‘Left my glasses at the bar,’ Cavalier said in Thai. The guard grinned and let him walk to the bar area. Cavalier was quick to slide his hand under the carved woodwork. He removed the tiny recorder, pocketed it and made his way forward again. He showed the guard his glasses and stepped down the gangway. He had gone twenty metres up the slippery bank to the road when he saw four silhouettes with torchlights coming from the hotel restaurant. Despite the downpour, he could make out Hollos and three of the others in the group. For once, they were silent.

Cavalier sidled away to the village shops and hid under an awning, which stopped him receiving a complete drenching. Hollos and his team were soon animated. Orders were shouted. They boarded the cargo boat. Locals appeared and were directed. Minutes later, a stream of about twenty men, loaded with white sacks on their shoulders, were filing down a gangway from the boat, and then along a track, where they disappeared into the rain mist like a colony of ants.

Cavalier cursed himself for not bringing his phone or camera. He had visual knowledge of the unloading, but not where the sacks were being put. He wondered if they were being transported overland.

There was a commotion onboard the cargo boat. Cavalier could see Castro gesticulating in his direction. Cavalier hurried up the track towards the hotel, a couple of the group in pursuit. He slid along the embankment back towards the water and scrambled into the bush below the hotel.

He could hear shouting as the gang searched for the possible interloper. Cavalier crept up to the hotel. Other tourists came from the dining area and hotel rooms to see what had caused the disturbance. In the commotion, Cavalier crouched low, climbed the stairs and knocked at the door to his room. Pin let him in.

‘What have you been up to?’ she asked, with a teapot stance as she pointed at his muddy shoes and trouser cuffs.

‘I just wanted time to think,’ he said, slipping off his shoes and removing his trousers. He hurried to the bathroom with a small brush and proceeded to clean his shoes.

‘I want to leave the tour,’ she called as she climbed back into bed.

‘Why? Because I have dirty footwear?’

‘I saw that second passport in your things, Doctor Edwin Harris! I don’t know what it’s about …’

‘I can explain.’

‘I don’t want to hear it.’

‘I’ll tell you in the morning.’

‘I won’t be here.’