‘See you soon, then.’ The line went dead.

‘Spider, are you OK?’ asked Button in his ear. Shepherd removed the earpiece and the radio and gave them to the driver of the traffic car, along with his fluorescent jacket, then he walked over to the field adjacent to the hard shoulder to wait for the helicopter.

The Dauphin did a slow circle around the Stirling Lines camp and then came in to land a short distance from a bright orange windsock that was hanging limply from a pole. Shepherd jogged away from the helicopter, bending low as the rotor continued to turn above his head.

The Major walked over from the main administration building. He was wearing a dark green T-shirt and camouflage pants, his face set like stone. He was holding a manila envelope. ‘What’s happened, boss?’ asked Shepherd.

‘She put a bomb under your car, Spider. Lisa O’Hara. Tried to blow you to bits.’

‘Liam – is he OK? Katra?’

‘They’re OK, Spider. I wasn’t about to let anything happen to them.’ He jerked a thumb towards the assault course. ‘I’ve brought them here until we work out what you want to do.’

Shepherd felt relief wash over him. ‘A bomb?’

‘Nice little number, Semtex, with a detonator wired into the ignition system.’ The Major gave the envelope to Shepherd. Inside were several surveillance photographs showing a man in his forties approaching Shepherd’s car, lying under it, and then returning to a parked car, where a woman was in the driving seat. ‘The bombmaker’s name is Eamonn Foley, he’s back in Cork now. The woman’s the one I told you about. Lisa O’Hara. The bomb under your car is the twin of the one they put under my Jag.’

‘When was this, boss?’

‘Late last night. Two o’clock in the morning, to be precise.’

‘Then why the hell didn’t you tell me when you saw me this morning?’

‘I didn’t know. I’d put four of our counter-terrorism guys watching your house. Two of them followed the car and the other two removed the device. I wasn’t informed until after you’d flown to London.’

‘You’ve had people watching my house?’

‘It had to be done, once I knew that O’Hara was interested in you.’

‘I never saw them.’

The Major grinned. ‘They’re professionals, Spider. There would have been something very wrong if they had stood out.’

Shepherd nodded. ‘Now what?’

‘Now I know who the bombmaker is, I’ll take care of it.’

‘And the woman?’

‘That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.’ He put his arm around Shepherd’s shoulder. ‘Come and say hi to Liam. He’s a demon on the overhead bars.’