'Make sure you bring all the wires,' she said, watching them put their boots and coats on in preparation for leaving on the third night. They were each dressed in the more modern uniforms of the Coalitionist army, which someone she suspected Banks had nicked at some point. 'And for the love of God don't drop anything. Or get it wet. Broken pieces are more than useless. And don't forget that things might look different from how I described them. There are different kinds of computers.'

'World of help, you are,' Banks said, grinning.

Christ, I forgot to tell them about laptops. And what if they're using ancient computers, what if they're still on Enigma machines or something? 'Maybe I should come with you,' she said.

'No, I don't think so,' said Charlie. Eve glared at her back.

'Stay here,' Harker said. 'Sleep.'

Eve blinked: was he being kind to her?

'Then when we bring it back you can wake up and make it work in time for morning.'

'I'm back to violently disliking you,' she said, and he actually winked at her before he strode out.

'Take heart,' said Daz, when they were all gone. 'At least you won't be getting shot at.'

'No, but now I'll be sitting here worrying that they all will be.'

He grinned and followed her up to the drawing room, which had become her own haunt. The family rarely used it now that it was so often full of soldiers, and she hadn't seen hide nor hair of Frederick since Harker had chased him off.

'Now, Eve. I might almost think you cared about the squad.'

'Well, some of them at any rate,' said Eve, thinking about Charlie, who could get shot for all she cared.

'Might one of those be the Major?'

Eve flopped on to the piano stool. 'Don't you start.'

'What? Just because you've been ignoring him the last couple of days doesn't mean we can't all still see it.'

'Then I think you need an eye test, Captain, because there's nothing to see,' said Eve, and launched into the chorus of Don't Stand So Close To Me before he could say any more.

'I still can't believe they did this to a church,' Tallulah muttered, looking up at the high walls and flying buttresses. The past three days had been spent infiltrating the Abbey staff, with the help of Mary White and several of her acquaintances, none of whom were fond of the Coalitionists' rule. Tallulah and Martindale, joining the laundry staff, had easily stolen five uniforms.

The nave of the tall and beautiful church had been made into barracks for the rebel forces stationed there. Inside, all the pews had been smashed into firewood, and rows of ugly metal bunks had taken their place. The place stank, and rang to the rafters with the sort of language that Harker believed should never be uttered in a church.

'Well, believe it, Lu,' he muttered back. 'They're bastards, and I don't care if I'm swearing on holy ground, God agrees with me. Come on.'

Their target was the guesthouse, which was where the more senior officers of the rebel army spent most of their time. It, unlike the rest of the Abbey, had its own generator, and even now a faint glow came from some of the windows. A telephone wire had also been strung across to the guesthouse roof, and Banks had, under the guise of fixing a couple of broken tiles, ascertained which part of the building it serviced.

Harker concentrated on their destination, mentally counting the yards of empty ground to cover. The number of armed soldiers who might realise they were all strangers. The chances of being shot to hell.

Then he gritted his teeth, and nodded to the squad to follow him.

He gave a smart salute to the guard on the door of the guesthouse, then as the other man saluted in return, Harker drew the knife he'd palmed and stabbed the guard in the stomach. As the guard folded, Harker caught him, stopped his mouth, and drew his knife across the man's throat.

Contrary to what Eve might have thought, he didn't enjoy killing people. But it was part of his job. It was necessary.

And at least it was done quickly.

Their target was a room on the ground floor, guarded day and night. The squad had ascertained that the Coalitionists only used men on active duty, but that plenty of women worked in auxiliary roles. Thus he had Martindale lead them down the vaulted stone chamber towards the guards, Tallulah beside her.

'Who're you?' said one of the guards.

Martindale gave the man a quick once-over. 'The Colonel sent us. We've a component for the computer.'

'Show me.'

She gestured Tallulah forward. Pretty, sweet Tallulah, with her big eyes and long lashes. She unslung her pack and made a show of rummaging, letting her cap fall off so her shiny dark hair swung free, blushing prettily when she couldn't find what she was looking for.

When she had the full attention of both guards, Charlie and Harker stepped smartly forward and dispatched them in the same manner as their comrade outside. When Martindale pushed the door open, Banks was ready to shoot anybody inside.

He fired one shot, the sound muffled by the big silencer on his pistol, then nodded.

Harker and Charlie dragged the guards inside, then Harker looked at the bluish glow coming from the screen of the computer, and grinned.

'Jackpot,' he whispered. 'Be quick, that one made a noise. Lu?'

She obediently held her pack open, and Harker shoved aside the man Banks had shot to grab at the board he'd slumped over. He thought it might be called the keyboard, but he wasn't sure.

He yanked at the piece of plastic, but it only came a few inches off the desk before being pulled back by a wire.

Harker swore. So did Martindale, her ear to the door.

'Footsteps,' she said.

Harker yanked at the keyboard, which came free, while Banks freed the box under the desk of its wires.

'No, she said we need the wires!' Tallulah hissed.

'All of them? There are millions!'

'I don't know! That's what she said!'

Martindale gestured for them to shut up. Harker grabbed the screen, which went abruptly blank.

'Shit,' he said. 'Is it supposed to do that?'

Tallulah gave him a frantic look, and he wedged it in anyway, trailing wires. 'Is that everything?'

She pointed to the little thing Eve had called a mouse, and he grabbed it as Martindale said, 'Sir!' urgently. She pointed to the door.

'... are they?' said someone on the other side of it.

