Alex cried out in pain, but the sound was drowned out when an aeroplane swooped so low that Daisy thought it would land on the ship. Looking up, she saw the pilot’s grin, before he sent down a torrent of bullets that made her body dance.

Screams around her swirled in her head. ‘A – Al – Alex.’ His name settled on her soul as it soared above her excruciating pain and took it away. Floating and unable to control her movements, or go back to Alex, Daisy couldn’t understand why she felt so happy, so light. Her lips formed the words ‘Goodbye, my love’, but it was as if someone else had spoken them and they were a prayer, not a tearing apart. Then the earthly world lay far behind her and she was swathed in a beautiful light.

Confused and unable to see, for the choking smoke that engulfed him, Alex was surrounded by muffled screams. Lifting his hand, he reached out for Daisy. His hand sank into a warm, sticky pool of blood. ‘Daisy?’ Realization catapulted him to a sitting position. ‘DAISY!’ His scream rasped in his throat. The sounds of hell surrounded him – explosions, diving planes, rapid gunfire, screams and cries for help – as burning flames licked the deck, lighting up the tangled, bloodied body and beautiful face of his darling Daisy. Her unseeing eyes were staring at him, her hand outstretched towards him.

‘NO! NO! No-o-ooo!’

Alex’s agonized scream was lost in the sound of wave after wave of the ack-ack of gunfire and the explosion of torpedoes. Water swirled around him.

Getting up, he tried to move forward, but the slant of the ship was too great for him. It’s sinking. God, help me! Help me! He couldn’t stop the slide of his body. Choking on the salty water that threatened to engulf him, Alex knew he was going to die. The thought wasn’t frightening, but a release that was all-consuming, as his head banged against something and he felt all sensation leave him, to be replaced with a feeling of weightlessness. He fought to feel again, but ahead of him he saw his Daisy, beckoning. She looked so beautiful. He wanted more than anything to be with her. Letting go of the will that had kept him earthbound, he drifted towards the love she was showering him in.

Florrie had woken to the sound of someone banging on her cabin door. Swinging her feet off her bunk, she felt freezing-cold water. Shock brought her fully awake and, with awareness, came the terrifying sound of anguished cries and, above them, the planes, the guns and the explosions. With the slant of the boat, she couldn’t stand up. The door was flung open and Giles shot in.

‘Florrie . . . the Japs . . . Oh God, Florrie!’

A lurch and Giles fell on top of her. Their bodies were flung onto her bed. ‘Florrie. Oh, Florrie.’