‘So, what’s the verdict?’ James asked. ‘Are we good to go without Kerry?’

Tovah sat straight as she spoke. ‘Sickness or injury were always possible, which is why we built redundancy into our plans. Six is better than five, but we’ll be OK, as long as we don’t lose anyone else.’

James looked at Capstick. ‘McEwen weighs over seventy-five kg, but you’d be OK.’

Capstick smiled and shook his head. ‘Did my share when I was in Aussie SAS. I’ve got three young kids and a wife who’d flip if she found out I’d gone on a mission in Syria. And you’re not poaching my assistants either. I’ve got twelve kids starting basic training in three days, and we’re way behind with the prep work because we’ve been out here helping you lot.’

‘You don’t have to tell your wife,’ Tovah pointed out, making Capstick shake his head and laugh.

‘Done enough death-defying stuff for one lifetime,’ he said firmly.

‘Fair enough,’ James smirked. ‘So what’s our configuration?’

Tovah looked serious. ‘We’ll go in with four planes, plus a spare for emergency. Kerry wasn’t topping the flight rankings so the pilot roster stays the same. I’ll pilot, obviously. Lauren tops the pilot training ranking by some distance, so she’ll pilot, as will you and Bruce. Kyle as first backup, which means we now have three empty seats for our two hostages. The other thing to bear in mind is, at the range we’re flying, the microlights can take a maximum of one-fifty kilos for two passengers. Yuen and Sachs are big fellows, so one will fly with me since I’m lightest. Since you’re heaviest, James, you’ll now fly back with an empty seat.’

James scowled. ‘So all that dieting was for nothing?’

Tovah laughed. ‘Kerry told me you’ve got a six-pack for the first time in years.’

‘Bloody watermelon!’ James moaned. ‘I never want to see another slice …’

Tovah looked at Capstick, who was clicking through the electronic chatter report from Echelon monitoring. ‘So we’re trained up and Kerry’s absence is a blow, but not a critical one. Question is, do we strike as planned?’

Capstick scrolled to a report summary on his laptop screen, and began reading aloud. ‘No direct communications related to Sachs and Yuen detected for twenty-six days—’

‘No surprise,’ Tovah interrupted. ‘All Islamic State groups use strong encryption.’

Capstick nodded. ‘Which is why they’ve been monitoring routine Internet and phone traffic in areas close to IS oil wells. Electronic chatter indicates that a well twenty kilometres east of Al Hakasah was out of operation for several days last month. There’s even a report of a Facebook message from someone presumed to work at the well saying Back to work tomorrow. Chinaman came and fixed the console. Which quite probably refers to Kam Yuen.’