Gunnar did not need to be told twice. He took out a hammer and began battering the padlock, while Anton set to work with a screwdriver, trying to unscrew the hinges. This was one aspect of the job they had not agreed on. They had spent time lying in the scrub, looking down on the place with a pair of binoculars, watching to see how the shed was closed and arguing about the best way to open it. It didn’t seem to be a proper door, more a homemade job with a sheet of plywood that had been cut to fit the opening and fixed with hinges on the outside. After racking their brains for a while, they decided on both approaches; they’d see which was the one that got them inside the shed first. Anton knew that the method didn’t matter. It was the objective that was important. But Gunnar seemed to think there was a principle at stake, and insisted on smashing open the padlock, so Anton had accepted this compromise.

‘There!’ Gunnar whooped as the first of the three padlocks gave way and hung open.

‘Cool,’ Anton grunted, concentrating on the screws. He had removed them all from one hinge and was almost there with the second.

As he pulled out the last screw, Gunnar was still getting his breath back after the battle with the padlock.

Anton took the hammer from him, slid the claw into the opening and put his weight behind it. The door dropped out of the frame and hung on the remaining two locks on the other side.

‘Yesss!’ Gunnar crowed, his excitement obvious. ‘You win. Ice cream on me after. You’re the meanest gangster in town, man.’

He was clearly enjoying every moment.

Anton, on the other hand, was surprised at how calm he felt. He had been sure he would be more nervous. But now a warm feeling of achievement swept through him as he stepped inside the shed and the light on his helmet flickered over the boxes.

This was the first step towards his objective. He knelt down and opened the first box and began stacking sticks of dynamite in his backpack.

3

‘I’m on the visitor list,’ María said, her resentment growing deeper and stronger the longer she spent talking to the prison officer responsible for dealing with visitors.