‘We have a safe house.’ Casey didn’t know if Khadija would know the words. ‘We have a house where you will be protected.’

‘But what about . . .’ Khadija gestured around the room.

‘It’s for all of you,’ said Casey. ‘But we have to be quick. We have to hurry.’

For a moment, suspicion flared in Khadija’s eyes, the eyes of a child betrayed before. ‘How can we trust you?’

‘You don’t have to,’ said Casey. ‘You can stay here, all of you. But if you come with me, I will try and make you safe. Please tell the others right now. We don’t have much time.’

Khadija hesitated. ‘You promise?’

‘I promise.’

Khadija squared her shoulders and turned to the others, speaking quickly. There was a sudden burble of noise.

‘You have to keep quiet,’ Casey gestured. ‘It’s very important.’

One woman, the oldest there, was talking now, one hand on her hip, the other gesturing angrily.

‘Can you understand what she is saying?’ Casey asked Hessa.

Hessa listened, her face beginning to relax.

‘That woman is saying they should go,’ Hessa murmured. ‘That they don’t know what will happen to them here, but it is worth trying to escape. That they might even be able to get back to their families.’ Another woman across the room interjected something sardonically, and Khadija’s face broke into a cynical smile. ‘That woman says some of them are only here because of their families,’ Hessa explained.

Casey looked around, imagining all the lies told to these women. The sweethearts they trusted, the uncles they believed. All betrayed, all ruined, all abandoned.

‘Let’s go.’ She gestured towards the door.

They made their way through the woods. At first, the women were buoyed up with rebellion, but Casey could feel their bravery ebbing as they forced their way through the bushes. In this darkness, every shadow was a threat, every rustle a jailer.

‘Not far,’ Casey whispered. It seemed much further in the night-time. They crept forward, Casey trying to smile encouragingly.

‘Watch out!’ As Casey whipped around at Hessa’s whisper, she saw the jolting flicker of a torch off to the right.

Get down, Casey gestured frantically. Hide.

The women flinched low to the ground, the noise unbearably loud to Casey’s ears. Sprawled in the dirt, Casey could hear a murmur of conversation, smell a waft of cigarette smoke. Very carefully, she peered up. Two men, walking along the fence line. Guards. Their torch beams bounced around, almost casual. They came closer. Casey forced herself into the ground, making herself as small as possible.

A bark of laughter from one man, and his gesture sent torchlight glaring towards the group. A gasp from one of the women, and Casey closed her eyes tight, waiting to be caught.