"A scent filled his nostrils, raw and red. She was pressing a cup to his lips. He tried to turn away. "Drink!" she said again. "You need it. You're dy...ng. You won't last until dawn." Don't...want," he said, with difficulty.The voices in the dark laughed. Erica's reply was gentle but firm: "Don't be stubborn. You won't save anyone by turning it down." We won't let it go to waste," said one of the voices. There was more laughter, and Erica shushed them."Drink," she said, pushing the cup to his. . I don’t want to lie to you. So ... I’m asking you to trust me. I’m not doing anything illegal.”“You’ll tell me eventually?”“Yes. I promise.”“Okay.”We left the bike behind and walked down the ancient walkway to Old Jaffa. I told her a little about growing up in Thorncliff; she told me of her family: father a paratrooper in the IDF, mother who had discovered she was Jewish from her Polish parents, who had converted to Catholicism before she was born. We compared lives as military brats –. And so it was, on the cracked, flaking foam caravan seating that she took my virginity, amongst the cardboard boxes full of used motor parts. I followed Mandy’s lead, taking off my jeans as she lifted her skirt and slid down her black knickers, expertly secreting them in her handbag.“Do you have anything?” she murmured.“What?”“A condom.” It hadn’t occurred to me.“No.”I heard her tut as she searched her handbag and handed me the square, shrink-wrapped packet. I anxiously tore it open and removed. Indi came in and joined us before long and not long after that Tiffany asked us if she could join us. We all started kicking around ideas about how we could get around a mind shield and either detect a shield or detect a person's thoughts behind the shield. Tiffany said. Cindi said. Tiffany said. Jude said. Annie said.