“Should we put back the barricade?” Annika asked Sylvain. There was a cement block and something like a wooden battering ram lying a few feet from the door.
“No, I think it is probably okay,” he said. “The others will be back soon. I will put it in place when everyone is home.”
Sylvain started up the stairs and Annika motioned for me to go next.
“Be careful on the fourth step,” she said. “It’s broken.”
On the second floor, there was a doorway on either side of the stairs. Sylvain moved aside a sheet that was covering one of them, and a strip of faded daylight fell into the dark hall.
When I followed him into the squat, I discovered the light was coming from two balconies: the one at the front of the building and another one at the back. Support beams and pillars stood at regular in
