The Heirs of Owain Glyndwr by Peter Murphy

business.’
    â€˜That’s fine,’ Trevor said. ‘But its quality is important. You’re storing it in less than ideal conditions.’
    â€˜Dynamite is relatively stable,’ Dai Bach said, ‘as explosives go. Obviously, you have to be careful handling it, but it’s not going to deteriorate and start leaking nitro-glycerine in the time it’s going to be here. It comes from a military source. I’m not worried about the quality.’
    â€˜I’m worried about everything,’ Trevor said.
    â€˜I am satisfied that we couldn’t have done any better,’ Caradog said.
    Trevor nodded slowly.
    â€˜All right. So, what’s the problem?’
    Dai Bach waved an arm over the table.
    â€˜It’s setting up the timing mechanism, see. Your basic timed detonation is easy. One clockwork alarm clock, remove the minute hand, insert a screw as a point of contact, and when the hour hand touches the screw it completes an electrical circuit, allowing current to flow from the battery; child’s play, really, once you get the idea. But the maximum time you can get from that is twelve hours.’
    â€˜Not enough,’ Caradog said. ‘Once I’ve found my spot, I have to plant it as soon as I can. I need a longer delay.’
    â€˜So then,’ Dai said, ‘we have to think about a battery-operated clock, again ideally an alarm clock. In theory, that should give us up to 24 hours, but the instructions we have are not clear about the wiring. The best diagram is in the German booklet, but I can’t understand what the instructions say. I suppose I could get a German dictionary and do my best. The English instructions are not clear at all.’
    â€˜You have to get the timing right,’ Caradog said. ‘Otherwise it’s useless.’
    â€˜It’s not useless I’m worried about, man,’ Dai Bach replied. ‘It’s blowing myself to kingdom come I’m worried about. It’s bloody dangerous to fool around with timing devices. If anything goes wrong when I put it in place with the dynamite, the whole lot could go up. I’m scared to do it, to be honest with you. I’m not sure what I’m doing.’
    Trevor walked around the table and perused one of the instruction documents. He glanced over at the table.
    â€˜The general principle seems the same, whatever you are using. You have to fix it so that the timer completes the circuit.’
    Dai Bach shook his head.
    â€˜Yes, thank you, Einstein. I had got that far. But a battery-operated clock is not the same as a mechanical clock. I’m sure it’s easy if you’ve done it before. But I haven’t. And then…’
    He paused, seemingly reluctant to continue.
    â€˜What?’ Trevor asked.
    â€˜One set of instructions says you can set the timer in such a way that after the set time, the device becomes unstable. That would mean…’
    â€˜It would detonate if someone tried to move it or tried to disarm it,’ Trevor said.
    â€˜Yes. The trouble is, you need more equipment for that. I think you might need a mercury tube, and I don’t know where we would find one of those, and even if I did, mercury makes the whole thing much more volatile. And whatever we assemble, I have to test it safely before Caradog tries to put it in place.’
    â€˜Well, obviously, you mustn’t test anything you’re not sure about,’ Trevor said. ‘Otherwise, I will have some explaining to do to Mr Watts about what happened to his garage. And it’s no good asking me.’
    â€˜There are some people we could ask,’ Caradog suggested.
    â€˜Who?’ Trevor asked. ‘The FWA? The Mudiad ? You said it yourself, Caradog. We can’t risk that kind of contact with all the police activity going on now. We have to stay below the radar. I’m not sure I would trust them anyway. Are they clever enough to build what Dai wants to