around them were people commuting to work, children on their way to school, shoppers and tourists. None looked at her, and few regarded the Helots, who gave the impression they belonged to Maddy and were merely being taken to some work detail. She tried to catch the eyes of a few people, but what could they do to help? For one moment a police officer paced by, but the Helot behind her made a single noise in his throat and she knew any attempt to gain the officer's attention would end badly.

'Turn left,' said the Helot beside her when they reached an intersection. This street was quieter, with a few trees lining the road. The city's dome was open, and the sun came through thinly, lighting the street with a faint glow.

They stopped beside a taxi. 'Get in,' said the Helot with the gun. 'Tell the AI to take you to the street behind the slave market.'

The slave market? That was an odd place to be taken by Helots.

She climbed in the back and the Helots followed. The car started off. One of the Helots growled to the AI and the windows tinted so no one could see in.

Maddy clutched her satchel in case they tried to look in it. The smell of the Helots was apparent now—she'd noticed it before, when in close proximity to Igil Hoo, the insurgent who had forced her to work for his terror cell a year ago. An odour of sweat and labour, an indefinable aroma that branded these men as another species, different from her. There was another scent too: her own fear. The close air of the taxi made her sweat.

The ride did not last long. The taxi pulled up outside a nondescript building with a broken metal fence outside it. Heavy shutters covered the windows.

The armed Helot climbed out of the vehicle first.

'Pay the taxi,' said the other one.

Maddy paid and clambered out, her satchel almost dropping on the ground.

'I need to call work,' she said. 'I'll be late.'

'No calls. Now listen carefully. I have a key to that building. You will walk up the steps like you own the place and I will let you in. You will step inside and wait. Any attempt to use your fone will be detected. Do you understand?'

'Yes.'

A cold Martian breeze blowing along the street made her draw her black leather jacket closer as they climbed the steps. The Helot opened the door and pushed her through.

It was totally dark inside when the door closed behind her. The Helots had not followed. A smell of dust, the fine Martian dust that scented the whole planet, invaded her nostrils. Somewhere unseen water flowed through a pipe.

'Take off your fone and place it on the floor,' said a voice. Maddy did so.

'Take three steps backwards.'

She arrived in a small beam of sunlight that penetrated from somewhere above and illuminated her face.

'Wait.'

She waited. Several minutes dragged by, which seemed longer in the darkness. Without her fone she felt even more helpless, unable even to tell the time. There was a strong urge to say something, to call out anything. But of course it was all just part of the process. She'd been kept waiting before when meeting with the leader of the Broken Circle, a terrorist group back on Earth. He'd kept her and Dorac and Igil waiting for ages just to make them uncomfortable. It was what powerful people did.

Footsteps to her left. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the dim light but there was nothing to see apart from an undefined black shape approaching. It halted.

'I have a gun,' said the voice. 'Stay where you are.'

Light flooded the room, which was high and bare, with paint peeling from the walls. The water pipe tracked along the ceiling and dripped moisture where it entered one wall. The floor was bare boards, covered in red grit and a few scraps of paper.

In front of her was a Helot with a gun. He bent down to pick up her fone, which he put into a pocket of his overalls, then indicated with one hand for her to follow him. They crossed the room to a door which he opened by entering a code into a contact panel.

Inside the next room were two chairs. In one sat an old Helot. Maddy had never been good at guessing Helots' ages. They lived, if not killed by some accident or disease sooner, for about eighty years. This one looked close to that, but as with all Helots his apparent age might be older than his actual, depending on how much physical labour he'd done, how much he had been exposed to hardship and despair during his life.

The escorting Helot removed the satchel from her shoulder, opened it to look inside, then nodded and handed the satchel to the old Helot, who reached in and removed the ghost. He inspected it briefly.

'It has not been repaired,' he said.

'There's a reason for that,' said Maddy. She stiffened as the words emerged, expecting the Helot with the gun to hit her for daring to speak without permission, but the old Helot merely nodded.

'And the reason is?' he said.

'It wasn't broken in the first place.'

'Exactly.'

'Also, the memory is empty.'

'I know that.'

'Then may I ask—'

'No. You will be told. This device came into my possession at a great price: five of my men were killed in the acquisition of it from government agents who were using it to track messages between insurgent cells here on Mars. It is perhaps the only one of its kind off Earth. A great prize, and worthy bait for you.'

The old Helot nodded to the guard with the gun, who put the barrel against her head. Maddy flinched and the guard snickered.

'She's afraid,' he said.

'Shut up, Margu!' said the old Helot. 'Remember who she is. Hold her there.'

The old Helot rose, turned his chair to face Maddy and sat down again. The strength in his arms belied his age.

'You are a terrorist,' he said. 'You fought for Lofar Safru of the Broken Circle a year ago. You raided the planet where Zeus is located. You failed.'

There was a lot Maddy could have replied to that, but the gun was still pressed against her head.

'We gave you that device to repair to find out about you. The way you reacted to the task would be revealing. You were given an illegal device but you chose not to tell the police. You were held at gun point by two of my soldiers and did not do anything stupid. You have the technical knowledge to recognise there was nothing wrong with the device. And you have come here without trying to use your fone and without attempting to escape. All of this was put in place to learn all we could. For the last three days you have lived not knowing your fate, and here you are today speaking plainly. Good.'

Maddy stared at the ground. It had been a dangerous gamble indeed, but he was right: there was no way she would have turned the device in to the authorities, who might suspect her, a wanted criminal, of taking it in the first place. It was not worth the risk.

He smiled, but the other Helot continued to shove the gun against her temple. It hurt, but Maddy didn't attempt to move.

