Oh where, her heart cried, was Connor when she needed him most? Waiting in blissful ignorance in an ambush that would never happen while she was trapped here in the midst of death and destruction. She could have wept for the irony of a love so newly found and as swiftly lost. And for Luke, who could be dying even as he lay there, bleeding into his brain perhaps, from the damage inflicted by the brutal blow that had felled him.

Tilly said coldly, ‘Let him alone! And I don’t for a minute believe that Gerry hit him. It was you. I know it was.’

‘Then you better believe I mean what I say. Now, get me up.’

Tilly shrank inwardly as she touched him, and when he was upright, sweating and panting with pain, she shuddered from the weight of his arm across her shoulders. He held the knife in that hand only a thumb’s width from her throat as together, like a mismatched pair of three-legged racers, they lurched and staggered towards the Land Rover.

She had calculated her chances of getting away when they got to the vehicle. She would have to help him in, but he couldn’t control her movements then. Only, if she took the opportunity to run, he was perfectly capable of dragging himself back into the cave to Luke . . . As if he had divined her thought processes, he waited while she opened the passenger door, then shoved her ahead of him.

‘Get in. An’ don’t even think of it. I’ve got the keys. Now, pull me up.’

She obeyed, first negotiating the gear stick and getting some satisfaction from the yell he gave as his broken knee banged against the doorframe. The leg of his jeans was strained over the swelling, she saw once he was in his seat, hissing in pain, but his right hand still held the knife steady against her waist. He raised a sweat-stained face to her, his words coming raggedly. ‘Under your seat. Gimme the phone there.’

It was a satellite phone, expensive to own and use. She remembered the wads of money packed into the drum she and Connor had found. Cost obviously wasn’t a consideration. The conversation was brief. Matt said, ‘Yeah, me. Somethin’s come up. Meet me ASAP. End of the road. Yeah, I ain’t. Whiskey, painkillers. See you there.’ He dropped the phone into his lap and with his left hand dug keys from his shirt pocket. ‘Right. Drive an’ no tricks. Don’t think I won’t use the knife. You’re no use to me dead, but it don’t mean I can’t maim you.’