54.

Covered in muck, I led the way out of the mine the way we had come, picked up the steep path and quickened our pace despite the gradient, desperate to get out of there. When it became clear that nobody was following, my heart rate dropped by about a third; I hadn’t realised it was beating so fast until it slowed. In the wake of panic, a hollow ache spread across my chest. Mum and Dad would be proud of the evidence I’d managed to photograph, but the trip had drawn a blank as far as actually finding them was concerned. Caleb, who’d fallen into step beside me, seemed to know what I was thinking.

‘There are other mines, other contacts. This was just the first – what the …?’

I followed his gaze, up the track to where the 4 x 4 was parked, and did a double take of my own. Where there had been one Land Cruiser, now there were two. Both were painted in the same white-on-green livery of Langdon’s mining company. The second had clearly just arrived, its exhaust still pumping out diesel fumes. Both Caleb and I stopped walking. Marcel and Francis and Amelia caught up with us. Francis saw why we’d stopped and gasped.

Both front doors in the newly arrived truck swung open at the same time, as if it was stretching its wings. Langdon’s driver stepped out of one, the same guy that had driven us in Kinshasa: I recognised his quick-stepping bandy-legged walk. More slowly, as if moving through water, Langdon himself emerged from the other door. He surveyed the five of us for a moment without saying anything. His shirt was busy, as ever, black swirls on silvery grey today. The corners of his mouth twitched and he gave a little wave.

‘Fancy seeing you here,’ he said.

I sensed Caleb stiffen, but it was Francis’s reaction – he was actually quivering with worry, the scar-lines on his cheeks pinched tight – that made me step up: we’d come here because of me, not them.

‘Weird, that he’s here too,’ said Amelia. ‘It’s almost as if …’

She’s so fast at the difficult stuff and yet misses the obvious. I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her saying any more, and stepped forward.

‘I’m sorry we came alone. I’m desperate. My parents. I knew you’d be doing everything you could in Kinshasa. The other trail led here. I made everyone come. I –’

‘Of course,’ smiled Langdon. ‘And I’m here as well now, if a bit late, to help.’

‘Yes, but it was my decision to come, nobody else’s,’ I said lamely.

‘You seem to think I might have a problem with that?’ One of Langdon’s eyebrows lifted.

‘No, but …’

‘No. But,’ he repeated.

I had one motive in that moment, to stop him going down to the mine and talking to his guards. If they let on that I’d been taking photographs, well, nothing good could come of that.

‘I think you’ve shown admirable initiative,’ Langdon went on. ‘Getting yourself here. Finding your own way.’ His gaze passed over Caleb to rest upon Francis. ‘Making use of the help.’

Caleb spoke up. ‘I gave Francis the order. He just did what I told him to do, Dad.’

The word ‘Dad’, tagged on to the end of Caleb’s assertion, made him sound as young as I felt in that moment. Langdon merely smiled at him, but everything about my uncle’s calm, friendly facade felt fake. Beneath it, he was seething, I could tell. The fact he said nothing further to Francis made no difference: the driver would definitely get it in the neck, and soon.

‘Either way, I’ve had no luck turning up leads,’ I said, trying to change the focus. ‘Nothing at Canonhead, and nothing here either. We talked to the guys in charge, but they hadn’t heard anything about a visit from Mum and Dad.’

‘I know that,’ Langdon purred, pulling out his mobile phone and waggling it from side to side. ‘Though this operation has nothing to do with me, I know who runs things here, and we’ve been in touch.’ He waved the phone in a loose north-east-south-west circle and continued, ‘The same goes for all the other mining facilities round and about. We’ve checked. The word is out. Should anybody hear anything, I’ll know sooner rather than later.’ After a further pause he added, ‘I understand why you wanted to look in person, but really there was no need. Your parents would want me to keep you safe, not let you run around the bush. As I told them, it’s a dangerous place.’

My hackles rose when Langdon said this. Of course the bush was dangerous. My parents had been kidnapped in it! ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to carry on the search in person,’ I said as evenly as I could. ‘Francis has done a great job getting us here; he can take us to the next mine too, can’t he?’

I shouldn’t have made it a question; it gave Langdon the opportunity to breathe, ‘I’m afraid not,’ only too easily.

‘Why not?’ said Amelia.

‘I won’t be letting you out of my sight again. Your parents wouldn’t forgive me if anything happened to you.’

‘You said you were here to help,’ Amelia said.

‘And I am,’ Langdon replied.

‘How though?’ she asked.

‘Jump in the truck and I’ll explain,’ he said, with a smile so fake I wanted to punch it off his face. I didn’t though, because climbing into the truck suggested we’d be moving away from here, and that made it less likely Langdon would have a chance to ask the overseers down below what exactly we’d done during our visit. The truck was the lesser of two evils in that moment, so I did as instructed and climbed aboard. Amelia and Caleb followed me. The Land Cruiser’s heavy doors clumped shut behind us. My uncle, however, didn’t immediately take his seat. Seeing him take a step in Francis’s direction, I nearly jumped out again, but he seemed merely to want to talk to him quietly. I have no idea what he said. Whatever it was, it spurred Francis into action. He immediately fired up the other 4 x ***

4. I was relieved to see Marcel climb aboard with Francis before his truck leaped away down the track. Once Langdon and his bandy-legged driver were installed up front, we set off, the second half of the convoy, in hot pursuit.