She lay there, hopeless, motionless. Treasure hunt, hide and seek, a murder in the dark. She imagined opening her eyes to find two figures standing over her. Got you.

But the voices wandered on. These men were chatting, not searching. Casey lay still, the minutes passing, until at last she had to move. She stood up, dusted herself down.

‘Come on.’ She tried to sound calm. ‘Nearly there.’

Hesitantly, the women stood up. The moonlight glowed.

Let’s go, gestured Khadija.

At last, the tall wire fence loomed up in front of them. The women stalled, staring up at the barrier. Khadija’s head jerked towards Casey.

‘Here.’ Hessa and Casey pulled out wire cutters, clipping quickly. It took only a few minutes, and then Casey crawled through the gap. A few steps through some mango trees, and she was on the dirt track that ran along the perimeter of the shipyard.

There. In the distance, Casey could see a minibus parked on the side of the track. Casey flicked her torch, and without switching on its headlights the vehicle began to move towards her.

‘How’s it going?’ Miranda brought the minibus to a halt. She grinned down, elbow on the window frame. Layla was beside Miranda, also smiling with relief.

‘Get in,’ Casey gestured to the women.

They scrambled into the minibus without a glance backwards. They had made their decision, Casey saw, everything committed. For a second, the air around her sparkled with happiness.

As she glanced at him, Ed gave her a rueful grin. ‘Well done.’ He shook his head at her. ‘I never thought we would do it.’

‘Did you find Romida?’ Miranda interrupted her thoughts.

‘No.’ A flood of exhaustion overwhelmed Casey. ‘I don’t know what has happened to her.’

Layla twisted around sharply, speaking across the minibus. Casey heard the word Romida several times and one of the woman, who didn’t look pregnant at all, jerked her head up, the words spilling out of her.

Layla asked more questions, her voice rising slightly.

‘What is it?’ Casey asked urgently. ‘Where is Romida?’

Layla spoke a few more sentences, and sat back, eyebrows raised. ‘This woman says that she saw Romida.’

‘Where?’ Casey said. ‘When did she see her?’

‘This woman thinks that the main building in the shipyard had got too crowded,’ said Layla. ‘So when the women are first brought here, they are held separately, away from the others. They are given good food there, kept healthy. This girl was only moved into the main building a few days ago, after a medical procedure. I assume that means she is pregnant, but not showing yet. They may be being kept apart so that the new arrivals don’t know what is coming next.’

‘But where is Romida now?’

Layla scrunched up her face. ‘This is the thing. There are only a few of them being held out there. They’re locked up.’

‘Where? Tell me, Layla.’