God help me, but that dog really was a monster. I tried to imagine what it would be like, riding along with that thing sitting right behind my shoulder with its enormous jaws ready for action. I could easily picture it ripping my head off my shoulders and spitting it out of the window like a pistachio shell.

‘You’re really bringing the Hound of the Baskervilles along?’ I asked nervously, nodding at Lucky.

Oskar stared at me in disbelief. ‘You’re kidding, right? Lucky’s the reason I’m still alive. She’s my biggest good-luck charm.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Lucky led Oskar to safety,’ said Haden. ‘Isn’t that right?’

‘You know the story about my alternate?’ asked Oskar, hunkering down next to the beast and rubbing her belly.

‘Environmental collapse, I heard.’

‘Yeah. Lucky – well, Lucky’s mother, anyway – was on her way to being someone’s breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’d managed to get myself caught by some guys on my way to the coast, thinking maybe something in the ocean might still be alive and edible. They wanted to eat me too, right? Except they locked me up in this barn along with Lucky, and that damn hound not only chewed her way through the ropes holding her, but mine too.’ He shook his head and chuckled. ‘That’s when I started believing in miracles.’ He touched the crucifix hanging around his neck. ‘I tell you, I know a sign when I see one. Once we got out, I managed to kill the one guy left to guard us, and me and Lucky made it out of there.’

‘So did you make it to the ocean?’ I asked. ‘Was there anything to eat there?’

‘Nope.’ Oskar shook his head. ‘It was as dead as everywhere else. But Lucky nosed out the entrance to some government hideout filled with enough food to last us both years and years. Like a lifetime’s worth. That makes it twice the old girl pulled through for me.’

I frowned. ‘Hang on. You’re talking about two different dogs, right? Who found that hideout, Lucky or Lucky’s mother?’

‘They were both called Lucky,’ Oskar explained.

I glanced at Haden, but he just shrugged.

‘I didn’t even know the old girl was carrying a litter until we reached the coast,’ Oskar continued. ‘Every one of them died except this girl here.’ He scratched Lucky’s head, and the dog pushed up against him hard enough that it made him stagger back. ‘Hell of a girl,’ he chuckled. ‘The both of them.’

I stepped around to the open rear of the vehicle. The SUV was a four-seater, with plenty of rear storage. I threw my backpack in and slammed the door shut. ‘So exactly what is it we’re up against?’ I asked them.

‘Didn’t Schultner brief you?’ asked Haden.