McCormick rolled over on his sofa and reached into Ewan’s rucksack of gadgets. When his hand emerged, it held a cigar-shaped metal casing. It was difficult to see much of it in the darkness, but Kate could tell it was elaborate enough to have been stolen from the British military. Perhaps it had been one of those devices they had stolen from the barracks and kept in Spitfire’s Rise unnoticed for a year. McCormick pressed a button that opened the casing and revealed a screen that displayed six blank digits, along with a miniature numbered keypad and a large clear button at the top.

‘Let me guess,’ started Ewan, ‘you brought along some plastic explosives and you want us to plant them somewhere important, then use that as a remote detonator.’

‘Almost.’

‘We’re out of plastic explosives, sir. I checked today before we started packing.’

McCormick smiled.

‘Mine were planted several months ago.’

Kate, Ewan and Alex looked around at each other, as if seeking guidance on how to react.

‘Where?’ asked Kate.

‘Well, I can’t tell you where,’ McCormick answered, ‘because this could change the course of the war. We cannot let the information fall into the wrong hands. Knowledge of its location is restricted to myself and Lorraine, since someone at comms needs to be in the loop.’

‘Why not Shannon?’ asked Ewan.

‘Because Lorraine was on comms when I planted them in December. Like I said, I did more than you think last time I went to New London. While Mark, Sally and Rachael were sabotaging the munitions factory, I was laying explosives in a nice sensitive place. It would cripple Grant’s empire for a good couple of weeks if it ever detonated.’

‘Hold on,’ said Alex with a mocking laugh, ‘so nobody noticed you carrying a man-sized pile of explosives to the Citadel?”

‘I only needed a fistful. I used NPN8.’

Another hush fell over the strike team.

Seriously? NPN8? Whatever he’s planning, it had better be worth it.

NPN8 was by far the most powerful plastic explosive available to the military. Kate remembered how Ewan had once described it to her in just two sentences: ‘use C4 if you want to blow the lock off a door. Use NPN8 if you want the room to stop existing.’

‘So it’s small enough not to be noticed,’ finished McCormick. ‘I have no doubt that half a year on, it’s in the same place as I left it.’

‘Why haven’t you detonated it before now, just to be safe?’ Kate asked.

‘That’s the problem with explosives – you only get to use them once. I’ve been waiting for an occasion like this, one on which the whole war depends. Now, I need a volunteer. And with apologies for being frank, it should be the one among you who’s likely to live the longest.’

How diplomatic, thought Kate.