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“Yes.”

“A soldier with the aid convoy? I can always tell the soldier boys.”

“Yeah.”

“Have you visited Lastkahn Ghetto before?”

“No.”

“What do you think of it?” Yannis grinned at him over the top of his glass.

“I love it.” Josiah grinned back. “I’ve hardly seen any of it, though, just the market area. It goes on for miles.”

“It does.” Yannis nodded proudly. “I live right on the edge. I share a barge with my brother; we trade with the local farmers. Would you like to see?”

Josiah hesitated. LKG was notorious for crime; there was no police, no army, and no rule of law in this place. Every morning they stacked up the dead bodies on the shore to be claimed by anyone who knew them – the leftovers were burned at the end of the day. Yet he could handle himself in a fight, and he’d brought his knife with him, in case of trouble. Wasn’t there always a part of him hoping to walk into a fight anyway?

“Okay. Yes.” He grinned, feeling reckless. Yannis took his hand and led him back on deck.

If LKG was busy and colourful during the day, it was even more raucous at night. Music blared out, people lurched drunkenly from barge to barge, and everywhere Josiah looked people were laughing, drinking, getting high, and fucking.

Next to their barge was a green one with a big black cat on the side, its clientele made up entirely of women, smooching and dancing with each other. A rooster and a cat. Josiah laughed; the citizens of LKG clearly had a sense of humour.

Yannis grinned at him, his white teeth gleaming in the moonlight, and Josiah leaned in for a sloppy, drunken kiss. It wasn’t the best he’d ever had, but it felt good to put his hands on a pair of firm hips, to feel a warm mouth under his, and the faint scratch of stubble against his cheek. Yannis might not be Peter Hunt, but Yannis was on offer.

His new friend jumped from boat to boat with the ease of one who lived in this insane place. He stopped on each boat to pull Josiah close and kiss him, both of them laughing as they touched, becoming more and more excited as they made their way to his boat. It took a long time to reach the darker end of LKG, where people were crowded onto sleeping barges, or living under tents on rafts. Yannis and his brother shared their small craft with a curtain separating their two bunks. But tonight his brother wasn’t there, so they had the place to themselves.

“He’s out, fucking girls.” Yannis grinned, pulling Josiah down onto the bunk, on top of him.

“Does he mind you fucking boys here?” Josiah asked.

“Why would he mind? We both enjoy fucking, and at least he knows I won’t steal any of his women.”

Yannis opened Josiah’s shirt and ran his fingers over his bare chest. Then his mouth roamed gently over his body, lips brushing his skin, pressing little kisses into his flesh.

He went lower, and Josiah threw back his head, gazing blankly at the roof of the barge.

How long had Hunt known he was gay? Was there a possibility that Hunt was gay, too? Not that it mattered. He was Josiah’s commanding officer, which was a big no-no as far as romance was concerned. Besides, why would someone as charismatic as Hunt look twice at someone like him? He was his sergeant, nothing more. Hunt certainly didn’t know that Josiah was in love with him. Josiah blinked. Love? Where had that come from?

“Hey, blond boy – where are you?” Yannis asked.

“Sorry, Yannis… I think I need some air.” He drew away and went up onto the deck to breathe in the cool night air. Yannis joined him.

“Sorry,” Josiah said again .

“There is another boy in your thoughts, yes?” Yannis asked quietly. “I could be him tonight, if you want?”

“No. I mean, that’s nice, but… I’m an all-or-nothing person. If I can’t have what I want, then I’d rather not have anything at all.”

“That sounds boring.”

“I didn’t mean to lead you on,” Josiah apologised awkwardly. “I didn’t know how I felt until just now. I thought it was just a crush.”

“Okay.” Yannis shrugged. “I go to sleep. If you want, just leave. If not, come back to bed.” He pressed a kiss to Josiah’s cheek and went back to his bunk.

Josiah gazed absently at the nearby shore, lost in thought. Yannis was attractive and available, whereas Hunt was out of his league. Yet… he needed some time to process this sudden revelation about his feelings. He wasn’t someone who could switch this kind of thing off.

A sudden movement in the bushes caught his attention, and he watched as a little group of people emerged into the soft glow of the city’s lights. It was impossible to make out their faces, but their movements seemed anxious, their bodies stiff and tense. The only one who was unconcerned was their dog, who was happily taking a drink from the water’s edge.

The man leading the little group called out to a barge nearby, and a tall woman appeared on deck, waving enthusiastically. She jumped ashore and enveloped the man in a warm hug.

They had a little conversation, too far away to hear, and then the man turned to his group and spoke to them. Josiah wondered what he’d said, because there was an emotional response, the group taking it in turns to hug him, some weeping onto his shoulder, others kissing his cheeks over and over.

Finally, he pushed them away, laughing. The group followed the tall woman back to her barge, leaving him behind on the shore. He waved one last time, then turned and looked for the dog, who was distracted in the bushes.

