It was like a well-practised dance routine, and it needed to be fast and fluid.

As soon as that gate opened he was going to kill the man on the other side, and then he was going to step straight through to confront whatever threat lay beyond.

He would go left or right, making an instantaneous decision based purely on what he saw in front of him, and he would then take responsibility for a ninety-degree arc starting from the wall behind him.

McMullen, a half-second afterwards, would be responsible for the opposite ninety degrees.

You were committed, then – right or wrong, you went with it and you trusted your partner.

Fred West looked across at him, nodded, and gave two rapid bangs on the steel.

Close up, the scraping, ringing sound of the bolt being slid back was loud.

The judas gate started to swing slowly inwards on the hinges beside Carr, who was now getting his first glimpse into the inner compound.

West stepped forward and, using all his weight, gave an almighty push.

As the gate was propelled rapidly inwards, he moved smoothly out the way, and took control of his Minimi.

Carr stepped into the breach as it expanded.

The gate man was exactly where Carr had expected him to be, slightly to the right and off-balance, surprised at the sudden violence of the opening.

His brain didn’t have time to tell his body what to do about the strange man who had burst through: before he knew what was happening, two 5.56mm rounds from Carr’s Diemaco smashed into his chest.

The first hit a rib and split into four fragments which chopped his left lung to pieces. The second glanced off his sternum, and exited out of his side, taking a tennis ball-sized lump of his liver with it.

He dropped where he stood and Carr moved past him, kicking away the AK that he’d been holding, and quickly clearing his arcs.

To his left, McMullen was doing the same.

The compound was clear.

Carr took a second to orientate himself, scanning the windows of the villa for any motherfucker reacting to his shots.

So far, nothing.

To his front, the main house was all in darkness.

To his left, against the wall at that side, the generator – louder now, its noise contained with the walls – and its oil tank.

Further into the compound, around the right hand side of the house, he could see about a third of the servants’ quarters, a faint sliver of golden light glowing under a window shutter.

He was praying that that was indeed where the women would be: if it came to fighting their way through the main building it was going to be very unpleasant.

Geordie and Fred came through the gate, Fred pausing to activate the radio control receiver on his explosive charge.