‘I’ll be watching the news from Spain, my man!’ he had said as Anton gritted his teeth and swore to himself. The only thing that would be more difficult to do without Gunnar’s help was place the bomb where it was needed; but it wasn’t impossible. He had decided that he would need to borrow his father’s car.

The hard part was lifting the bomb into the boot, but it wasn’t so heavy that he couldn’t manage it – it just required a little effort. The drawback was that he would be longer getting the bomb in and out of the car. But there was no point sulking about Gunnar any longer. It had been Anton’s own idea and, in truth, it was better for him to be alone at the finish. The responsibility for the explosion would be solely his.

It was as well that his father had an electric car, because it made no sound as he switched it on. He had lain in bed for forty minutes after he had heard his father turn in, waiting until he was certain that he was asleep. He had gone to bed later than Anton had hoped he would, but things were still on schedule.

He set off slowly, carefully looking about as he did so. Being picked up by the police for driving without a licence and with a big bomb in the boot would be no fun at all. But by keeping clear of main roads as much as possible and by threading his way along side streets through the Thingholt district and up into Norðurmýri, he was able to park the car safely in a gateway on Brautarholt where it was out of sight. He had printed out a false set of numbers on two large stickers and had stuck them onto the plates; from a distance they looked pretty convincing, so long as it didn’t rain. If that happened, the ink would run and the stickers would turn to mush.

This was one of the security features in his grand plan. The false numbers were in fact those for an identical car, so if he were seen on a security camera somewhere, that would be the vehicle the police would start searching for.

The other security measure was to park in the next street but one. This was a cramped, quiet residential street where there were no companies with CCTV cameras. He put on his hat, then pulled up his hood, tugging it forwards over his forehead, and retrieved the sack truck from the back seat. It was harder to get the box containing the bomb from the boot, but he managed it eventually, placed it on the sack truck and tied it down with a couple of bungee cords he had taken from the garage at home.