He sat down and, as he was untying the rope, he heard someone climbing the scaffolding. He quickly pulled the rope loose and went to look.

It wasn’t Stefano. It was two of Ugo’s guards.

For a moment he felt like giving up. He was so tired. So much had happened lately, he didn’t know if he could stand any more.

Nonsense.

It’s not just you now, there’s Amy as well.

Get a move on, you lazy idiot. Get away from there.

He ran across the roof and leapt over to the next building.

As he landed, he kept on running, all his tiredness forgotten.

He laughed. This was exactly the same situation he’d been in that night with the Danger Society back at Eton.

Only this time he risked more than a beating. This time he was running for his life.

He sprinted to the edge of a flat roof and jumped down on to a wall. He had no idea where he was; he just had to get away from those two men.

Keeping his arms out for balance, he ran along the top of the wall.

To his left was a dark courtyard with some chicken coops in it. To his right was a dizzying drop down to the valley floor hundreds of feet below.

Don’t look down…

At the end of the wall there was a small tree growing. He climbed up through the branches and was able to get on to the next roof. This one was also flat, but it had a low wall around it and a covered area for seating. Steps led from here up towards a raised walkway. Keeping his body bent double, he hurried up the steps on tiptoe but froze when he reached the top.

The two guards were dashing along the walkway towards him.

Damn…

He turned and fled, racing as fast as he could and he soon came to another flight of steps, this time leading downward. He took them in one giant leap without thinking and, as he hit the bottom, he rolled over then sprang back on to his feet and carried on running. He heard an angry shout behind him and the sound of a body falling heavily. Evidently one of the guards had tried the same trick and not pulled it off. James thought with some satisfaction that the man was going to have a pair of very badly grazed knees.

But they were still after him. And he had lost all sense of direction.