'We are the Talon,' continued the old Helot. 'We are the terror cell on Mars, if you like. One of them, anyway, the most efficient one. We are not part of the Broken Circle, but like them we fight for freedom. They are a religion—we are merely slaves despairing our fate. Do you understand? You may answer yes or no.'

'Yes.'

'My name is Reed Hasur. I knew Lofar Safru for some years; I even saved his life once. He never forgave me for it.' Reed chuckled. 'He would have a different version of the story, let's say. I'm giving you the opportunity to live, Maddy Hawthorn. In the next few minutes you must decide. Either you will work for the Talon, or you will die.'

I've had this choice before, thought Maddy. It was the same one Lofar offered me.

'Unlike Lofar, our operations are confined strictly to Mars. We have no desire to fight the Elite on their own ground. We carry out kidnappings, terror raids and murders on this planet to disrupt the Sapes all we can. We know it will be a long process.'

'May I speak?'

'Not yet. Listen. We are not going to hold you as a hostage. That would be pointless. As a fugitive from the law, you are valuable to the authorities, but they would not reward us for capturing you. We need you as a consultant, if you will. You will continue to work as you have done, to live as you have. Your false identity as Linda Jones will be protected. All we need you to do is feed us information about Sapes, and teach us how to operate this device. We know little about our enemies. If you agree to this, your life on Mars will be quite pleasant. If not, then Margu will take you to another room and shoot you.'

Margu ground the barrel even harder into her temple.

'Now you may speak,' said Reed. 'What is your answer?'

There was silence for a long time, filled only with the heavy breathing of Margu and Maddy's own short, laboured gasps. A lock of hair had fallen over her face so she stared at Reed through the red strands—they partly obscured her view of his eyes, which is what she most wanted to see, but she dared not brush the hair aside. Her face and hands felt gritty. Under her arms were prickles of running sweat. The gun felt like it bored into her brain.

Eventually she raised her head a fraction of a centimetre and growled out the only possible answer.

'No.'

Reed Hasur nodded and stood up. He thrust the ghost back into Maddy's satchel and handed it to Margu.

'Take that and hide it. And kill her.'

He threw her fone onto the floor and ground it with his foot.

Margu withdrew the gun and grabbed Maddy's arm, pulling her across to a door on the other side of the room. It opened onto another dark chamber. There were a few tables and chairs, a rack of weapons along one wall, but no other Helots. A single window was boarded up.

He shoved Maddy against a table as he unslung the satchel and dropped it on the floor beside her. Then he gripped her hair and pushed her over to one wall. It was bare brick. More water pipes ran along it. There were old bullet holes in the wall and dark stains were splashed across it.

Maddy stared at the carbine. She knew next to nothing about such a weapon, but if it was like most modern arms, it was almost totally noiseless. The execution would attract no attention at all outside.

What would Dorac Landa do if he was here? He would have used his military training and vast physical strength and size to overpower the Helot long before now. He would have grabbed the gun, hit Margu on the head with it and shot his way out through the other room, taking out Reed Hasur for good measure.

He pushed her back against the wall.

Now, before he steps out of range. It had to be tried, because she was dead anyway, and nothing mattered now.

She grabbed the end of the carbine's barrel. Margu grunted and automatically pulled the trigger. Two bullets slammed into the wall, but missed her flesh. Leaning all her weight on her own arms Maddy forced the barrel further away. Margu kicked upwards with his knee, connected with her groin and lifted Maddy into the air. But nothing would make her let go of the barrel. She pushed her weight down on it even as her feet left the floor. The barrel continued its downward arc until it pointed directly at the floor. It discharged again and a bullet hit Margu's right foot.

The Helot howled as Maddy landed butt first on the floor. In his shock Margu loosened his grip on the carbine and it dropped to the floor. Maddy scooped it up by the barrel and swung it hard against Margu's legs.

He fell backwards and Maddy scrambled to her feet, reversed the carbine and shot him through the chest.

Silence. A curl of smoke from the carbine's barrel twisted in the still air over Margu's body which lay crumpled up against the table's legs.

Five seconds later, Maddy came to her senses. Despite the weapon's relative quietness, Reed may have heard the shots. He was expecting them, of course, perhaps even listening for them, but he might wonder why there had been four instead of just the one needed to execute her. He might still be on the other side of the door, waiting for Margu to emerge and let him know the deed was done. She had no more than a few more seconds.

Grabbing the satchel containing the ghost she headed to the boarded-up window. It was secured by a few nails at the corners. It was just possible to force her fingers under the timber sheet and wrench it off. A brick wall faced her on the other side across a narrow gap between this building and the next one. One way along the gap led to the street from which she'd entered the building: no good that way, the Helots who brought her there might still be waiting outside the house. The other way was a dead end, perhaps the rear of the slave market. Maddy climbed out of the window and headed that way.

The market would have Helots in it, of course, but it would have Sapes as well, who might be able to protect her. She had no idea what the layout of the place might be, but there was little choice but to head that way and take a chance.

At the end of the gap she turned back to face the way she'd come. There was no pursuit, but Reed might even now have found Margu dead and seen the open window. He might be too smart to put his own head out of the window in case it was blown off but he had henchmen who would obey such an order.

Maddy shuffled to one side of the gap where there was a small alcove containing a rubbish bin. There was a door behind the bin. It was locked, but here was no other way to go.

A round from the carbine shattered the lock, and as the door swung open footsteps could be heard in the gap. No time to debate: she grabbed the shattered door handle and wrenched outwards. It opened onto what looked like a small kitchen or galley. Before Maddy ducked inside she pushed the carbine into the rubbish bin.