Nina struggled out of a half-sleep, Macy dozing against her. ‘What about the next leg of the flight?’

‘About five and a half hours.’ He spoke to the co-pilot, who gave him a quizzical look but opened the main cabin hatch. Hot, muggy air with the sharp tang of aviation fuel wafted in.

‘We’re not getting out, are we?’ said Eddie. ‘We don’t need to be messing about with customs checks. Especially not with hmm-hmm aboard.’ He glanced pointedly at his leather jacket; the gun was inside. By necessity, international pilots spoke at least some English, and he didn’t want to warn them he was armed.

‘No, no,’ the young man assured him. ‘But I’ve got to find out what’s happening at Cangliang, and the satellite link won’t work through a window.’ He started to set up the antenna in the open hatch.

‘Did you reach Matt?’ Nina asked her husband.

He nodded. ‘Got a contact number for the ranger station at Uluru. Tried to ring it, but nobody answered. Must be closed at this time of night.’

‘We’ll have to try again in a few hours.’ She looked at her watch; it had been a long time since she last ate. ‘God, I’m hungry.’

‘There’s some food back there,’ he said, gesturing aft.

Nina gently shifted Macy off her. The sight of the compartments at the cabin’s rear used as cells during their flight from New Zealand reminded her of their former occupants. ‘What do you think happened to the Millers?’

‘Not sure I want to know. I doubt they’re going to give ’em tickets back home.’

‘I would say it couldn’t happen to nicer people, but . . . I just feel we should do something.’

‘What can we do?’ Eddie asked with a rhetorical shrug. ‘They got taken out of New Zealand on a black-bag flight – the Chinese’ll deny knowing anything about them.’

The truth of his statement did not make Nina any happier. She tried to take her mind off the grim thought by finding food. The pre-packaged meals she discovered were only marginally more appetising than the typical airline fare, but they were all that was on offer.

By the time she returned to her seat, Cheng had connected to the research facility – and she saw at once that something bad had happened. She put down her meal and went to him. ‘What is it?’ she asked, concerned. Eddie joined her.

‘I . . . I tried to contact my mom, but she didn’t answer,’ Cheng said in a low voice, lips tight. ‘So I messaged someone else on the team. He told me, uh . . .’ He blinked, eyes brimming. ‘She was arrested. Major Wu’s . . . interrogating her, to find out where we are.’