Very cautiously, he raised his head to look into the room before putting a hand up to the railing. His other hand reached out to Casey’s wrist, gripping her hard.

‘Don’t move,’ he whispered. ‘I can still hear them in the corridor.’

Casey peered out of the hammock, across the dark sprawl of the beach to the Tephi, dead in the mud. A wisp of wind crept round the ship, sending a shudder through the hammock. At last, Ed inched himself upright.

‘I think they’ve gone,’ he whispered. ‘I haven’t heard them for a while.’

Cautiously, Casey reached up to the railing with her spare hand. Slowly, very carefully, she pulled herself upwards, jerking as little as possible. One foot on the railing, then the other. The relief.

Ed waited until she was safe on the balcony, and then he pulled himself up over the rail with a quick athleticism.

Casey leaned briefly against the wall of the cabin, then straightened up.

‘Let’s go.’

As they reached the end of the corridor, Casey could hear men, loud in the staircase to her left. There seemed to be voices all over the ship, other men talking loudly below.

Casey nodded to her right, and dodged across the lobby, Ed close behind. She edged the door open, very slowly, waiting for any sound. The light from the lobby below spilled up the stairs. Casey hesitated, and then turned towards the flight of stairs leading up. Ed caught her sleeve, nodding downwards, vigorously.

No, Casey gestured. This way.

There’s no way out, that way, she thought. Trapped like rats.

Ed stared at her for a beat, and then moved noiselessly up the stairs. According to the map of the ship, Casey remembered, on every floor there was a door from the staircase to a lobby in the middle of the ship. There were identical staircases on each side of the ship, both with doors onto the lobby.

They climbed three flights, Casey counting in her head. She stopped at a door, standing there for a long moment, waiting for any sound on the other side of the door.

Silence.

Casey glanced across at Ed, eyebrows raised.

Shall we?

A nod.

But as she was about to move, she heard the shriek of a door far below from the ground-floor lobby. The footsteps drew nearer, turning corner after corner with careless speed. Ed shoved open the door to the central lobby. It creaked, just too loud, and they heard the footsteps skid to a halt.

Ed pushed Casey through the doorway.

A shout in Bengali behind them.

‘Run,’ shouted Ed. ‘Run.’

Casey rammed the door closed behind them, anything to slow their pursuers, and sprinted down the corridor, fear speeding her like flames.

Deck, read a sign, and she burst out into the night air.