We walked fast, the three of us in a line, and Leotta said, ‘What’s happening in three minutes?’

‘An air operation,’ he said enigmatically. ‘I’ve managed to find an air force, too.’

We stopped halfway up the hill, where a light machine-gun had been set up. The loudspeakers were now on stands and a technician was plugging them into an amplifier. The radio operator was fiddling with knobs and speaking in a low voice. The army captain said, ‘All ready, Superintendent.’

‘I hope this works,’ said Hanna. ‘I wish to God I had those riot trucks.’

All was quiet. A brightness in the air on top of the hill indicated that there were lights on the airfield, but no sound came from there. There was a warm breeze but not strong enough even to make the grass rustle. From one side came the clink of metal on stone and a muttered imprecation. The captain said in a low voice, ‘Quiet, there!’

The radio man suddenly said, ‘I’m on net, captain.’ He held up the microphone.

And then the sky seemed to split open. There was a deafening bang followed by a banshee howl as a meteor vanished over the top of the hill. I stared at the place it had been with incredulity, my ears still ringing. It had been a fighter aircraft moving at the best part of a thousand miles an hour at sea level.

There was another bang and a light streaked across the sky as though drawn by a pen, so that it was not a moving light at all but, due to the persistence of vision, a white line. The world was all noise.

The third bang left me shattered. The nearest loudspeaker slowly began to topple over but someone caught it before it hit the ground.

Seconds went by. Nothing more happened. The captain switched on his torch and I saw that Hanna was speaking, but he sounded very distant and the words didn’t make sense. Somewhere far away a man was letting loose with a rebel yell.

I rubbed my ears, which seemed to be full of cotton wool, then held my nose and swallowed hard, and my hearing snapped back to normal. There was a babble of voices coming from a speaker on the field radio, and again there was the rebel yell. I glanced at Leotta and saw that she had been just as shaken by the fighters as I had.

Hanna grabbed the microphone from the radio operator. ‘Hey, you up there! US Navy!’

An American voice cut through the babble. ‘Shut up, you guys! Someone’s talking to me.’ The confusion died and his voice came over strong and clear. ‘Who is that?’

‘Superintendent Hanna, Campanillan Police.’

‘Hi, Superintendent. Commander Auerbacher at your service. Was that what you wanted?’

‘That was just fine,’ said Hanna.

‘Do you want us to make another pass?’