The Plant Nursery

I'm standing in the bizarre little jungle, looking back at the ragged crowd around me. Abe -- the only real fugitive in the bunch -- stares into space over my head, his cataract-glazed eyes blank as he listens.

"They're going to attack from the north," I say. "And it's going to be really loud and flashy. But they won't come in. Not right away, anyway."

"How do you know?" Anna says.

"Because the fire escape on the south side has been wired to explode. They're going to flush you out that way, then blow you off the side of the building. They'll probably tell the press you blew yourselves up making bombs. Wouldn't be the first time. I should have known Danko wouldn't want a straight-up fight with so many unknowns in here."

"So what do we do?" Abe says.

Every eye is on me.

• "You use the fire escape anyway," I say...