‘All right,’ Eddie told the pilots as they stopped the jet, ‘we’re done with you. You can go straight back to China if you want, but you might want to stay in Australia for a week or two. Maybe longer.’ Neither man appreciated the suggestion.

‘You okay?’ Nina asked him as they prepared to exit.

‘Knackered.’ Though Nina and Cheng had taken shifts to watch the pilots, the Yorkshireman had been on guard for most of the night. ‘That, and about five hundred cuts and bruises and chipped bones. Apart from that, just fine.’

‘Funny, I was about to say the exact same thing,’ she said. He grinned, then opened the hatch. Hot, dry air rolled in. He lowered the stairs, then ejected the gun’s magazine and tossed it and the empty weapon to the far end of the cabin before gesturing downwards. ‘Ladies first.’

Nina and Macy descended to the tarmac. A dusty wind blew across it. Nina narrowed her eyes and looked around. The sky was a swimming-pool blue, but the ground was practically its opposite, the sand and rocks a rusty orange so intense it seemed almost unreal. Scrubby vegetation beyond the runway was the only reassurance that they had not somehow been transported to the surface of Mars. ‘This is so cool!’ cried Macy.

Cheng followed them down, awe overpowering his misery. ‘That’s beautiful. Look at those colours!’

Eddie was less concerned with the scenery than with the uniformed people approaching. ‘Ay up. Hope we didn’t leave our passports in China.’

‘Now you think to ask?’ Nina jokingly chided as she produced them.

One of the Australian customs officials checked them against a clipboard, then nodded. While it was several years since the couple had worked for the United Nations, gaining the benefit of de facto diplomatic status at international borders, Nina’s in-flight phone calls to former colleagues had allowed strings to be pulled on their behalf. Cheng was another matter, both customs officers regarding the young Chinese with suspicion, but Nina’s assurances eventually saw him allowed to enter the country.

The third member of the reception committee was from a different organisation, a badge on her sleeve showing a stylised representation of Uluru and the words Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park. ‘Hi, g’day,’ said the stringy, thin-faced blonde. ‘I’m Sandra Piddock. We spoke on the phone?’

‘We did,’ said Nina, shaking her hand. ‘Thanks for meeting us.’

‘No worries. Normally I wouldn’t have been too happy at being woken up in the night, but today I was already up. And when you called, I figured your problem might have something to do with our problem.’

‘What problem?’ Eddie asked.