“Here, Hattie!” he called. The dog trotted into place beside him, and the pair of them disappeared from sight.

Josiah’s heart skipped a beat. What had he just seen? Was that Captain Hunt? Who were all those strangers with him? He jumped onto the raft next to Yannis’s little boat, then picked his way across several vessels until he reached the shore.

He half walked, half ran back to camp. It was quiet when he arrived, the big trucks standing in an eerie semi-circle in the moonlight. Almost the entire company was, on Hunt’s command, at LKG, and wouldn’t be back until noon the next day.

Josiah stopped dead as he heard voices coming from the back of one of the AV trucks and saw a light shining through a crack under the door. He tiptoed over, his hand resting automatically on the knife in his thigh holster, and then stood outside for a moment, his other hand on the door handle, listening.

“Did it go okay, Peter?” a woman’s voice asked.

“Yup. Veneta was waiting as planned. They’re safe now.” That was Hunt, but who the hell was he talking to? Did Hunt have secret orders that he hadn’t shared with his sergeant? Or had he sent the company away tonight because he wasn’t acting on orders? What the hell was he playing at?

There was only one way to find out. Josiah grabbed hold of the door and pulled it open. Inside, Hunt was sitting on an upturned crate with Hattie sleeping at his feet. A woman was sitting opposite him, taking a sip from a glass of wine.

“Sergeant.” Hunt stood up, shielding the woman from view. “You’re back early.”

“Yeah, well, I saw you and Hattie with a group of people by the side of the water back there, and it made me curious.”

“I see.” Hunt nodded thoughtfully.

“And I’m trying to work out if this is some kind of secret mission you didn’t want to tell us about, or if something else is going on here – something illegal.” Josiah’s hand went to his knife again.

Hunt held up his hands. “There’s no need for that. We both know you could easily beat me in a fight, with or without the knife, Joe.”

“Don’t call me that,” Josiah snapped. “And who the hell are you hiding?”

“Nobody for you to be concerned about.”

“Please, Peter; it’s okay.” The woman edged out from behind him. Even in combat trousers and an old shirt, Josiah could see she was beautiful, with long dark hair, large brown eyes, and a willowy figure.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?” Josiah asked snidely.

Hunt sighed. “I’m really sorry, Joe. I never wanted to put you in this position.”

“What position?”

“Having to make a difficult choice. Those people you saw me with earlier were indentured servants who’d escaped from their houders. My associates helped to smuggle them out of Britain, but you can’t just dump people in Europe at the mercy of the warlords – you have to give them more help than that. So I picked them up en route and brought them to LKG to start a new life.”

“What…?” Josiah stared at him. “You mean… they’ve been with the convoy for weeks? How the hell did you feed them and keep them quiet?”

“They’ve only been with us since Essen. I took stores onboard at the outset – just basic rations, but enough for the journey. They were hidden in the back of this truck – I made sure I was the only one with the key, and I let them out every night after we made camp.”

“After that ambush… you said you had to go and check on something… and I fell asleep…” Josiah said slowly.

Hunt nodded. “Yes – I went to make sure they were all okay after the scav attack.”

“If you were taking them to LKG, what is she still doing here?” Josiah demanded, jerking his head at the woman.

“Liz wants to go a little further – she has relatives in Hanover, and I said I’d see her safely there. So, you see, Joe – you have a tough decision to make, and I really am very sorry about that.”

“You mean, do I turn you and her over to the Thorities at Barkhausen?”

Hunt looked momentarily confused by his use of the Quarterlands word.

“Well?” Josiah demanded.

“Yes. That’s precisely what I mean,” Hunt replied softly .

“Or you could shoot me and leave my body on the shores of LKG, along with all the other corpses. Nobody would know.”

“I would never do that, Joe. That’s not an option. Here. See.” Hunt slowly took his gun out of its holster, put it on the floor, and kicked it towards him.

Josiah stared at it and then back at Hunt. “Why are you doing this?” he demanded. “Why are you helping them? And why the hell should I be party to it?”

“Because they’re basically slaves, and I find that obscene,” Hunt told him bluntly. “Their houders can dress it up any way they like, call them indentured servants and give them one-sided contracts, but these people have been living the lives of slaves, with all the abject misery that entails. They’re desperate, and they wanted to escape. LKG might be lawless and dangerous, but at least they’ll be free there.”

“Nobody forced them to become indentured servants.” Josiah rounded on him angrily. “Not unless they broke the law anyway. They chose to take someone’s ID tag.”

“You’re surely not that na?ve?—”

“Don’t preach to me.”

Hunt took a step forward, his arms held out in a placatory way. “You don’t understand what it was like for them, Joe.”

“Yeah, I do. I absolutely do fucking understand. See, I was born in the Quarterlands.”

Peter stopped dead in his tracks.

