In Chap­ter Ten, the pro­tag­o­nist con­fronts a dra­mat­ic and emo­tion­al series of events fol­low­ing her escape from a har­row­ing sit­u­a­tion. After a sweaty run and chaot­ic pub­lic trans­port jour­ney, she arrives at the Min­istry, only to be inter­cept­ed by Simel­lia, who seemed to have a plan. An urgent con­ver­sa­tion reveals that Arthur, a sig­nif­i­cant fig­ure in her life, has died, bring­ing forth an emo­tion­al break­down as her pan­ic and grief take hold.

Simel­lia, how­ev­er, sur­pris­es her by point­ing a gun at her, reveal­ing a shock­ing betray­al: she is the mole who has been leak­ing infor­ma­tion. This stark rev­e­la­tion leads to a con­fronta­tion about their moral choic­es, with Simel­lia assert­ing that the Min­istry’s grim future—a destroyed sub-Saha­ran Africa and an oblit­er­at­ed Europe—is the result of their actions and choic­es. The two women engage in a heat­ed exchange that spi­rals into phys­i­cal con­flict. Amidst the chaos, the pro­tag­o­nist seizes con­trol, wield­ing the gun as they con­tin­ue to dis­cuss the impli­ca­tions of their actions and the broad­er soci­etal col­lapse they are fac­ing.

The atmos­phere becomes tense as the Brigadier appears, empha­siz­ing the grim stakes at play. He sug­gests that they are trapped in a cycle of vio­lence and ret­ri­bu­tion. As the pro­tag­o­nist feels the weight of guilt con­cern­ing Arthur and the shad­owy future that lies ahead, she even­tu­al­ly unloads her gun at the time-door machine, trig­ger­ing alarms and omi­nous red lights, which fore­shad­ow pos­si­bly dire con­se­quences for them all.

In the ensu­ing con­fu­sion, Simel­li­a’s attempt to aid their escape leads to anoth­er dead­ly con­fronta­tion, as more Min­istry forces arrive. Escap­ing into the chaos, Simel­lia bursts forth with a gun point­ed at the pro­tag­o­nist while mak­ing a des­per­ate bid for sur­vival, under­scor­ing the para­noia that now dic­tates their lives. Fol­low­ing a tumul­tuous inter­ac­tion, they find them­selves back in a park­ing lot where Simel­lia, embrac­ing the futil­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion, decides to cut ties, sug­gest­ing a pow­er­ful need to take con­trol of her nar­ra­tive mov­ing for­ward.

The pro­tag­o­nist returns home, reveal­ing her inner tur­moil as she grap­ples with mem­o­ries of the life and rela­tion­ships that have been irrev­o­ca­bly altered. Shock­ing­ly, she finds Gra­ham at her kitchen table—armed and accusato­ry. Their con­fronta­tion opens up ques­tions of trust, betray­al, and the rem­nants of love as she learns the extent of the Min­istry’s manip­u­la­tions woven through their very iden­ti­ties. Ulti­mate­ly, she is left reflect­ing on loss, regret, and the futil­i­ty of try­ing to impose order in a chaot­ic world framed by tem­po­ral dis­rup­tion and emo­tion­al wreck­age.