The money moved off. The scene relaxed.

Falcon lifted out the cool box, opened it. Krug champagne and melting blocks of ice around bottles of Stolichnaya.

'I suppose eight million euros would merit a bit of a celebration,' said the Guardia Civil. 'We could have all retired on that lot.'

While one of the fire brigade teams winched the steel rods out of the car, the other reached through the window, cut away the air bag and started on the door frames with an oxyacetylene torch. Vasili Lukyanov's body was taken out in pieces and laid on an opened body bag on a stretcher. His arms, shoulders and head were intact, as were his legs, hips and lower torso. The rest had vaporized. His face was deeply furrowed with red streaks where the windscreen glass had shredded the skin. His left eye had exploded, part of his scalp was missing and his right ear was a mangled flap of gristle. He grinned horribly with lips partially torn away and some teeth ripped from their gums. His lap was stained dark with his blood. His shoes were brand new, the soles hardly scuffed.

A young fireman vomited into the oleanders by the side of the road. The paramedics tucked Lukyanov into the body bag and zipped it up.

'Poor fucker,' said Felipe, bagging the suitcase. 'Eight million in the boot and you get speared by a flying steel rod.'

'You're more likely to win the lottery,' said Jorge, taking a look at the briefcase's combination lock, trying to open it, unsuccessfully, and then bagging it. 'Should have bought a ticket and stayed at home.'

'Here we go,' said Felipe, who'd just opened the glove compartment. 'One nine-millimetre Glock and a spare clip for our friendly Russian comrade.'

He sorted through the car papers and insurance documents, while Jorge worked through a selection of motorway receipts.

'Something to brighten up his day,' said Jorge, shaking a plastic sachet of white powder which had fallen out of the receipts.