“Yeah, that’s right; I’m Quarrie scum. Living like rats in the damp and dark because we’re too bloody proud to wear someone’s ID tag and be chipped like a piece of property. So, don’t you dare stand there and lecture me about how I should feel sorry for indentured servants.”

“I’m sorry, Joe. I had no idea,” Hunt said softly.

“I worked my way out, but these people sold themselves out.” Josiah stabbed his finger viciously in Liz’s direction. “They sold themselves for medicine, for food, and for a roof over their heads. They sold their freedom away – so why should we help them?”

“My mother was dying. I sold myself to raise the money for her medical treatment,” Liz said suddenly. “She died anyway, and my houder… well…” She shook her head, her eyes glittering in the darkness. “I couldn’t bear it anymore.”

“You knew what you were getting into when you took your houder’s money, so what you’re doing is nothing more nor less than stealing.”

“Joe, listen—” Hunt began.

“No, you listen,” Josiah snapped. “My dad died from pneumonia. I could have saved him, if we’d had the money to buy the medical help he needed, but he always said we lived and died free – he’d never have forgiven me if I’d sold myself into service for him.”

“I’m sorry,” Liz whispered. “I’m so sorry.” She placed a gentle hand on his arm.

“I won’t turn you in,” Josiah said, pushing her away. “Your grubby little secret is safe with me – sir.” He spat out the last word and then turned and jumped out of the AV.

He tried to stride away but only managed a few paces because his legs were shaking. Leaning forward, he put his hands on his knees, breathing deeply.

He heard a noise behind him, and then a warm, strong hand landed gently on his shoulder and squeezed.

“Thank you, Joe,” Hunt said quietly.

He shook his hand away and rounded on him. “You’re such a shit. All that stuff about puppies, and chocolate, and the way you were so bloody nice to me. Christ! Nobody like you ever sat down and talked to me that way before, like we were equals, like I meant something. But it was all about keeping me onside in case I ever found out, wasn’t it?”

“No. God, no.”

“You’re a thief. People paid good money to buy those IS contracts – they made a deal. It’s stealing.”

“I don’t think of it that way. These are people in need of help, and I’m helping them.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. ‘I’m Peter Hunt. I rescue waifs and strays,’” Josiah mocked. “You can’t resist, can you? Hattie, Liz, all those people you took to LKG… me…”

“You?” Hunt raised an eyebrow .

“You knew about Rosengarten right from the beginning, didn’t you? You pretended you hadn’t paid attention to what was in my file, but you had.”

Hunt sighed. “Yes, I knew, Joe. I knew before you even set foot in my tent. I must admit I was intrigued to meet this one-man killing machine, but you weren’t at all what I was expecting. I actually found you… will you hit me if I say sweet?”

“I might.” Josiah glared at him.

“Then I won’t.” Hunt grinned. “But you’re right – I do like waifs and strays, and you have a certain kind of lost look that I can’t resist. I tried to earn your trust. I wanted you to talk to me about Rosengarten one day, Joe. I thought it might help.”

“Fuck you – and stop bloody well calling me Joe.” The mention of Rosengarten made Josiah furious. He shoved Hunt angrily against the side of the AV and held him there, his fist raised.

The captain gazed at him steadily. “Do it,” he said. “Whatever you want to do – do it. I’m sure I deserve it.”

Josiah had no idea why he did what he did next; he was acting on pure instinct. Dropping his fist, he grabbed Hunt’s face between his hands, pulled him towards him, and kissed him, hard. Pushing his body hungrily against him, he held Hunt there, devouring him like a starving man.

Slowly, the fog cleared, and he realised that Hunt was returning the kiss, tempering Josiah’s desperate energy with his own, gentler, passion. Hunt’s hands were resting firmly on his hips, and his tongue was sweet and confident in his mouth.

Josiah faltered. He drew back to find Hunt smiling at him.

“Don’t look so shocked. There’s a reason I told you to go to the blue barge and not the red one.”

“But me… you and me…?” Josiah felt like a baby bird, opening and closing his mouth pathetically, still in shock.

“Why not? I happen to like you very much.” Hunt caressed the side of his face tenderly.

“But you’re my commanding officer…”

“I know, but as you’ve seen, the rules don’t mean a great deal to me.” Hunt grinned .

“Well, they bloody well mean something to me,” Josiah said, stepping back stiffly.

“As you wish,” Hunt said wistfully. “Thank you again, Joe – for everything.” He pressed a gentle kiss to Josiah’s cheek and then turned and walked away.

Josiah opened his eyes and looked out over the dull grey waters of the lost zone. What would Peter do? Unfortunately, he knew the answer to that all too well. If there was an IS to protect, then Peter would offer protection, and if there was a benefit of the doubt to be given, then Peter would give it. He’d always been on the side of the underdog.

“Damn you, Peter,” he said.

He climbed back into his duck, slamming the door shut violently behind him, and put in a call to Esther.

“Get the paperwork ready,” he snapped. “I’m taking the damn IS.”