Milton reached back into the van to retrieve the suitcase that Victoria and Jean-Michel had filled with supplies for him and Sakura. They walked for five minutes, through large towers of stacked shipping containers. Eventually, they emerged on the dockside. There were a variety of merchant vessels moored by the docks, ranging from small vessels that looked like fishing boats to much larger container ships.

“Which one is ours?” Sakura asked.

Pierre extended his finger and pointed directly in front of them to a large blue-painted ship. It had a red line from bow to stern and the deck was stacked with four storeys of large shipping containers. The hull was painted with letters: CMA CGM.

“What do the letters mean?” Sakura asked.

“The owner,” Pierre said. “It is a French company. This is the Fidelio. She’s a big ship—75,000 tonnes—and very safe. It will be a smooth trip for you.”

At the rear of the ship, rising majestically above the superstructure, were the accommodation decks and the bridge. Pierre led the way to the aft gangway that extended from a doorway down to the dock. It appeared that the work to prepare the Fidelio for the voyage was done. Apart from a few solitary stevedores, there was no one around.

“You need to get aboard,” Pierre said. “She’s leaving in fifteen minutes.”

Milton wheeled the suitcase to the gangplank where the others were waiting.

“Thank you,” he said to Jean-Michel.

The Frenchman put out his hand and Milton shook it.

“Bon voyage,” he said.

Victoria stepped up, wrapped her arms around Milton and drew him into a hug. “Be careful,” she said.

“I will.”

“Look after her,” she whispered. “She’s a good one.”

Milton squeezed her for a moment and then let go. She put her hands on his shoulders to bring him down a little, then kissed him on the cheek.

“And she likes you,” she whispered into his ear.

Milton gently withdrew, annoyed with himself to find that he could feel heat in his cheeks. Victoria stepped over to Sakura and embraced her and then stood back and gestured that they should make their way up the gangplank. Milton picked up the suitcase. Pierre put his fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle; he raised his hand and, as Milton turned to look, he saw a silhouetted figure waiting for them in the doorway.

Milton picked up the case and stepped out onto the walkway. They climbed the shallow incline and stopped at the top to look back. The van had turned around and was rolling between two stacks of containers. The brake lights flared briefly as Jean-Michel slowed for a turn, and then it disappeared from view. Milton raised his hand to the watching Pierre, and then, with a hand on Sakura’s shoulder, he gently impelled her to the top of the ramp and the door to the ship beyond.

57