Elizabeth dragged herself towards the car, leaving Doug to see to her luggage. Twice she stopped to take a gulp from her dwindling water supplies. Arriving with her luggage, Doug flung open all the car doors and signalled towards the tree under which the car was standing.

“You’d best stay outside for a few minutes, give the car a chance to cool down. It gets pretty hot in there, even in the shade.”

Elizabeth leant against one of several mango trees, affording shade to the otherwise exposed car park and watched Doug put her luggage into the car and push the front passenger seat back as far as possible to accommodate her tall frame. Judging from her appearance she’d just poured the remaining water over her head. She looked a sorry sight, standing under the tree, gasping for breath in her dark business suit whilst white robed men and kaleidoscopic women strode past without as much as a glance towards her. A few times she fingered the buttons of her jacket, before finally deciding to undo them.

A few minutes later three men strode up to the car and placed a number of large packages into the boot. A fourth man, official looking and wearing what might be taken for a uniform began an animated discussion with Doug. The packages were opened and the official emitted a few clicking sounds before shaking his head and picking up what looked to Elizabeth like a small CD player which had been sitting on top of one of the packages. The man gave a smile as Doug shrugged his shoulders, signed the customs papers and slammed the boot shut. Doug paid off the carriers with a few small coins each. The official received a plain white envelope. He gave a slight bow in return.

Discovery is the fourth story in The Red Book and the creation of writer Paul Servini. We share part two with you tomorrow. All comments of two lines or more go into the draw at the end of the week for a limited edition (electronic) Red Book Reversed.