Harker winced.

'Sir, are you all right in there?' called the voice.

Harker glanced at the dead men on the floor, shrugged, and called back, 'Fine. Leave me.' He gestured frantically for Martindale to lock the door, then pointed everyone else to the window.

Banks hurried over and opened it, checking first then dropping out on to the grass. Charlie followed, and Tallulah passed over the two packs with the computer pieces in them.

'Are you sure, sir? Dunscroft and Walton were supposed to be on guard'

'I sent them away. I need to concentrate,' Harker said. He glanced around the room again, checking for anything else. There were more computers, more pieces of electrical equipment he didn't recognise. Did Eve need them? Hell and damnation, how was he supposed to know?

'Well, all right, sir, but'

'Now go away!' Harker said, following Tallulah outside. Martindale came after him and landed awkwardly, gasping as her ankle gave way. Charlie hauled her unceremoniously to her feet as Harker reached up and shut the window, wincing as the sash fell with a thud.

'Run,' he said, and they did.

Chapter Sixteen.

Eve was woken by Tallulah giggling, somewhere on the other side of the door. It took her a minute or two to figure out which door, since she couldn't remember where she'd fallen asleep, but then she realised she was on the chaise in the drawing room. A loose sheet of music was stuck to her cheek.

'Oh my goodness,' Tallulah gasped. 'I thought for sure that was it when the guard asked what was wrong with you!'

'That was brilliant,' said Banks, as the door opened and Harker looked in. Eve hurriedly snatched the sheet of music from her cheek as Daz woke with a start in the chair opposite. Harker rolled his eyes and jerked his head for them to follow him.

Eve raised her eyebrows at Daz. He shrugged, got to his feet, and held the door for her.

'Never fails,' Martindale said. 'Whatever they say, it's still a man's world, and you can always get them by faking some gruesome female complaint.'

'Yeah, but did you have to be so gruesome?' Banks said.

Eve yawned and tried to see what they'd got in their packs. Laptop? Desktop? Massive pre-war adding machine broken into parts?

'I thought you said it was brilliant?'

'Well, it was, but it was gross, too.'

She followed the squad through the lobby and up the stairs to Harker's suite. He'd taken to briefing the men in his own private sitting room, usually leaving Eve out. She'd pretended not to mind. Anyway, the room stank of cigarette smoke. Even now, he was lighting up.

Harker shut the door of his suite behind them all, took Tallulah's pack from her and drew out a computer keyboard.

Eve's heart did a backflip. 'Oh, brave new world,' she said, staring. 'You have no idea how happy I am to see that!'

'Is it an important part?' Tallulah asked.

'Well, yes, sort of. But,' she closed her eyes, and re-opened them. The keyboard was still there. 'But I was starting to think I'd imagined such a thing. Do you have anything else?'

Harker gripped the cigarette with his teeth and took a flat screen out of Tallulah's bag.

'Swanky!' Eve exclaimed. 'And here's me worrying I'll be working on ancient machines. Did you get me a CPU?'

'You mean this?' said Banks, carefully extracting a tower system from his own pack.

'Oh, I love you,' Eve said. 'Were you careful with it? Didn't drop it or get it wet or anything?'

'Nope.'

She ran over and touched the smooth metal and plastic. It seemed real enough.

'And a whole bunch of wires,' Harker added, withdrawing some from Tallulah's pack. Banks showed her some more, and even Charlie had a few. Eve grabbed a bundle of them; most weren't connected to anything. Tangled in the mess was what looked like a power cable, although the plug at the end of it was a European two-pronged affair. Her heart sank, and she looked around the walls.

'Where's a plug point?' she said, and Daz pointed.

As she went to examine it, he said, 'I spoke to Lady Winterton about a phone line you said you'd need one for an Internet? She said they had one, but it would need connecting up.'

Eve glanced up from the plug socket, which seemed to be compatible with the plug. 'Can you do that?'

'I can try.'

She looked around, spotted a writing desk by the window and pointed to it. 'Bring that over,' she said, 'and I'll plug it in.'

She was dog-tired, but she figured she'd been through less than the rest of the squad, and she could at least see if it worked before she started negotiating some sleep. Harker announced that they should celebrate, and Banks produced a bottle of mead he'd apparently liberated from the kitchen. He poured a mug for everyone, including Eve, who politely ignored hers.

'There are a lot of things to connect up,' she warned them as she put the CPU on the desk. 'I can't do it all instantly. Especially since these wires are in such a tangle.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, next time I'll stop to carefully wind them all up separately,' Harker said, and was ignored.

'How long will it take?' Daz asked.

'I dunno.' Eve looked at the mess. 'Last time I moved a computer halfway across a room it took me the best part of three hours.'

'How?' said Harker.

'Well, it had to be disconnected from the printer and scanner and modem, and there were wires to speakers, and table legs and lights and things getting in the way,' she said. She peered at the keyboard, spattered with something red and sticky. 'Er, do I want to know what that is?'

'Probably not,' said Banks.

'I did say keep it clean and dry,' Eve said despairingly.

'Banks, next time you kill some bugger, use a blunt instrument,' Harker said.

Eve's head snapped up in horror. 'Did you kill someone for this?'

Charlie rolled her eyes. 'No, we asked politely. What do you think?'

Eve looked at the computer, disconnected and disjointed, and realised that no matter how bored or depressed she'd been every time she waited for Windows to boot up, she'd never been in danger of getting shot.