Just how I would have proceeded if left to my own devices I do not know, but as all the explosives from the missile and the electronics of its guidance system had been removed for reasons of safety and security before the camper van was moved into the garage, so all that was left was the propellant, I was bluffing on a hand that held no trumps.

I was quite relieved to hear heavy boots approaching from several directions, and in half a minute I was talking to a masked individual who grasped the situation rapidly.

'You could give him what he wants.'
'Yes, but it would mean the loss of over twenty years of work.'
The Zeppelin came around the corner of the house again, and he looked at it much as a cat might look up at a particularly plump and inept pigeon.