‘I know that,’ Langdon purred, pulling out his mobile phone and waggling it from side to side. ‘Though this operation has nothing to do with me, I know who runs things here, and we’ve been in touch.’ He waved the phone in a loose north-east-south-west circle and continued, ‘The same goes for all the other mining facilities round and about. We’ve checked. The word is out. Should anybody hear anything, I’ll know sooner rather than later.’ After a further pause he added, ‘I understand why you wanted to look in person, but really there was no need. Your parents would want me to keep you safe, not let you run around the bush. As I told them, it’s a dangerous place.’

My hackles rose when Langdon said this. Of course the bush was dangerous. My parents had been kidnapped in it! ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to carry on the search in person,’ I said as evenly as I could. ‘Francis has done a great job getting us here; he can take us to the next mine too, can’t he?’

I shouldn’t have made it a question; it gave Langdon the opportunity to breathe, ‘I’m afraid not,’ only too easily.

‘Why not?’ said Amelia.

‘I won’t be letting you out of my sight again. Your parents wouldn’t forgive me if anything happened to you.’

‘You said you were here to help,’ Amelia said.

‘And I am,’ Langdon replied.

‘How though?’ she asked.

‘Jump in the truck and I’ll explain,’ he said, with a smile so fake I wanted to punch it off his face. I didn’t though, because climbing into the truck suggested we’d be moving away from here, and that made it less likely Langdon would have a chance to ask the overseers down below what exactly we’d done during our visit. The truck was the lesser of two evils in that moment, so I did as instructed and climbed aboard. Amelia and Caleb followed me. The Land Cruiser’s heavy doors clumped shut behind us. My uncle, however, didn’t immediately take his seat. Seeing him take a step in Francis’s direction, I nearly jumped out again, but he seemed merely to want to talk to him quietly. I have no idea what he said. Whatever it was, it spurred Francis into action. He immediately fired up the other 4 x ***

4. I was relieved to see Marcel climb aboard with Francis before his truck leaped away down the track. Once Langdon and his bandy-legged driver were installed up front, we set off, the second half of the convoy, in hot pursuit.

55.

Not long after we moved off, I noticed the locks on the rear doors had dropped into their sockets. That happens on some cars automatically, I know, but in the truck, then, it seemed deliberate. Had Langdon locked us in? I didn’t like the idea of that at all.