‘What island are we talking about?’ Please don’t let it be bloody Fiji or somewhere, Ben thought.

‘The Isle of Man.’

Ben did a quick calculation. Situated more than three hundred miles away, in the middle of the Irish Sea between the north of England and the east coast of Ulster, it was a choice of a sluggish eight-hour drive or a speedy one-hour flight to get there. He said, ‘Long way from London.’

‘That’s how it has to be,’ Eritas replied. ‘I think you’ll find the trip worthwhile.’

‘We’re on our way.’

Chapter 42

Ben and Wolf took the speedy option. They booked two online tickets to the Isle of Man using their false names, and hacked across the city to Heathrow to check in by five p.m. for an early evening flight. They left the Alpina in the long-stay car park, bringing with them only Ben’s bag with Abbott’s laptop inside and Wolf’s holdall containing his money, which he didn’t trust to leaving in the car. It wasn’t the only thing he was sceptical about.

‘I don’t much like leaving our kit behind like this,’ he complained, referring to the weaponry that would have to remain hidden in the vehicle.

‘My gut tells me we won’t need it, anyhow,’ Ben said. ‘Not yet.’

Wolf gave a sour chuckle. ‘Lot of dead men have said the same thing.’

Before checking in, Wolf lightened his load by stashing the holdall in left baggage storage. Ben used his waiting time at Heathrow to check out any information he could find online about Vincent Eritas, or “Veritas” as he was cryptically called on his YouTube channel and blog.

There were no pictures to be seen of the man himself. His videos were slickly produced and the blog written with passion and eloquence, all centred on a strongly religious theme. Veritas was a relentless crusader for God, fighting against the forces of darkness and moral depravity that threatened the world. His videos received millions of views, and judging by the comments they were mostly from die-hard Christians in Europe and America.

‘I’d like to see those bastards’ faces if they saw my video of them plastered up on fucking YouTube,’ Wolf said.

‘I think snuff movies might contravene their terms of service,’ Ben replied. When he’d finished hunting for information on the mysterious ‘Veritas’ he found a text message from Jeff telling him that they were nearly back at his friend’s farm in Wrexham and everything had been set up to deliver Grace straight to the safety of Kaprisky’s fortress. Ben decided to give her some time to settle into her new surroundings before he tried calling her.