‘Number three? Any sign?’

‘Negative.’

He adjusted the volume and spoke to Tess. ‘Yes, I’m still here,’ he told her, keeping his voice down and beginning to move along the corridor, gun held low, ready to either hide it or use it, depending on who might make an appearance. ‘What’s your sitrep?’

‘Still the same. One guy behind, two up front, one on either side of the road.’

‘Are they aware that you’re alert to their presence?’

‘Yes, I think so. Our eyes have met.’

‘OK. So they’ll know you’re calling for back-up.’

But, he thought, they don’t seem too bothered about it. The sort of not-bothered you might be if you thought yourself untouchable. And that’s significant. ‘What they’ll try to do next is box you in.’

‘Box me in? Oh, box me in before they snatch me.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Sorry. Look out for a van. An SUV. Anything with blacked-out windows.’

‘Oh God, Alex.’

‘Don’t worry. If something like that draws up to the kerb, that’s when they’ll make their move. Start screaming. Stay as far away from the road as possible. In the meantime, have you got anything on you? Rape alarm? Pepper spray? Uzi 9mm? Anything like that?’

‘No, sorry, sorry.’ He was trying to put her at ease, but she still sounded on the verge of panic, as though her failure to be in possession of pepper spray might somehow prove a deciding factor.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ he tried to reassure her. ‘They’re useless anyway. Just a deterrent really. Do you have your car keys on you?’

‘Yes.’

‘In that case get your keys out of the bag, hold them in your fist with the keys themselves poking out between your fingers, like knuckle dusters, do you see what I mean?’

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘OK, where are you now?’

‘Right now, I’m on Farringdon Road,’ she said.

Abbott had gone through the first of the two fire doors, was approaching the second. He could see his room door through the glass. Still, he had the corridor to himself.

The walkie-talkie crackled. ‘Number two. Report. Report. Nothing from number two.’

‘Number two located. He’s on the stairs. He’s bleeding out. We need to get an ambulance.’

‘No ambulance. We don’t have time. He knew the risks.’

‘Wait a minute. His walkie-talkie is missing.’

‘Number three, he must be on his way to you. Everybody else. Everybody else, converge on his room.’

‘Tess,’ said Abbott, ‘stay on the line. There’s something I have to do.’