That easy mix of authority and friendliness that characterised his fellow countrymen and women meant that he would not be grilled in any way by the officers. They had joked about his likeness to Caine, which was the Australian way of delivering a compliment, even if it may have been backhanded. Instead of probing about his business, his background and why he had been in Bangkok, they allowed him through without him having to lie and assume too much of his new persona as the English businessman.

He collected his luggage and had the strange experience of taking a small guesthouse room in semi-Bohemian, bayside St Kilda and not venturing to his Australian home in the next suburb of increasingly gentrified Elwood. He couldn’t even drive his own car, which was sitting unloved under cover at the rear of his property.

Cavalier kept thinking about the weapon he didn’t have with him. He could not recall more than a couple of assignments where he had not sent on a weapon, or when he did not have one handy. It was tempting to sneak into his own home and take the car and a handgun hidden there, but he decided against it. Cavalier was always looking ahead to the possible day when someone would be tracking his movements. No trace of him was a better option. This pre-condition also precluded him from visiting the offices of any newspaper or magazine to see editors, which was annoying yet essential when he was on a mission that had nothing to do with journalism.

After sleeping off jetlag, he checked email messages. One from Wombat said:

Team Roger, Skinny, Cuba 8.30 pm Fri. Q

Roger was the nickname Wombat had given Hollos in honour of former British MI5 chief Roger Hollis. Skinny was for Leni. Cuba was Castro. The time of arrival on a Qantas flight was 8.30 p.m. that day.

Cavalier noted again that the one fellow he wanted, Dubois, was not in the squad. He mulled over why, and came to the conclusion that he was such a loner the others would not want him with them.

Cavalier hired a Mazda, arrived at Melbourne airport at 8.30 p.m. and waited in the cafe opposite the sliding doors for arrivals on a Qantas flight from Singapore. Glasses on and sports cap jammed on his head, he ordered a coffee and joined the throng of people watching the arrivals wheeling out luggage-laden trolleys. There were two doors, and at first Cavalier found it tricky to watch both doors even with a video screen monitoring each one. He decided he would track whichever assassin arrived first.