'Magnifique. And I thought all japonais are wearing… les lunettes, no? She saw him make circles in front of his eyes with his fingers.

She giggled in spite of herself.

They climbed into the Gemini, sat breathing hard for a while. Philippe shook his head. 'Should have brought a radio. He looked at the outboard. 'Well, sometime we have to start it.

They both kept down as they headed back to the ships. The Gemini bumped against the pontoon; he left her to moor the boat while he sprinted up to the deck.

She met him there a few minutes later, as she arrived at the top of the steps carrying both sets of scuba gear. He laughed when he saw her, took both of them from her. 'Hisako; I'm sorry. You did not have to lift mine too.

'It's all right, she panted. 'Everything all right?

'Certainly, he nodded, looking briefly at the gauge on his air tank, then stopping, frowning at it. 'Everything is all right, he continued. 'I radioed; no one has seen any boats.

'Something wrong? she tried to look at the air gauge too.

'Is stuck. I go down to engineering; you have shower.

She went up to his cabin, showered and dressed, then wondered why she had dressed, and considered whether she ought to undress again. She was looking out of one of the portholes, wondering if she'd heard a motor, when he came back. 'I try with new cylinder; the… point thing… he gestured, frowning.

She smiled. "Point thing?"

'Oui. Sur le cadran. He mimed a circle with a pointer inside it.

'The needle, she said, laughing at his clumsy miming.

'Yes; the needle is stuck, is all. I fix tomorrow. He skinned off his damp T-shirt. The intercom buzzer sounded. 'Merde, he breathed, lifting the phone. 'Oui? He listened. Moment. He hung up, grabbed a dry towel from the rail in the shower room and wriggled out of his pants, moving to the wardrobe. 'Is Endo, over on launch. Wants to talk.

She watched him dry himself roughly and haul on trousers and a shirt. He flicked his hair into a semblance of order, dragged a comb through it once. She lay on the bed, still watching him, smiling to herself. He went to the door, looked back at her. 'Why you dress? he asked, looking surprised.

She shrugged slowly. 'Forgot. She rolled over and undid a button at the wrist of her blouse, 'Don't be too long.

So she did undress, and slid between the crisp white sheets, and cuddled herself for a moment, a thrill running through her, and she moved herself in the tightly made bed, just to feel the cool sheets on her skin. She put the main cabin light out, leaving the bedside lamp on.

The intercom buzzed, making her jump. She left it. It sounded again, twice, and she got up out of the bed. Merde, she muttered.

'Hisako, Philippe said.

'Philippe. Yes?

'Please come to the officers' mess. He hung up.

There was no dialling tone; the handset was dead in her. hand. She looked at it, slowly hung it up.

She didn't put on her jeans and blouse; she went to the closet and took out a yukata, a kind of light kimono, and — dressed in that — went down to the officers' mess, suddenly nervous.

When she started in through the door she was caught by one arm and dragged to one side. The room was full; she looked quickly round, saw what looked like the entire crew there; Lekkas. Marie, Viglain…It was only when she saw Philippe, standing grimly at the end of the mess-room table, that she realised the hand holding her wrist wasn't his; she'd just assumed that nobody else would touch her like that.

She looked into the unknown face of the man who was holding her. He wore dark National Guard battle-fatigues; he was blacked up, but sweating through it. His beret wasn't National Guard issue; there was a little red-star badge on the front. His voice sounded vaguely Latin as he turned to Philippe and said, 'That is all, Captain?

'I am not captain, Philippe said dully. 'That is all. He nodded. 'There are no more. Endo sat at Philippe's side. There were three other battle-fatigued men standing against the same wall as her, levelling guns at Philippe and the rest.

Hisako twisted her wrist to free it from the man's grasp, and started to feel angry and think about forcing the issue. Then she looked down, and saw the man was holding a small gun with a long, curved magazine, a stubby nightsight and a short barrel, which was pointing into her kidneys.

She thought the better of trying to apply the way of gentleness.

The man looked at her and smiled; white teeth in the blackened face. 'Welcome to the party, Señora. We are from the People's Liberation Front of Panamá, and you have just been liberated.

CASUS BELLI

5: Concentration

They had gone to the Nakodo first. The men in the first boat were wearing National Guard uniforms, but anyway weren't spotted until they were on board; nobody had heard the muffled outboards on their Gemini. They went straight to the bridge and radio room, taking both over without a fight; they had silenced pistols and boxy-looking Uzi sub-machine-guns, and nobody had been foolish enough to argue with them. Another Gemini had whispered out of the darkness and unloaded more — and more heavily armed men, while the first boat made for the Nadia, taking Endo with them to further reassure the Nadia's crew if they were challenged. They were seen approaching, and met when they came on deck. Endo asked to see Bleveans. The captain was having dinner with the other officers and his wife; they put a gun to Mrs. Bleveans's head, and told her husband to summon the radio operator. Officer Janney was on the bridge when the venceristas went to take it over. He tried to fight, and was pistol-whipped. That was the end of any resistance on the Nadia. The second inflatable off-loaded venceristas on to the ship while the Gemini of fake National Guards took Endo over to Le Cercle. By the time Philippe had made his radio calls to the other two ships, they had already been taken over, guns pointing at the heads of the radio operators as they told Philippe everything was just fine.

'I am Comrade Major Sucre, the man who'd caught her arm said; he waved her to a seat. 'We have taken over your ships for a little while. Please be patient. You do not try to hurt us, we won't hurt you. OK? He looked round the mess at the silent people. The officers and Hisako sat at one end of the table, the crew — some French, most Moroccan and Algerian either sat at the other end, or on the floor.

'OK? the Comrade Major repeated sharply.

Finally, Philippe said, 'Yes. He looked at some of the Moroccan seamen sitting near by. 'Can I say what you just said in French? These men do not understand English.

Sucre smiled. 'OK. He hefted his assault rifle. 'But you remember we have the guns.

Philippe spoke to the others. The men nodded; a few grinned at the venceristas, gave a thumbs-up sign.

'Good, said Sucre. 'You sit here now; I come back soon. He put one finger to his lips. Y, silencio, huh? Sucre left the mess, taking two of the other armed men with him. The two venceristas who were left stood at either side of the door. They had come off the second Gemini; they wore black fatigues and black berets with red-star badges like the one Sucre had worn. They cradled nightsighted assault rifles with long, curved magazines; they had automatic pistols stuffed into their belts, extra assault-rifle magazines webbed to their belts, and two small round grenades attached to their combat jackets near their shoulders. One of them slowly wiped his forehead and cheeks with a cloth, rubbing off most of the black night-camouflage.