And so it was with a scream that she used the momentum of her turning body, bringing up her right hand at the same time – right hand complete with makeshift knuckle dusters that slashed across the face of her attacker just as he reached her.

It was a flailing, ill-timed shot, but luck was on her side, the key catching him below the eye and sending him yelling in pain, hands going to his face as he spun off, self-preservation keeping him away from a second blow.

For a second, she considered taking off, trusting in the fact that she could probably outrun him.

Except: heels.

So use them.

As the guy reeled, she stepped forward and dragged her foot down his shin, stamping down hard with her heel on his foot, so hard that she broke the shoe, but gratified to hear him shout out in pain in response. And now she took off, ripping her shoes off as she went and leaving them behind. She had always hated to see people in bare feet in the city. Couldn’t stand it. Just the thought of it turned her stomach. But all of a sudden it didn’t matter, she didn’t care. She just needed to reach the sanctuary of Hatton Garden. And she did, coming up to the junction with Hatton Garden and throwing a look behind her she saw her attacker pulling himself upright, his two accomplices reaching him at the same time, and she knew that she had pulled victory from the jaws of defeat, because now she was on Hatton Garden – busy, familiar, comforting Hatton Garden – and all she needed to do was find a policeman.

‘Tess,’ she heard from the phone she still held. ‘Tess?’

‘Alex, you’re there?’

‘Are you all right?’

She was better than all right. She was adrenalised, over-joyed, a feeling coursing through her like nothing she’d ever felt before, a feeling that despite everything she had to admit to quite liking, as though for the first time she understood the attraction for men like Abbott. Why they did what they did.

‘Yes, I’m all right,’ she said. ‘Lots of people around now. I’m in Hatton Garden. I’m going to try the police again. I’ll get back to you.’

***

At the other end, Abbott felt some small measure of relief all the while knowing that they weren’t out of the woods yet. Neither of them. Least of all him. He peeked out into the corridor and could see a figure through the frosted glass of the nearest fire door. He squeezed off a shot, the suppressor reducing the gunshot to a mere plop, making the hole that appeared in the glass into something approaching a magic trick. The guy on the other side fell.