Bomber sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, alone, his back to the door. Not a single muscle in his body moved when she came in, but she could sense an immediate jump in his alertness, ready to strike in an instant should the opportunity arise. Neither did he acknowledge the fact that anyone else had entered the room. He didn’t even seem to realise it was her until she said...

     “So where’s the trap?” asked Bomber, peering out at the lightening horizon. The hours wore away but never seemed to bother him. He didn’t grow bags under his eyes, didn’t lose an ounce of his alert tension, didn’t rest his eyes just for a moment. Every time Gina awoke from her fitful doze she found him sitting there, never moving, like a gargoyle watching for evil...

     It felt like weeks went by while they waited in the improvised decontamination chamber. It had only been a few days, Gina knew on an intellectual level, but she couldn’t say how many. The dreary monotony of their plastic prison knocked her time sense completely on its ass.      She hadn’t been allowed to see much on the way here. The only thing to catch her attention was the...

     The leaning towers of New Orleans climbed steadily on the horizon until they were spears of concrete and steel stuck deep in the bleeding sky. Shards of glass jutted out from shattered window frames. Rubble and ash choked the downtown streets so tight that the 4×4 only squeezed through by scraping its mirrors. However, even these vast piles of debris didn’t stop the bitter cold breeze moaning through...

     Gina folded open the bag with exaggerated care. It had decayed badly over the years, made of old-style bio-degradable plastic, and Gina didn’t want to risk breaking the contents. Truth to tell, she was amazed it had survived this long. These days shopping bags just turned to dust overnight.      “So you’re tellin’ me,” said Bomber, “you telepathed...

     “We did it,” Rat said when they got back to their hotel room. It was like a finishing point to this adventure, a precious lull in the storm. The three just sank onto the bed, no longer able to stand. All the strength had gone out of them, leaving only exhaustion. Colours pulsed and danced above them — somebody had tuned the giant TV in the ceiling to a 24-7 news network. The same Hong Kong...