‘Howay, man,’ said Geordie, under his breath. ‘For fuck’s sake.’

Arabella turned to look at him, eyebrow raised.

‘He’s just bitter because he never gets the girl,’ said Carr.

‘And you do?’ said Arabella.

‘Depends.’

‘On what?’

‘On whether I like her or not,’ said Carr. He nodded at Geordie. ‘I rely on my good looks and effortless charm, whereas he relies on his money. Have you met multi-millionaire Geordie Skelton?’

She chuckled. ‘So,’ she said, lifting a small attaché case onto the table. ‘You need this from me.’

She handed over four small packages, which were surprisingly heavy.

‘Your gold and US dollars,’ she said, when she saw Kev McMullen raise his eyebrows at the weight. ‘And I’ll take your passports.’

Carr hesitated. ‘It occurred to me,’ he said. ‘What if we get a tug on the way down, with no ID on us?’

‘The Tunisian police are not particularly dedicated,’ said Arabella, ‘and they are most certainly not incorruptible. You’ll be unlucky to get stopped, and if you are then Firas will be able to sort it.’

‘Okay,’ said Carr. He leaned forward, removed his wallet and passport from his back pocket, and handed them over.

The others followed suit.

‘You’ll need to get your mate outside to take our bags, too,’ said Carr. ‘We had to make it look like we were here for a fortnight’s holiday.’

Arabella nodded. ‘Now, there’s a change to your RVs,’ she said. ‘Latest intelligence has various Islamic groups active in the area where you intended to cross, so we’ve moved you a little further north.’

‘Same distance, though, pet?’ said Geordie Skelton. His one concern about this job was the tab across the border – he was fit and strong, but his right femur was held together with a titanium plate and screws.

‘Because of the lie of the land, it does add about three kilometres to your route, I’m afraid,’ said Arabella.

‘Okay,’ said Geordie, with a nod. ‘That’s fine.’

‘What are they up to?’ said Carr.

‘We think it’s foreign fighters moving into Libya,’ said Arabella. ‘They used to push in through Ras Ajdir and then strike out east for Tripoli and beyond, but they were upsetting too many of the tribal militias in that area so the crossing’s been tightened up.’

‘Foreign from where?’

‘Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, obviously,’ said Arabella. ‘Europeans and others among them, too, heading down through Spain since Egypt got tougher for them.’

‘Interesting,’ said Carr. ‘So they’re pretty much using the same route as us to go east?’

‘It’s not easy to get the intelligence, but yes, we think so.’

‘What groups?’

‘Al Qaeda, Islamic State remnants, Ansar Al-Sharia. The usual.’

Carr looked at the others.

‘Doesn’t really change anything else apart from the RVs, does it?’ he said.

‘No,’ said Geordie. ‘You’d expect the place to be crawling with the fuckers anyway.’

Fred and Kevin nodded.