Another two short chapters. Once more please accept this as my personal thanks to all of you who are reading and reviewing this work. Your thoughts are always very much appreciated.

7. Ten hours later. Snowdonia. Wales.

It was raining heavily up there, deep in the Welsh mountains not far from Snowdon. The narrow road was treacherously slick, the surface like a mirror as the two cars wound their way up to the top of the pass. The lowering base of the clouds enveloped them in mist as they stopped in a lay-by at the peak that, during better weather and in daylight, afforded a panoramic view through the mountains and valleys. Wordlessly, the two drivers got out and started work. It took 10 minutes; there was no other traffic. They started the front car and retreated to the shelter of the rear one while Calum manipulated the remote controls of Tariq's device. The vehicle in front gathered speed rapidly as it headed down-hill with its carefully selected, small, unidentifiable contents. It managed to negotiate the first curve but not the next: plunging through the barrier it soared into mid air and seemed to hang there for an eternal moment before crashing to earth and tumbling over once, twice. Just after the initial impact Dimitri pressed a button on the small black box he held. The response was instant. The battered remnants of Harry's car disappeared in a spectacular fireball that burned fiercely for 15 minutes, despite the rain (quality accelerant, Dimitri thought approvingly); still no other vehicles came past. Although the entirely genuine Road Closed signs at either end of the pass may have had something to do with that… Finally, as the flames died down to leave little but a twisted mass of metal in among some scorched trees, the second car started up and slowly drove away. Job done, Dimitri Levendis and Calum Reid returned to London. It had been a very long day.

The wreck wasn't discovered for six weeks. There was almost nothing left of the bodies, or nothing identifiable, the fire had been so fierce. The announcement was extremely low key, the funeral very quiet. They were buried together. Malcolm sent an email, for which he received a response from Mexico a couple of weeks later. Dimitri, Calum and Erin quietly allowed the news to leak into the wider intelligence community and beyond. The ripples spread around the globe, like so many rustling whispers.