She climbed up on top of the containers, quickly crawling to the hold’s rear along the gap beneath the crown of the curving cabin roof. Her men followed. Another space had been left beside the main hatch. The last weapon waited there, its protective crate attached to a parachute of its own.

Wu double-checked that the chute was set to open automatically at the correct height, then switched on a tracking device. They would be landing in the desert, and she didn’t want to waste time recovering the weapon. She donned a helmet and lowered its visor, the men doing the same.

The engine note changed, the shrill of the two huge turbofans dropping as the pilot reduced speed. Ten kilometres from Uluru, just minutes from the drop. ‘Everyone get ready,’ she said, going to the hatch controls. An interlock system was meant to prevent it from being opened in flight, but she had been instructed how to override it. She quickly did so, then pushed a button.

Warning lights flashed and a siren wailed as the door hinged upwards, but the noise was almost immediately drowned by the scream of wind and the engines’ thunder. If not for her helmet’s protection, Wu was sure she would have been deafened. She held on as the hurricane-force gale blasted into the hold. The plane trembled as its aerodynamics were disrupted.

The door reached its limit with a thud. Wu cautiously leaned out. The wind hit her head with sledgehammer force, but she saw the great rock of Uluru straight ahead, only a few kilometres away.

She pulled back. ‘Ready to jump!’ The others lined up beside the hatch. They would leap from the plane’s aft main door for two reasons: the first was because several men could jump through at once, keeping them in close proximity. The second was pure pragmatism – going out of either crew door at the front risked the soldiers smashing into the wing or being sucked into an engine.

The last two men lifted the crate, ready to fling it out before leaping. Wu took up position behind them. The weapon was the most important part of the entire mission, and she wanted to follow its progress all the way to the ground.

Everyone waited, tension rising—

The pilot’s voice came through Wu’s earpiece. ‘One kilometre.’

Her response was immediate. ‘Jump!’

The first five men threw themselves from the hatch, a second group following two seconds later. The last pair hurled the crate out into the slipstream, then dived after it. Wu waited for them to get clear before following.

The Boeing hurtled away as she hit the wall of air. She tumbled, land and sky swapping places, then spread her limbs to bring herself under control. The world righted itself. Uluru swelled ahead, the team arcing towards its northern face.