‘Well you must have missed a piece. Move out of the way and I’ll go over the frame again before I join you.’ He ran his metal bar to and fro across the bottom of the window frame, satisfied from the tinkling sound of some more glass falling to the floor that he’d cleared it completely. Yet he too received a nasty cut to the leg as he swung his body through it, which ruined his new trousers into the bargain.

‘Look at that tear! I paid a fortune for these trousers.’

‘Never mind. Let’s get on with it.’ The other took out the combustion materials from his backpack. ‘Where shall we start the fire?’

‘Let’s try the kitchen. If there are wooden cupboards, they’ll catch fire quickly.’

There was a faint sound from the kitchen and they felt a sudden breeze from there, then the front door started rattling.

‘What the hell’s that?’

‘It’s just the wind. Don’t be so jumpy. The back door probably doesn’t fit very well. This won’t take long.’ He played his torch around the kitchen. ‘Perfect. Old-fashioned wooden cupboards.’

He pulled out the accelerant and tried to spray the nearest cupboard, but the nozzle must have been blocked and nothing came out.

‘I thought you’d checked this, you stupid sod,’ he grumbled.

‘I did. And it worked perfectly.’

‘Well it isn’t working now. Aieeee!’

The small pile of soaked material he was holding glowed briefly and burst into flames. With a yell he flung it from him and it landed on the other man’s shoulder. It ought to have fallen straight off again but tonight’s bad luck was striking them again and it balanced there as if glued.

Another yell joined his curses and the second man danced around, beating at the flaming mass on his shoulder and finding it hard to dislodge it. When it did fall to the floor, the flames perversely went out just as suddenly as they’d flared up.

That was when they heard footsteps outside the house and both froze for a few seconds.

‘What the hell?’

‘They must have had hidden security cameras, damn them. I’m out of here.’

But when he turned towards the back door, it slammed open so hard it bounced on its hinges and he found himself facing a very angry man.

He turned the other way and saw a grim-faced woman at the other side of the kitchen, hefting a rolling pin.

He instinctively chose to attack her but quickly realised his mistake. She stepped slightly to one side as gracefully as a dancer and flipped him over in a practised hip throw. Before he knew it she had walloped him with her rolling pin to knock him down on the floor. As he lay half-stunned, she got one knee on his back and twisted his arm so painfully behind him he couldn’t move it without dislocating it.

He lay watching in helpless anger as his companion managed to fight his way out of the back door, feinted as if about to throw a punch, ducked instead and tore off swiftly across the grounds.