The Maori gave him a sharp look. ‘I’ve had better. But the Tahatu isn’t available for hire, for a very simple reason – most of my crew just quit. The only man who’s stuck with me is Yuda, and the two of us can’t run the ship on our own, so it’s not going anywhere until I recruit some replacements. You’ll have to find someone else. Sorry.’ He nodded towards the exit.

Nina wasn’t going anywhere. ‘Why did they quit?’ she asked. ‘Problem with your clients?’

He scowled. ‘You could say that. Now, if you’d—’

‘These clients of yours,’ Eddie cut in, ‘you wouldn’t know where we could find ’em, would you?’

The captain’s eyes went wide. ‘Aw, shit,’ he muttered. ‘Who are you really? Police?’

‘No, but we can call ’em,’ said the Yorkshireman. ‘Unless you want to tell us who hired you to take them to the iceberg?’

The realisation that his guests knew about his last voyage knocked the wind from Jones. ‘I . . . Okay, look, I don’t know much about them. I didn’t want to know.’

‘Well, we do want to know,’ said Nina. ‘Because your clients sank our ship and tried to kill us!’

‘I didn’t know they were going to do that, I swear!’ the New Zealander protested. ‘When they started taking out guns and rocket launchers, I was whoa, what the hell? We tried to stop them, but they pulled guns on us! Har— The leader,’ he quickly corrected himself, ‘left three of his men aboard while the others went into the iceberg. We were all held at gunpoint until they came back!’

‘We know his name’s Harhund,’ she said. ‘And we also know most of his men didn’t come back. I think he’s got other things on his mind than threatening you.’

‘Yeah, like explaining to his boss why he fucked up so badly and didn’t even get everything he was sent for,’ added Eddie.

‘That coffin wasn’t all he was after?’ said Jones.

Nina shook her head. ‘Not by a long shot.’ She softened her tone, trying a different approach. ‘Look, what did Harhund tell you? What exactly did he hire you for?’

Jones hesitated, then reluctantly answered. ‘He hired us to catch up with a ship surveying an iceberg. The Torrox, right?’ She nodded. ‘They had all this gear,’ he indicated the equipment below, ‘so I figured they were planning to go onto the iceberg. I didn’t know they wanted to go into it!’

‘Or to attack the Torrox?’ said Eddie.