Adira looped her arm through Abrams’s. “Smile: we are on holiday, remember, husband?”

Abrams gave her a grin that was more like a grimace.

Tania did the same to Matt. “Hey, you too – and don’t we make a pretty pair?”

Matt grinned. “Army life, huh? One minute you’re being shot at, and the next you’re on a dive holiday with a professor.”

“I like to think I’m ready for anything.” She smiled and raised her eyebrows momentarily, before becoming serious, and looking hard into his face. “Do you trust her?”

Matt shrugged. “She’s a combination of spy, agent and assassin – and she’s tough as hell.” He looked down at the military woman. “Don’t mess with her, Tania; I’ve seen what she can do.”

Tania snorted and looked away for a moment. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Matt honestly wasn’t sure whether he did or not. “Look, I trust she’ll do what’s best for herself and for Israel. But…” he remembered the woman on the Black Mountain in the Appalachians, who went way off course for the most basic human emotion – love “…she’s human and has a soft side. Well, not sure it’s still there – I think she’s been re-educated.” He looked at Tania and gave her a look of mock horror.

“Well, that sounds unpleasant.” Her smile widened. “Good.”

When it was their turn at the desk, the sharp-looking immigration official flashed his eyes up and down at Matt, before letting them rest on Tania for several seconds. He looked back at the passports, studying them as if they were the Dead Sea Scrolls.

He stamped and read, stamped and read, and then spoke without looking up. “When were you married, Mrs Kearns?”

Tania gave him a wide smile and leaned forward against the high desk. “Twenty-twelve, in Minneapolis.”

He grunted and then let his eyes flick up to Matt. “You have no diving equipment. How will you dive – hold your breath?” His mouth turned up on one side.

Matt nodded and grinned. “It’s too expensive and too much trouble to cart it around. Our travel agent told us that there’s a dive shop on Eastern Harbor…What was it called, honey? Alexandra Dive? We plan to hire everything we need there.”

They waited – there was more stamping – and then the passports were pushed back to them, and with a brusque “Next!” the official made it clear they had ceased to exist.

In twenty minutes they were out in the front of the building, avoiding shouting taxi drivers and private car owners touting for their fares. Adira walked a hundred feet down the road to where a faded green Mercedes Benz was pulling up. She nodded to the driver, opened the door and motioned for the other three to get in.

“What about Hartogg and Andy?” Abrams asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Forget them.” Adira waved him off. “Baruk will look after them. Another car will pick them up shortly. We must leave and go in different directions. Get in.”