Publisher's Synopsis
After the Niedler School is raided, Matthias, Percy, and Alia are taken prisoner by the Population Police. But when Matthias makes a daring escape on the way to a work camp, he is caught in the crossfire between the authorities and the rebels. In the process, he unwittingly saves a Population Police officer-and is brought to their headquarters to train as an officer himself.
There Matthias meets Nina, another third-born who needs his help in a plot to undermine the Population Police. But Matthias is under constant scrutiny, and he has no idea whom he can trust. What can one boy do against a wicked bureaucracy?