The castle was like a labyrinth, with passages and corridors and doors and archways everywhere. They came to a wide, curving flight of stairs, dimly lit from a window on the galleried landing above it. Ben nodded towards the stairs and led the way up to the first-floor landing. The window overlooked the courtyard. All was still except for the steady, unremitting slantwards fall of the snow. But as Ben was just about to pass by the window, a movement out there caught his eye. Five figures, silhouetted against the white courtyard, were racing from the castle entrance. They might have been ordinary staff employees making their panicked escape, except for the fact that they were all carrying automatic rifles. It looked as though some of the remaining enemy force must have decided to take his offer after all. He watched as they all clambered into the middle of the three parked Audis. By the glow of the inside light as the doors opened, he could see through the car’s side windows that none of the five was Hacker.

Like shooting trout in a barrel. Ben reached for his remote. His fingers hovered over the buttons. Wait for it.

The last door slammed. The Dishonourable behind the wheel fired up the engine and the SUV’s headlights sliced their bluish-tinged xenon beams across the courtyard. The wipers began to slew away the cake of snow piled over its windscreen. Clouds of exhaust billowed in the freezing air.

Now. Just as the car was about to take off, Ben stood back from the window and hit the second and third channels on the remote in quick succession. The pair of RDX bombs lying beneath the Audis went off a second apart. But the destructive power of one alone would have been enough. The middle car and the two either side of it were blown into the air like toys and the violent blast lit up the courtyard like daylight, engulfing and incinerating the five escaping Dishonourables before they even understood what was happening to them. Which was probably more of a humane end than they deserved, but you couldn’t have everything.

By Ben’s count the overall toll now stood at thirteen, with just two remaining plus Stuart. But among those three was the most dangerous of the whole bunch, Carl Hacker.

He turned away from the burning wrecks of the Audis to look at Boonzie, to say ‘Let’s go.’ But the words never came out, because his blood froze at the sight of his friend, in the light from the window, bent over double and clutching at his chest. This was what Ben had feared might happen. All this excitement and exertion had finally proved too much.

Ben let his rifle drop to the floor and he raced over to grasp Boonzie by the shoulders. ‘Boonzie. Boonzie. Talk to me. Are you all right? Boonzie!’