Ryan shook his head and sounded firm. ‘Uncle said to meet me here this morning. I saw him in town last night.’

The guard backed off and spoke into a radio. A car transporter came out as he waited for a response.

‘Straight ahead,’ the guard told Ryan finally.

Mya stood guard at the door of Uncle’s air-conditioned cabin. She eyed Ryan furiously, as he noticed fingertip bruises on her neck, where he’d thrust her backwards.

‘Is he in?’ Ryan asked.

Mya narrowed her eyes. ‘Give me a shot and I’ll beat you into next year.’

Ryan smirked. ‘I’ll spar with you anytime.’

‘I don’t spar with children,’ Mya grunted.

‘Nah,’ Ryan teased. ‘You just get beaten up by them.’

‘He’s on the telephone,’ Mya barked. ‘Wait.’

Ryan waited eight minutes. Thinking about the tiny listening devices in the pocket of his hoodie. Thinking about his best escape route if something went wrong, and imagining Rhea, all made up pretty for a night of clubbing. Maybe Leon really had stopped caring about her …

The cabin door crashed and Uncle vaulted the three metal steps, clattering gravel as he landed and giving Ryan a friendly jab on the shoulder.

‘Oi, oi, handsome boy!’ Uncle said cheerfully.

The man behind was chubby, in a spotless version of the orange scrapyard overall that Beast had worn the night before.

‘Gotta walk and talk,’ Uncle explained. ‘Just back from a trip so busy, busy! What do you think of my yard, Ryan?’

‘Machines and trucks, like every five-year-old boy’s dream,’ Ryan answered, earning a big laugh as they set off briskly down a gravel path.

A truck honked and Uncle gave the driver a thumbs-up as they walked a couple of hundred metres.

‘I like this business,’ Uncle told Ryan, holding his arms out wide. ‘You start with junk, you end with money. No branding, no advertising, no smartass San Francisco start-up building an app and taking half your passengers.’

Ryan nodded. ‘You said you might be able to fix me up with some work?’

Uncle looked over his shoulder at the man in the overalls. ‘What do you reckon, George? Good strong arms on him.’

‘Next spot that opens up is his,’ George said. ‘Gimme your mobile, it’ll probably be a few weeks.’

‘And maybe I can find some tasks more suited to your skills in the meantime,’ Uncle said, throwing a couple of punches to make his point. ‘Eh, son?’

Ryan smiled as Uncle explained to George.

‘Mya takes down guys weighing three hundred pounds. But this lad had her pinned under a table.’

George smiled. ‘Maybe he can visit that woman on the estate who calls Environmental Health every time we run the shredder after seven …’