‘Let’s see if you can remember everything I told you at the last session.’

Jane had never ever come across anyone like Elliott. He handed her the gun, then immediately snapped: ‘Check there are no bullets in it first!’ He said it so sternly that she physically jumped.

‘Now, go to the area you were in before, with the crosses, and face the target.’

Jane did as requested, standing with her feet apart and arms raised in the correct position.

‘Good,’ he said, and then took her by surprise by asking if she had ever played Grandmother’s Footsteps.

She lowered her arms. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Kids play it. You stand with your back to them, and they have to practice creeping up on you. Each time you turn and catch anyone moving, they have to start again. I’m going to go right back to the booths and try and sneak up on you, and you have to stand with the gun in position to shoot. That means both arms straight, thumb over thumb. Be ready to fire.’

Jane was completely nonplussed. He’d gone from a cold aloofness to talking to her about a child’s game as if she was six.

She waited, and then he said softly, ‘The game starts.’

She could hear nothing, and she waited, counting the seconds, and turned. He was standing no more than six feet away from her, absolutely still. She turned back, arms still stretched, and by now she could feel the muscles in her forearm really hurting. Silence . . . and then suddenly he had two fingers cocked like a gun pressed into her neck.

‘Bang.’

Jane was so shocked she screeched, almost dropped the gun, and her whole body started shaking. He gently took the gun from her.

‘Is that what happened to you, Jane?’

‘I didn’t . . . have a gun,’ she managed to say.

‘I know you didn’t. But you froze when you saw someone facing you with a weapon, and one member of your team was shot. