He sighed, irritated with me. Looked at the glowing tip of his cigarette as if he were trying to hypnotize himself into a better temper. ‘Belize is next to Guatemala, Felicity. You said so yourself. And we watched that programme about Belize. On the BBC. Horrible pit of a place, jungle and swamps and a little group of British paratroopers guarding the border with Guatemala. Don’t you remember?’

I waved a hand, sick of his prattle. ‘I was probably reading my magazine.’

‘It was about our soldiers. The Brits, like. The Guatemalans next door – they want Belize. And Belize is British territory so we had lads out there defending it. They looked proper miserable. Hot and bothered and complaining about being so far from home and not knowing what they were even doing there. They had the odd scuffle with the enemy but it weren’t much more than lobbing bricks at them.’

I looked at him for a bit, wondering if he wanted me to add anything. ‘And?’

‘And nothing.’ He shrugged. ‘Well, maybe nothing. I just mean, with Cordelia doing what she does and all the accents out there – I don’t think they’re going to open the door for us come the morning, do you?’

I didn’t like the look on his face. I could see him working out our options and finding none. ‘That thing in his pocket – it might alert somebody who’ll come to help.’

‘Aye,’ he said. ‘And it might not work, or it might tell the wrong person.’

‘Cordelia,’ I said, and there was some comfort to be found in her name. ‘She’ll know that we’re not home. She’ll have rung to see how we got on at the house and she’ll have put two and two together.’

I felt his fingers against mine. Felt him give my hand a squeeze and I swear it was enough to make me feel as though we were seconds from the bloody end.

‘Christ, back up,’ said John, quickly, pushing me back against the wall. His hearing was better than mine and he heard the footsteps before me. A moment later the door was opening and Sera was thrown bodily into the room. One of the soldier-types had dragged her by the hair and then shoved her down, spitting out a swear word at her and then at me before slamming the door shut behind him. Sera lay where she fell, her dark hair covering her face, one arm over her head like she was expecting a beating.

‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph,’ I said, trying to stop myself from shaking. ‘John, help her.’

‘What am I supposed to bloody do?’ he asked, looking as lost as me.