The MOD arrived within the hour. B100E-64 was loaded onto a flatbed under a tarp. The test site was bulldozed. And Hamish signed a secrecy agreement that still made his hand shake.

Non-standard propulsion. In 1986, that meant one of three things: gas turbine, hydrogen cell, or something nuclear. But Land Rover had experimented with gas turbines in the 1970s (the gas turbine powered “Road Rover”) and abandoned them. Hydrogen was too volatile. Nuclear… too absurd.

“The steering wheel started vibrating at a frequency that made my teeth ache,” Hamish said. “The temperature gauge spun past red, then unwound backwards. The odometer began ticking upward—ten miles, a hundred, a thousand—while I was stationary.”

The entry read: “B100E-64: Non-standard propulsion evaluation. Platform: Land Rover 90 Heavy Duty. Power source: undisclosed. Operator: Delta Group. Final location: North Scottish test range. Status: Terminated.”