Which they set about doing as fast as they could, keeping warm by the sputtering flame of the propane heater. Their first job was the one that Boonzie had been about to take care of when Ben had unexpectedly turned up. That was to divide the remaining twenty pounds of RDX into twenty equal lumps, then unravel the hundred metres of detonating cord and attach the lumps all along its length at five-metre intervals, binding them securely in place with tape before fixing the last of the blasting caps to the end of the cord. As Boonzie rewound the cable reel, Ben set about transferring the twenty individual bombs from their box into an old fertiliser sack.

Once that was done, they turned their attention to transportation. They had no intention of trekking into battle on foot through the blizzard that was still raging outside. Ben wasn’t surprised to discover that Boonzie had already test-started the Polaris utility vehicle, checked that it had fuel and made sure the tyres were pumped. They whipped off the tarp and loaded the sack of home-made RDX bombs aboard with the cable reel. Ben had the radio remote in his pocket, along with Carter’s phone. Banks’s phone was now Boonzie’s, the pair set up to speed-dial one another in case they got separated.

Then, with no time to waste, they finalised their strategic plan of attack and clambered aboard the Polaris, Ben at the wheel and Boonzie at his side. The 600cc single-cylinder engine thumped into life. The headlights blazed against the doorway of the hut. They buckled up their seatbelts. He turned to Boonzie. ‘Ready?’

‘As I’ll ever be.’

‘Then hold onto your hat.’

Ben slammed the auto transmission into drive and stamped his foot on the gas, and the buggy leapt forwards like a spurred horse. The front crash bar burst through the flimsy door and they came storming out into the blizzard. The icy blast enveloped them like a white blanket.

Ben kept his foot to the floor as they set off wildly bouncing over the rough ground, their knobbly tyres and torquey four-wheel transmission making light work of the deep snow. The buggy’s powerful headlamp beams cut like lasers through the swirling flakes. The snowclouds had completely blotted out what little was left of the daylight and visibility ahead was poor verging on nonexistent, though Ben was glad of that. It made it less likely that anyone inside the castle would see them do what they were about to do.

But they’d find out soon enough.

Chapter 61

Ben steered across the grounds in the direction of the castle, relying on his natural homing instinct in the low-visibility conditions. All he and Boonzie could do was cling on tight as the Polaris bucked and lurched wildly over the snow. Already his hands and face were getting numb from the icy blast of the wind.