She nodded, brightening up a little. ‘Yup. Been to Siberia, China, most of the Middle East, all over Europe, but never made it out this way until now. Dad had some difficulty getting into the country himself, what with all the new wars that kept breaking out every five minutes. By 1990, the door had pretty much closed. It was a huge frustration for him, being so obsessed with all things Alexandrine.’ Meeting Wolf’s totally blank look she added helpfully, ‘That’s what we say. Alexandrine, as in Alexander. The Great, that is.’

‘Right,’ Wolf said. ‘You mean the Greek general guy.’ As though Greek generals who’d earned themselves the sobriquet ‘the Great’ were ten a penny. ‘We were talking about him before.’

‘Yeah, that guy,’ she replied, smiling. ‘Oh, Dad would’ve talked you under the table anytime you mentioned Alexander’s name. Folks who knew him soon got to avoid doing that, or he’d be at it all night. It was more than a dream for him. He ate and breathed it. His greatest goal of all, more than any of the other treasures and antiquities he spent his life searching for, was to find Alexander’s lost tomb. Dragged his poor long-suffering kid daughter all over what used to be ancient Babylon, now Syria and Iraq, trying to find it. But he’d happily have settled for discovering a lost city or two. And nowhere was that a more promising prospect than the land of Bactria.’

Wolf shook his head. ‘Where? Never heard of it.’

‘Okay. But you must have heard of a Bactrian camel, right?’

‘Think I might have eaten one once,’ Wolf said, casting his mind back.

‘It was a dromedary,’ Ben reminded him. ‘In Somalia.’

‘It was some kind of camel, anyway,’ Wolf replied. ‘Tasted like shit, too. But as for Bactria, no idea.’