Boerman inched his way along the skid until he was directly above him. As he took hold of the seat belt, Goki felt an irrational rush of hope. If anyone had the strength to haul him aboard, it was the Afrikaner. The big man’s biceps swelled and Goki felt himself rising.

‘Just like feeding time at the zoo!’ Boerman roared, shaking the commando loose.

‘No, No!’

Goki landed on his back with an almighty slap that knocked the wind right out of him. Before he could sink, the biggest crocodile – a six-metre veteran with one eye missing – snatched hold of his lower legs. Not to be outdone, the largest of the three smaller ones grabbed him around the chest.

As crocodiles possess no carnassial teeth to shear through flesh, larger prey items are usually drowned and stored in a lair to decompose and soften before being ingested. However, when two crocodiles tussle over the same prey, a prehistoric tug of war ensues. As the beasts fought each other, Goki knew pain that few ever would. Every joint in his body was popping. His chest was in a vice. Something tore inside his groin. The teeth embedded in his shins were puncturing bone, and he could feel them grinding, twisting and cracking.

The Jet Ranger hovered overhead for the finale. With a massive double beat of its saurian tail, the big crocodile reared backwards. With the smaller beast refusing to relinquish its prize, something had to give. With a sickening splintering of bone and sinew, Goki’s legs tore away from his body in a massive jet of arterial blood. The bigger crocodile threw its head back and swallowed the legs whole, gulping them down like breadsticks, while the other fled the scene with its juicer prize.

‘Christ almighty!’ exclaimed Boerman, temporarily forgetting his conversion. ‘Did you see that?’

Looking sick, Hartono banked away. Boerman leaned out for a last view of the crocs, but only a blood slick marked the site of the carnage.

Choking with despair, he swims Natalie to the shore, tenderly picks her up, and carries her into the garden. Here he digs a grave under the peppermint gums which she so loved. But it’s been raining for weeks and the sides keep caving in, no matter how frantically he digs. The grave is barely deep enough, but Brendan and Jonathan are coming over for the funeral, so he lays her down and pushes and pushes until she is gone. He is placing the sprig of karri flower on top of the mounded soil, when two hands erupt from the earth like claws and grab him by the throat.

Liquid mud surges up his nose as he’s yanked down into the grave . . . He’s drowning, choking in despair . . .

Breathe, why don’t you!

BREATHE!

Alarmed by Nash’s cries, Mia sat down on the edge of the mattress beside him.

‘It’s OK,’ she soothed. ‘Rob, you’re safe now.’