The air at dawn was cold and damp, especially near the sea. The small port of the island was entirely taken up with a cargo ship so dirty and battered that Sophie wondered if it would hold up to the journey.

She and Nadia were crouched behind a car, and watched Cain’s men on the ship transporting supplies, computers, all kinds of electrical equipment and, Sophie noticed with a shudder, weapons. Even Cain himself was on the pier: it wasn’t difficult to discern his small ...