Wolf moved in to stop things getting ugly, but Ben moved faster. In three steps he was on Schulz, sidestepped the blade that sliced the air towards him, trapped the man’s wrist and twisted the weapon out of his grip and dumped him hard on the ground with his face in the dirt and his arm bent up tight behind his back, half an inch from breaking.

‘Kick him in the nuts,’ Baldacci shouted.

‘There’s been enough damage done for one day,’ Ben said calmly. ‘Don’t you think, Hank?’ He laid on a little extra pressure on the twisted arm. Now it was just a quarter of an inch from breaking.

‘Arrghh. Yes,’ came Schulz’s muffled reply from the dirt.

Ben said, ‘You’re an idiot, Hank. You know that, don’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Let me hear you say so.’

‘I’m an idiot,’ Schulz said.

‘What kind of idiot are you?’

‘A total fucking idiot!’ Baldacci yelled.

‘I’m a total fucking idiot,’ Schulz muttered indistinctly through his mouthful of grit and dust.

‘Are you going to behave yourself from now on?’ Ben asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Good for you,’ Ben said. ‘Because if you ever do anything to compromise the safety of this group again, rest assured I will break you into tiny pieces and leave you for the vultures. Got that?’

‘Got it.’

Ben released him. The humiliated Schulz rose groaning to his feet, rubbing his arm and his bruised jaw. ‘Leave it,’ Ben warned Holt, who looked like he was ready to have another go at Schulz. ‘We have other things to do. First off, let’s form a butchery detail to prepare these goats for cooking. Hank, seeing as you killed them, you can get to work skinning and gutting them. Get a couple of the Pathfinders to help you.’ Turning to Baldacci: ‘Gino, we’ll need to find some dry sticks and more charcoal to build a really hot fire for soldering the phone components. We’re also going to make a pit big enough to roast these goats in. That’s going to produce a lot of smoke and attractive smells for our friends who might be looking for us out there, so I suggest we post an extra two men on high ground to keep their eyes peeled for incoming enemy elements.’

‘And you, what are you going to do?’ Holt asked, plainly displeased at being handed out orders.

Ben looked at him. ‘For starters, Jaden and I will head back down to the village and see if we can’t do a more discreet job of bringing home the bacon. Although it hardly seems to matter now.’

Wolf had clambered up on part of the ruined wall, anxiously scanning the horizon from the wide open plains in the north to the mountains in the south for any sign of movement, and seeing nothing. ‘You think there’s anyone out there who could’ve heard?’ he asked Ben.