Chapter 28The sun had almost set when an Aotearoan fishing boat anchored a few kilometres off the Australian coast well beyond the reach of spotter station scanning equipment. Later in the evening, the boat’s tender slipped into a narrow inlet a short distance from the Asian-Brown Zone border. Moonlight alone guided the fisherman as he steered the small craft up the tidal creek to a spot where rocks and shallow water rendered further navigation impossible. After cutting the engine, he allowed the tender to drift into a bank of white sand piled high by the tide against a rock platform jutting out from the shore. Kaire, seated in the bows, quickly jumped out and held the tender steady so that Pia, burdened with their bags, could disembark easily. When she had reached the rock platform, he sh
