I needn’t have worried. Without the awkwardness of the helmet on her arm she let rip. I’ll admit this too: I was amazed how good she was on the bike. It turned out she’d spent the night poring over satellite maps of the area on her phone and immediately she was jinking between buildings, doubling back, bumping us over a railway crossing, and speeding up again onto a dual carriageway. The guards in the car didn’t have a hope in hell of catching us. I was still squeezing her tight, I realised, as much in awe as to keep myself from flying off the back.

‘Where to?’ she hollered.

‘Xander! At a speed that won’t get us pulled over!’

She hadn’t memorised that route, but I worked it out, signalling the way to her as she drove with textbook care through the waking city. We reached the apartment block without incident, parked up outside it and climbed the stairs to the rental. The light was on. Xander, fully dressed, ushered us in. I started to tell him what had happened, but he cut me off: ‘Amelia’s been giving me updates. I know where you’ve been.’

‘Yes, but neither of you know that I heard …’

‘Heard what?’

It seemed so improbable beneath the buzzing strip light in that kitchen-diner, but I forced myself to tell them what I’d heard. Xander’s mouth fell open as I spoke, prompting me to add, ‘I could have been imagining it, I suppose.’

‘Unlikely,’ said Amelia. ‘You’re not delusional in other respects.’ A smile lit up her face. ‘It’s brilliant news, potentially at least.’

‘Look, we still need to get the evidence to the summit,’ I said.

‘Already on it,’ said Xander.

‘How?’

‘I copied the photos from your camera to my laptop yesterday while you were in the shower. Amelia’s idea. She also texted me a thirty-page report full of coordinates, kids’ names, descriptions of them, et cetera, et cetera.’

Amelia shrugged at me. ‘I had time on my hands. It was a long night.’

‘And while you were sneaking about in the dark, we worked out who your parents would have been trying to influence at the summit: the Mining and Conservation Committee. I emailed the entire portfolio of photographs, plus Amelia’s report, to its chairman at four o’clock this morning.’

Like a puppet whose strings had been cut, I collapsed onto one of the spindly kitchen chairs in relief.

‘Only trouble is, he’s not yet replied.’

I checked my phone. It was only a quarter to seven. ‘He’s probably not up yet.’

Xander shrugged. ‘Maybe.’