I went out to where Oskar was standing and saw Howes himself coming towards us, one arm flung around Rozalia’s shoulder. His uniform was dark with blood as he limped along beside her, a pistol hanging from one hand.

‘Christ in hell,’ yelled Randall, leaping up as we helped them inside. ‘What in God’s name is going on around here?’

Oskar had taken Howes’ other side, and together he and Rozalia lowered the Major into a chair.

‘It’s not as bad as it looks,’ Rozalia gasped, straightening up again. There were scratches and bruises on her face. ‘Although it could be that he’s lost some blood.’

Howes’ hands trembled as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position. ‘Any alcohol around here?’ he asked.

‘If you’re thinking about cleaning that wound,’ said Oskar, ‘I don’t think we’ve got anything pure enough for—’

‘To drink, goddammit.’

Yuichi came forward and handed him a bottle of his home-brew. Howes swallowed some of it, then grimaced. I heard him say something under his breath that sounded like a curse. ‘It’s a miracle you don’t all go blind from drinking this stuff,’ he wheezed, and Yuichi regarded him darkly.

Rozalia had slumped into another chair. ‘What the hell happened to you?’ I asked her.

‘It was right there, where Chloe thought it was,’ she said. She looked as if she’d been pushed to the edge of endurance. ‘Casey hid the stage behind some tarpaulins, inside the part of the hull of the trawler where you can walk right in. You’d never see it, not unless you stepped right up to it. He’s even got it up on a platform to keep it out of the water when the tide comes in.’

‘Was there any sign of him?’ asked Oskar. ‘Or do you think he’s transferred over to some other alternate?’

She shook her head and looked at me. ‘I thought about running whatever coordinates he’d last run, and maybe transferring across in case he’d done just that. Unfortunately, I ran into a little trouble before I had a chance.’

‘I told you it was a bad idea going there on your own,’ I said.

She gave me a dark look. ‘I heard noise from up on the coast road while I was poking around,’ she continued. ‘I stuck my head out and a jeep full of fucking Patriots had pulled up next to my own transport. I didn’t want them coming anywhere near the wreck, and they hadn’t seen me, so I sneaked back along the shore a ways, then climbed up onto another part of the road just a short distance from them. Then I stuck my head out of some bushes like I’d gone there to take a leak.’

‘And then?’ I asked.