The officer and the hostess left. I bent down to look through the window. There was a group of men just inside the open hangar doorway but they were no longer moving bags. Instead, they appeared to be having an argument. Even at that distance and not hearing a word that was said, it was easy to tell that. Men do not speak only with their mouths but with their bodies too, and the stance and postures of those men told of violent disagreement.

Dehn said, ‘How many police are here?’

‘I don’t know. About sixty came in from the sea. I don’t know how many came in from the other side.’

Someone from the arguing group walked away from the hangar and towards the Boeing. It was Haslam.

‘How do you estimate our chances?’ asked Dehn.

‘How would I know? I’ve never been in a situation like this.’

‘Neither have I,’ said Dehn wryly.

I watched Haslam grab the ladder that was propped against the fuselage and drag it to the plane’s front door, nearest to where we were talking. When he came in, he said, ‘They want to talk to you, Kemp.’

‘What about?’

‘Just questions. But first, I have one for you.’ He looked troubled. ‘Do you know what happened to Bette?’

He had a pistol in his hand and that made me nervous. ‘She killed a friend of mine,’ I said, watching him closely. ‘Then someone killed her.’

‘You?’

I shook my head and made damn sure I didn’t make a flicker of an eye movement in Leotta’s direction. ‘Someone else.’

A cloud passed across his face but I couldn’t decipher its significance. He waved the gun at me, guiding me towards the door. I looked back at Leotta and she gave a determined smile. As I went through the door, she was already standing in front of the crew, taking charge.

I climbed down the ladder and Haslam followed. I could have run away into the darkness while he was coming down but that wasn’t the name of the game. Not with Leotta and a plane load of hostages standing defenceless on the runway. He seemed surprised to find me waiting for him on the ground. ‘I should have come down first,’ he said. ‘Bette wouldn’t have made a mistake like that.’

We walked towards the huge open doors of the hangar and Haslam said, ‘I didn’t know what I’d married, Kemp. I didn’t know, I swear it.’

‘I can believe that. But you still did what she said.’

‘It came out so slowly, a bit at a time. And she made it sound so easy. And it was twelve million dollars, Kemp. Twelve million.’ He spoke the number like a holy incantation.

‘And how much is that twelve million worth now?’

I heard raised voices from the hangar and glanced sideways at Haslam. ‘What do they want to know?’