‘Here’s the thing,’ he said. ‘One of you is a fucking traitor. One of you is a rat. The bloody SAS have got the police station staked out and I’m pretty sure that as we speak the cops are on the way to Willie’s farm to liberate the bomb.’ He grinned. ‘At which point they’re in for a hell of a surprise because we’ve swapped the mobile phone trigger for a timer.’ He looked at his watch, a chunky Casio. ‘So in about twelve minutes they’ll all be blown to pieces.’

‘What’s this about?’ said Maguire. ‘We were on a mission.’

‘Your mission was blown,’ said Leather Coat. ‘And one of you four blew it.’

Maguire shook his head. ‘That’s not possible,’ he said.

Leather Coat pulled a Samsung mobile phone from his back pocket and held it up. ‘We took this from a Special Branch officer in Belfast this morning. He was receiving text messages about a large Anfo bomb being prepared by a Real IRA cell.’

‘But no one knows what we are doing,’ said Maguire. ‘Just the four of us and the Operations Director. The OD is the only member of the Army Council who has details of the operation.’

‘I’m here on the OD’s authority,’ said Leather Coat. ‘He wants the rat dealt with.’

‘I know these men, I’ve known them for years.’

‘Yeah? Well, maybe you don’t know them well enough.’

‘We’re not rats,’ said Ryan. ‘And fuck you for saying we are. I was just about to drive a one-ton bomb into Belfast, so I don’t need anyone telling me that I’m a rat.’

‘We’ll soon find out,’ said Leather Coat. He bent down and switched off the jammer. He waved his gun at his two companions. ‘Switch on their phones,’ he said. ‘Be quick about it.’

The two men checked the mobile phones, then moved to stand behind Leather Coat.

‘Don’t worry, the phones won’t be on long enough for the cops to get a trace,’ said Leather Coat, taking a phone from his pocket. He looked at the screen. ‘Just have to wait until we get a signal.’ He nodded. ‘There we are, four bars. Good old Orange.’ He looked over at the four men. ‘Anyone want to confess, before I call the number that we got from the Special Branch cop?’ The four men said nothing. Leather Coat grinned. ‘Let’s go for it, then,’ he said. He pressed the green button and watched as the pre-programmed number flashed across the screen.

There was a silence lasting several seconds and then the phone in front of O’Leary burst into life. The James Bond theme echoed around the warehouse.

‘There you go,’ said Leather Coat. ‘How easy was that?’

‘O’Leary, you bastard!’ screamed Maguire.

‘He’s working for the cops?’ shouted Ryan. ‘How the hell did that happen?’