Ethan nodded and they crawled forward towards the path. He was soon able to make it out, carved into the cliff face. He willed himself on; forced himself not to think about the bullets flying above him or of the hidden mines somewhere on the beach.

Then more rounds came in. Johnny looked at Ethan and pointed left down the beach. ‘Two x-rays coming from over there,’ he yelled.

Ethan chanced a look and saw two men running towards them. One of them fired again, this time missing by a mile, thankfully.

‘Get your head down,’ shouted Johnny, grabbing Ethan and pushing him face-down in the sand, ‘or there’ll be nothing left of it but pink mist!’

As Ethan ducked, he heard one of the Claymore mines explode off to their left between them and the approaching x-rays. For a second it was like sheet lightning and the beach blasted into light; then the blaze was gone and they were back in moonlit darkness.

The sound was deafening, and Ethan looked up to see the bodies of their attackers falling through the air. He knew they were dead before they hit the ground. They hadn’t even had a chance to scream.

They pushed on. The path was only metres away now. Then came more shooting, this time from the right, and Ethan could see another two men charging towards them, yelling, firing.

He looked at Johnny, who reached into his pack and pulled out two grey canisters. He gave one to Ethan. ‘Pull the pin and throw it towards them!’ he shouted.

Ethan did exactly as he was told, and they both lobbed the canisters over.

There were two explosions, and the two men disappeared in a cloud of thick white smoke.

‘Move it!’ yelled Johnny, and Ethan chased after him as he heard more firing from behind.

They reached the bottom of the path and just kept on running. Somehow Ethan’s legs kept pumping hard – he didn’t know where the energy was coming from.

The cliff exploded around them as bullets ricocheted above their heads, sending out sharp splinters of rock. But Ethan didn’t feel a thing – he was focused on getting to the top of the path. He’d never run so fast in his life.

As they emerged at the clifftop, another explosion sounded from behind them on the beach. Ethan guessed what it was. ‘Another Claymore?’

Johnny nodded. ‘Horribly effective, I’m afraid.’ Then he squeezed the communicator round his neck. ‘Guys! Can you hear me?’

Ethan heard the voices of Luke, Kat and Natalya reply with a simple ‘Yes’.

‘Beach is shagged,’ said Johnny. ‘Meet at the watchtower in five.’

Ethan looked at him. ‘We’re BASE jumping?’

Johnny grinned. ‘Fun, this, isn’t it?’

Ethan wasn’t given a chance to argue: Johnny simply sprinted off, and he had to try and keep up.

They followed a wide arc around the ruins to the watchtower behind. Another explosion tore the air, and the light from it brought the castle into sharp focus. Ethan could see that the diversion was having the desired effect. Whoever had stolen the disk was now convinced they were under attack. Ethan could see that the way the explosions had been laid gave the impression that someone was firing explosive rounds at the ruins from the other side of the island – and getting progressively closer as they homed in on their target. X-rays were milling about, firing wildly in the direction they believed the explosions were coming from. They had no idea that they were just charges going off at set intervals.

The air was filled with the smell of burning and cordite and the sound of weapons’ fire and shouting. Ethan hoped the diversion had given Sam enough time to do what he had to do.

Then, as the flat ground disappeared and the ruins loomed up on their left, a man wearing an expensive leather jacket and carrying a weapon ran out through a gap in the walls and barged straight into Johnny. They both went down.

Ethan watched them tumble to the ground, rolling away from the ruins and towards the bushes that led to the cliffs. He heard the man’s gun clatter on some rocks and hoped that he’d dropped it, but then saw that he’d managed to keep hold of it despite the fall. The man scrambled to his feet, raised the weapon and took aim at Johnny.

Instinct kicked in and Ethan launched himself, feet first, at the man’s hand. Whether it was the sensible thing to do or not, he didn’t care; if he didn’t do something, he knew Johnny would be dead.

He heard bones smash as his foot connected with the man’s hand and sent the gun spinning off into the dark. There was a shrill scream. Ethan’s unexpected attack had given Johnny enough time to get to his feet and launch an attack of his own. But the man was quick, dodging to the right and catching Johnny, throwing him over and onto his back. Johnny cried out, briefly winded, and Ethan went in again with his other boot, this time to the man’s stomach. The guy doubled over and retched – just as something smacked into the side of his head with a dull thud. He fell backwards and hit the ground.

Ethan stared down at him, ready for another attack, but he wasn’t moving; blood was pooling beneath his head, leaking into the grass.

Johnny was on his feet again, looking quickly left and right. ‘Move it,’ he said, and grabbed Ethan’s arm to pull him on.

‘What happened?’ asked Ethan.

‘Stray bullet,’ said Johnny. ‘He was probably shot accidentally by one of his mates. But we have to get out of here. We don’t want to get caught in the crossfire either.’

‘It wasn’t a stray,’ said a voice from the ruins, and both Ethan and Johnny turned to see a large, familiar figure emerge from the darkness.

‘Sam,’ said Johnny.

Ethan spotted the machine gun in Sam’s hands. He even recognized what it was: an MP5 – as used by the SAS. Sam looked terrifying. Like the rest of the team, he was head to toe in black, his face streaked with grey and white camouflage, like bits of the night had snagged on him. His knuckles were bloodied. He was also wearing a small backpack that Ethan recognized as a BASE rig. He’d come prepared for every eventuality.

‘No time for pleasantries,’ he said. ‘We need to get to the watchtower now. Move it!’

Ethan felt Sam grab his shoulder and drag him away from the body. ‘Come on, Eth,’ he said. ‘Nothing you can do for him. Let’s go.’

Ethan forced his legs to move and fell into step behind Johnny. They ran round the castle ruins and soon reached the watchtower. Luke, Natalya and Kat were waiting for them.

‘What happened?’ asked Luke.

‘Must be another way to the beach,’ said Johnny. ‘Path was clear – we sorted the boats – then we were being shot at. Claymore took care of two x-rays. Two more chased us up the path. Then they ran into another Claymore. What about you?’

Luke made to speak, but then another explosion slammed across the island. Ethan was stunned by the sound of this one; it was the biggest of the night so far and thundered around them, the initial blast followed by a rumble of other smaller explosions. Everyone in the team ducked, half expecting to be covered in debris.

‘What the hell was that?’ asked Kat.

‘Wasn’t one of mine,’ Luke told her.

‘It wouldn’t be,’ said Johnny.

Everyone turned.

‘Let’s just say that they won’t be able to leave the island in a hurry,’ Johnny said smugly.

‘The helicopters!’ said Ethan. ‘ That’s where you went!’

Johnny nodded. ‘I took the P4 and some detonators from Nat just in case an opportunity presented itself. And the helicopters were a pretty big opportunity. Couldn’t resist it.’

The explosions continued to rattle on as the helicopters slowly disintegrated, ribbons of fire leaping into the air like dancers at a night-time rave.

‘Right,’ said Sam. ‘Time to go. Johnny? Luke?’

Ethan watched as Johnny and Luke slipped off their bergens and opened them, pulling out the BASE rigs and life-jackets and handing them to the rest of the team. As Ethan took his, he saw Sam pull a lifejacket of his own from a pouch on his belt.