‘Ten minutes, max,’ said Foley. ‘I just need to link it to the ignition circuit.’

‘It’s always the best way,’ said O’Hara. ‘Fewer mistakes.’

Foley winked. ‘No argument there,’ he said. He reached for the door handle. ‘Keep an eye on the lights,’ he said. ‘If you see anything, two beeps on the horn.’

Shepherd woke at just after nine o’clock. He didn’t bother showering or shaving, he just rolled out of bed and pulled on his running gear and went downstairs to get his rucksack from the cupboard under the stairs.

‘Dan, do you want breakfast?’ called Katra from the kitchen.

‘Later,’ said Shepherd, sitting down and pulling on his boots. They were more than ten years old and had moulded to his feet. They were comfortable but heavy. Running in high-tech Nikes or Reeboks was all well and good, but in his experience when you really needed to run to save your life you didn’t have time to change into fancy footwear.

He carried his rucksack through into the kitchen. ‘I’ll have a coffee, though, I could do with the caffeine kick-start,’ he said.

Liam was sitting at the table, tucking into cheesy scrambled eggs and toast. ‘You know what I don’t get, Dad?’ he asked.

‘Basic algebra?’ said Shepherd, dropping the rucksack on the floor and sitting down.

‘Ha ha,’ said Liam. He jabbed his fork at Shepherd’s rucksack. ‘The bricks. I don’t understand why you don’t use proper weights.’

‘Bricks are weights,’ said Shepherd. Katra made him a cup of coffee with a splash of milk and he smiled his thanks. ‘Doesn’t matter what the weight is, so long as it’s heavy.’

Katra picked up the rucksack and grunted. ‘Wow, that’s heavy.’ She let it fall back on to the floor. ‘Doesn’t it hurt?’

Shepherd shrugged. ‘You get used to it,’ he said.

‘And it makes you run better?’

‘Not better,’ said Shepherd. ‘But it makes you fitter.’

‘You’ve heard about gyms, right, Dad?’ Liam put a forkful of egg into his mouth and chewed noisily.

‘Yes, and have you heard about eating with your mouth closed?’ He sipped his coffee. ‘Gyms are OK but they’re boring. I want to run outside, on the street or across fields. And it’s better training. Who wants to run while they watch a video or listen to their iPod?’

‘Who wants to run anyway?’ said Liam. ‘That’s why they invented cars, right?’

‘You know, the more conversations I have like this, the more I’m looking forward to you being in boarding school,’ said Shepherd. He put down his mug and swung his rucksack on to his back. ‘OK, I’m off. What are you doing?’

‘Facebook,’ said Liam. ‘And Farmville.’

‘You should try the real world some time,’ said Shepherd. ‘We’ll have a kickabout when I get back.’