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understand if we dragged mothers and children from the comfort of their beds into isolation. The DSD has recommended a total media ban on all reporting, for the time being anyway. We can’t afford panic. Do you understand?’
    The answer was no. Magarth did not understand. Nothing made sense, but what could he do other than accept the facts? What he had seen could not be denied. He thought of his wife, Maria, and their unborn child. He silently thanked a higher power that they were safe back in London.
    Back into the corridors of the building, a reassuring rumble of voices could be heard. Phones rang and bells sounded. It felt a million miles away from the tank below.
    ‘I look at things with this philosophy,’ said Dr. Holden, ‘the world changes, and we can adapt to the changes or get left behind.’

 
    Chapter 4
    A Thousand Savage Eyes
     
     
    Three police officers ran through the empty streets. One dropped a riot shield to lighten his load. The group had numbered four a few minutes before. The screams of PC Caroline Lynch reverberated, but still the police ran. Frightened faces peeked from doorways.
    ‘Go back inside! Lock your doors!’ PC Galloway shouted. His burning muscles threatened to give up and bile choked his throat, but fear kept him moving, and fast.
    The reflective panels of the police van finally came into view.
    PC Janet Vickers dived into the driver’s seat. PC Galloway slid open the side door and catapulted in with the precision of a pole-vaulter. PC Alan Mills scrambled in next to him. None spoke as the van rumbled to life then bounced the curb. The motion violently rocked the two men. Blurred lights and darkened windows flew by.
    Allan Mills spoke in a hushed voice. ‘Nick, I …’ He let out a breath.
    ‘We could have stopped that. We should have stayed and done more.’ PC Galloway peeled off his black rubber gloves. Red scarred the knuckles where he had punched one of the assailants.
    ‘You saw those things,’ said PC Mills. ‘What were we supposed to do? I broke the jaw of one with the edge of my shield. It just got right back up. If it wasn’t for those DSD guys turning up, we would’ve ended up like Caroline. Dead.’
    Everything was crashing down around PC Galloway. He was tired and scared. Since being drafted from Inverness, things did not make sense. What had just happened was a nightmare given form.
    ‘Listen, Nick. Janet and I, we’re getting out of the city and I think you should come with us.’
    ‘No!’ The response came without pause. He was a police officer, and that brought responsibilities, some that were not easy to bear, but responsibilities they were. ‘If we run, what’s going to happen to everyone we leave behind? We have a duty. You were at the briefing. We’ll get extra resources soon.’
    ‘The extra resources better be the army,’ Mills said. ‘That’s what it’s going to take to stop this. You know as well as I do that the DSD’s overstretched. Their response times vary to the point that when they arrive it’s to a murder scene.’
    The van’s sirens howled, clearing a path through the night-time traffic at a junction.
    ‘I’ll report you and Janet.’
    ‘Look, I get it. I do, but this is not police work. This isn’t a riot, this is …’ the right words escaped him. ‘You do what you like, Nick. We’ll drop you off at HQ and then we’re gone.’
    ‘Drop me off here.’
    ‘You’re going to get yourself killed.’
    He didn’t respond. Pulling on his gloves again, he winced as the rubber brushed his knuckles.
    ‘Fine.’ Mills pushed his head through to the driving compartment. ‘Stop the van. He’s not coming with us.’ When Janet hesitated, he shouted, ‘Just stop the van!’
    The van mounted the pavement at speed. The two men in the back were thrown about like dolls. Janet managed to bring the vehicle to a halt, before a post box. PC Galloway opened the side door and stepped out. The air was biting. It brought on a cold