He edged up closer to her. He could see drops of sweat sitting on the skin of her neck. She was trembling slightly.

‘Leave Amy out of this,’ James shouted, trying to buy some time. ‘This is nothing to do with her.’

‘Isn’t it? Well, I don’t care,’ sneered Jana. ‘I am going to kill you both, anyway. You have ruined my life, killed my brother and buried my home under filthy mud. I am going to shoot you and you will be food for the crabs. They will eat your pretty faces. Then I am going to shoot your cousin and the other prisoners in the villa.’

At that moment Victor stirred and tried to sit up.

Jana turned on him. ‘Lie still,’ she hissed, ‘or I will shoot you now.’

It was all James needed. Jana was distracted long enough for him to grab hold of Amy round the waist and brace his legs against the rock.

‘Jump,’ he hissed into her ear and pushed off hard.

Amy had just long enough to flex her legs and spring backwards, so that they flew out over the water, narrowly clearing the rocks below.

They landed with a splash and sank to the bottom.

Jana howled in frustration and fired off two wild shots that punched harmlessly into the water, well wide of their mark.

She swore and ran down the first couple of steps to get a clearer aim, but her high-heeled shoes weren’t designed for these conditions and they slipped on the rocks. One ankle turned over and she fell on to her knees, grazing all the skin off them. She flung out one hand, trying to grab hold of the slippery polished stone, but her long fingernails prevented her from getting a grip and she tumbled down a few more steps and over the side, where she went slithering and scraping down the rock face into the water, the gun dropped and forgotten, her fingernails snapping off as she tried to cling on.

She landed among the sea urchins, piercing herself all down one side. She bellowed in pain and tried to climb out of the water, but wherever she put her hands there were more urchins. Her palms and fingers were soon studded all over with broken spines, so that it looked like she was wearing hairy, black gloves.

She couldn’t stand in her heels and her long sodden dress was caught on a rock. In her panic to scramble free she slipped and fell face first into another bed of poisonous spines.

James forced himself to turn away as she clutched at her cheeks, trying to pull the spikes out, but only driving them deeper. She was wailing like a trapped animal and she sank under the water for a few seconds before coming up, spitting and retching.