'All right!' said Fergus angrily. 'I did what I thought was right at the time! Op sec! That's the way it works. And if you can't get that into your head, then you might as well get a job stacking shelves in a supermarket.'

Danny was ready to fight back as his own anger boiled over. 'Yeah, well maybe that'd be better than being stuck here with you! I'm only here because of you! Doing nothing. Walking up and down this poxy lake until I know every rock and every tree!'

He picked up a stone and hurled it as hard as he could, far out into the lake. They saw the splash as it landed and the ripples that went spilling out in every direction.

'So this is a way out of here,' Fergus suggested mildly. 'Let's do it.'

Danny kept his eyes on the water as he spoke again, more quietly now. 'Why should we trust Dudley, after everything that's happened before?'

'Because he's here. Once they found out where we were, they could have taken us, Danny; sent a full team to eliminate us. Dudley's here because he needs us.'

'He needs you,' said Danny, turning to look at his grandfather. 'I'm not important.'

'You are to me.' Fergus looked closely at his grandson. 'We have to move on, Danny. It's no good living in the past. Like Dudley said, we do this job and then get out.'

'And what about Deveraux? Do you really believe she's out of the picture?'

Fergus nodded. 'I don't think even Dudley would ever consider putting us back together with Deveraux.'

When they went back into the cabin, Dudley was still sitting exactly where they'd left him, staring morosely into an empty coffee mug.

They sat at the table and Fergus got straight down to business. 'So after all this "hero" stuff in the newspapers, what then?'

Dudley nodded and then smiled. 'We reveal, in a follow-up story, that you are setting up your own independent security consultancy. That will most certainly attract the twins' interest when phase two of the operation begins.'