A door slammed. It was like a gunshot in the still air. She raised the binoculars and looked at the van. A man dressed in black had got out. He was smoking a cigarette. She saw him cough and thought she could hear the sound as well. He glanced at the 4WD, looked back at the van and shook his head, then moved to the top of the slope that led down to the beach, limping as he went. Wada realized then who he was: the man who’d crashed through the shed roof at Dr Morrisette’s house while chasing her. She instinctively dropped from her knees to a prone position. The man wasn’t looking in her direction. But she didn’t want to be seen. By anyone.

She checked her watch again. Dead on six. Where was Driscoll?

The juddering of the van on an uneven surface and glimpses of the sea through the windscreen told Nick they were approaching their destination. The sun was up, gleaming on the wave crests. They’d arrived.

Timing was obviously crucial. They’d laid up for nearly an hour outside a Starbucks when they’d left the A30 before heading on to Porthtowan. Nick remembered the route from his drive down two weeks before and had been able to tell Michaela they were nearly there.

‘So, we’re going where it all happened forty-two years ago?’ she’d asked in a whisper.

‘It seems so.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know. But we’ll find out soon.’

‘Is this shaping up well for us, Nick?’

‘I don’t know that either.’

‘But we’ll find out soon, right?’

‘I guess so.’

And now here they were. The van came to a halt on a slight slope. Chas yanked on the brake and killed the engine.

A few moments passed. Butch lit a cigarette, opened the door and climbed out. Nick caught a breath of fresh sea air. The door slammed shut. Butch moved out of sight. Nick saw Dave nod, as if acknowledging some signal from him.

Chas turned then and looked at them through the wire. ‘You’ll be getting out soon,’ he said. ‘There’ll be nothing to stop you making a run for it except this.’ He held up a gun and tapped the barrel against the wire. ‘We’ll shoot you down if you try it. Understood?’ He paused. ‘Understood?’

Realizing a response was needed, they both nodded energetically. ‘We get it,’ said Michaela.

‘See, we’re in this business full time. If we fuck up a hostage handover, it hits our bottom line. And letting hostages get away before the ransom’s paid counts as a major fuck-up. It won’t be anything personal, but we won’t hesitate. It’s just the ground rules. OK?’

They nodded again. ‘OK,’ said Nick.

Chas looked round at Dave. ‘Anyone shown themselves?’

‘Not yet,’ Dave replied.

‘Time?’

Dave checked his watch. ‘Six on the dot.’

‘Any minute, then.’