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John placed his hand on one. It was cold, just stone, but he remembered Dawn’s description. ‘It’s a legacy, something for people to remember us by.’

Henry nodded and smiled. ‘We’ll need a legacy, because we are nearly ready,’ he said. ‘We just need people to help us with our mission, and only those people will know about it.’

‘What mission is that?’

‘The fulfilment of our plans,’ Henry said. ‘We’ve had them in place for a while, but it is about picking the right moment, and the right people. You are one of those people. We need you.’

‘But I can’t agree to something I don’t know about.’

‘You trust me?’

John nodded. ‘Of course I do, Henry.’

‘So trust me on this.’

‘And if I change my mind when I know the details?’

Henry glanced towards the rest of the stones. ‘We find someone else.’

John rubbed his eyes, still tired, as he thought about what Henry was saying. ‘Why me?’ he said eventually.

‘Because no one will know you. That’s important. How long have you been with us? Three weeks?’

John nodded.

‘That’s why we kept you up here,’ Henry said. ‘You got to know the group, and I got to know you, but also so no one would know you were with us, because the police watch us, I know that. They won’t know you though. You are our secret weapon.’

John nodded slowly, taking in what Henry was saying. ‘So what are your plans?’

Henry grinned. ‘We are going to strike at the heart of it all.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Soldiers, John, that’s what we are. You too. But you have to agree, because that is how we are, that we live our lives by consent. If you want me to tell you, there is no backing out. Do you understand that?’

John nodded. ‘Tell me.’

Henry smiled paternally and stepped closer to John. ‘We have explosives,’ Henry said in a whisper. ‘Bad stuff. Ammonium nitrate. But we are at a farm. No one would suspect. It’s fertiliser.’ Henry began to laugh. ‘Genius, isn’t it? The detonators are with a different group. Just phones and wires, nothing sinister on their own.’

John’s mind flashed back to the white crystals in the metal drum. ‘Is it legal?’

‘It’s lawful rebellion, John, they can’t punish us for that.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘The Magna Carta. You’ve heard of it? It’s our country’s constitution and Parliament cannot take it away. If we are being ruled unjustly, we can fight back, and that starts with us not obeying their laws, because the Magna Carta says that we can.’

‘But they can just lock us up, can’t they?’

‘They can’t unless we are doing something contrary to the law of the land, and if the Magna Carta allows us to conduct lawful rebellion, how can it be unlawful?’

‘So what do we do?’

‘We do what others won’t. There are a lot of people who think like us, but they don’t have the heart that we do, because they take the fight to the courts, by not paying taxes and bank debts. Except that doesn’t hurt the slugs who rule us. No, we are launching the real rebellion. So we are going to London, to the heart of the beast.’

‘London? What’s the target?’

‘Trafalgar Square,’ Henry said, his eyes wide with excitement. ‘We are taking down the column.’

John let out a slow whistle. ‘Why Nelson’s Column?’

‘Because it is symbolic of our wonderful fucking empire, when we ruled and robbed and pillaged our way round the world. Think about it. Where does everyone go when we celebrate our greatness? Trafalgar Square, like it is some kind of magnet, a totem for our great nation. But what if we could take it down? It would show what we can do, how it is just a start.’

‘Won’t people get hurt?’

‘This is our war,’ Henry said. ‘There is always collateral damage.’

John nodded slowly. ‘I can see how it would send a message, but how will it work?’

‘There’ll be three of you, just playing at being tourists. No rucksacks, too obvious. We’ll line your coats instead and go when the weather is bad, so that your coats don’t look conspicuous. You’ll be the excited visitor, clambering on the lions, posing for pictures. Just take off your coat for a better picture, as will the other two, and you’ll leave them at the base of the Column. You need to be in the Square when it goes off though, because you will use the confusion to get away.’

‘And where will you be?’

‘I’ll be one of the decoys. We will go to the financial district, and so if they think we are planning something, they will follow us and not you.’ Henry smiled. ‘I’ve been watching you, and you can do this.’

John frowned. ‘I’m not sure. I mean, what if people get hurt? How near is this thing from happening?’

Henry stepped forward and grabbed John by his T-shirt. He pulled him close, Henry’s breath rancid from stale home brew and lack of sleep. ‘You can’t back away now. I said direct action and you stayed interested. That was your consent. If you back away, you are saying that you don’t want to be with us anymore. You don’t want to be the one who betrays me.’

‘I don’t want to betray you.’

‘So agree, once and for all.’

John grimaced as he tried to pull away. Henry pulled him closer. ‘You made your decision a moment ago. There is no going back, I told you that.’ He pushed John away, making him stumble over the standing stones, so that he ended up on the grass.

John closed his eyes, his breaths short from fear. Eventually he said, ‘All right, yes, I’ll do it.’

Henry nodded, smiling. ‘I have to go somewhere today, to make preparations. You will have to look after everyone. You will be the man here. Don’t let anyone leave in panic. We must stay together.’

John nodded. ‘I understand.’

Henry stood over him. ‘I knew it,’ he said, and stepped closer to John, his head tilting, first one way, then the other, staring down into John’s eyes. ‘You are my newest disciple, but also my closest. I think we can be special together, John, work some magic. Do you feel like that?’

John flushed. ‘I do, Henry, and it’s an honour.’

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sheldon banged on the door to Ted Kenyon’s house.