And Zahran went running off to the crane, to clamber up the tall ladder to the operator’s cab and start figuring out what all the levers and switches did. The rest of the men got to work rigging up a makeshift lifting sling using a large, heavy canvas sheet attached by chain hooks. Using the sling, fifteen or twenty drums at a time could be lowered down to the boat, where a team of men would unload them and stow them safely in the hold.

Or that was the idea, at any rate.

Zahran’s crane operating apprenticeship didn’t start well. The whole thing was swaying so badly that the first trial batch of only three drums fell out of the sling halfway down the side, narrowly avoided smashing straight through the bottom of their boat, and fell into the sea. Nazim ran a hand down his face and tried to control his frustration.

They all watched as the empty sling came back up, swinging like a pendulum with the ship’s motion. For Zahran’s second attempt, they risked ten drums. Nearly a thousand pounds of product, enough to wipe out one hundred and ninety-eight million people, soon to be headed for the bottom of the sea if he let them fall. Zahran must have been sweating up there inside the crane. Nazim ordered Shaykh and two of his other more dispensable men to clamber into the sling along with the ten drums. If they died, they’d at least die for Allah.

But after his initial failure Zahran now seemed to be getting the knack. A few tense minutes later, all ten drums were successfully aboard the boat. Nazim sent Abbud, Dariush and another man called Mahmud down with the next batch to help with the loading. It took another twenty-eight minutes to complete the transfer of the remaining 187, every second of which strained Nazim’s patience to the maximum while the six men on the boat laboured like maniacs to stow the cargo securely aboard.

At last, the job was finished. Zahran returned from the crane, penitent for having lost three of their precious drums. Nazim was willing to forgive him. ‘With what we have, brother, our enemies are doomed to total defeat and humiliation. You will be rewarded for your part in this great conquest.’

The glow of dawn was beginning to infiltrate the murky darkness in the east. Nazim faced south in the direction of land and carefully scanned the horizon and the sky in search of approaching coastguard boats or helicopters. He saw nothing, though his instinct told him they’d be here soon. He was prepared to do battle with them if necessary, but he much preferred to avoid them altogether.