Which Ben thought was a little strange. Because in all the countries of the world where he’d ever been pulled over by the cops, he’d never met one yet who used a phone instead of his radio. Nor had Ben ever encountered a police officer with the gift of prophecy. But this guy seemed to know the names of both occupants of the Mercedes, before he’d even asked them a single question.

At that moment Grace pushed open her passenger door and got out of the car. The surly cop moved back a few steps, but kept his torch shining on her. The cold wind streamed her hair across her face. She brushed it away, flashed her police warrant card at the two cops and said breezily, ‘PC Kirk, based in Fort William. How are we doing this morning, gents?’

No replies, no smiles of greeting to a fellow officer. Ben looked at Grace and saw the slight bemusement in her eyes that these two weren’t acting quite normal. Then he looked back at the surly cop who was standing a few steps away from her. The cop was holding his torch in his left hand. Ben saw his right hand slip inside his police overcoat and come out with something he definitely shouldn’t have had in there. It was a high-voltage cattle prod.

At the same moment, the smirking cop suddenly came towards Ben with an identical device clenched in his hand. A nasty glint of something in his eyes reflected in the red glow of the Mercedes’ tail-lights.

Ben had no idea what was going on. But he knew what was about to happen in the next instant, unless he took the appropriate action, and fast. He jumped back along the driver’s side of the car until he was level with the windscreen. Planted the flat of his hand on the cold metal of the wing and in an explosive burst of energy vaulted feet-first across the Mercedes’ wide bonnet. Sliding across it at a sharp angle. Crunching down into the snow and ice of the verge on the opposite side, shoving Grace bodily out of the way and throwing his weight hard against the open passenger door as the surly cop came at her with the shock prod in his hand. The edge of the door slammed into the cop’s chest and side and the violent impact knocked him off balance. He staggered backwards with a grunt of pain and fell heavily into the snow.