‘But they’re just two people, two kids!’

‘Lise, I think I’ve got a problem with the new generation. We can’t let them walk all over us, believe me, we can’t …’

Franck went down the hill. The grass and soil were drier than ever. In some ways, Liem and Travis had been lucky; it could have rained last night and drenched them. For that matter, the fat cumulus clouds were still getting bigger, moving slowly for the moment but heralding what was to come: those angry black clouds that grow as the air warms up and often culminate in a thunderstorm.

He had no trouble finding his way, using the sun and the paths he had taken before, and above all trusting a sort of instinct that was leading him back to the dog. He tackled the two hills with an ease that surprised even him. He wasn’t out of breath like last time; he was already acclimatising and his body was getting stronger.

When he got to the top of the third hill, he stood on a spur and looked out over the igue. He could make out the metal of the cage among the trees, right at the bottom. The clouds had moved closer so the sun was no longer glinting off the steel; the storm was on its way. There was a dull rumbling in the distance, like muffled cannon shots, as if the far-off sky were a battlefield. It must have been beating down on the Massif Central in the east, and Franck knew the thunder and hail would be heading towards them. He couldn’t leave Liem and Travis in the cage; it was dangerous. Unless he used the fury of the elements to panic them even more, to frighten them and make them realise that lightning would strike if they didn’t sign, attracted by the metal bars …

Franck knew the dog would become restless when he saw him, staying where he was but showing how pleased he was to see him. Liem and Travis would undoubtedly be sitting in the centre of the cage. They would be waiting, stubborn and upset. Franck carried on going down, the view of the bottom of the igue through the branches becoming clearer. He could see the interior of the cage and the barrels knocked to the ground, but he couldn’t see the men or the dog, and, even more strangely, he couldn’t hear a sound. He tore down the slope at top speed, panicking at the thought they might have got away. Yet how could they have got out of the cage, let alone have lost the dog, and where could they go?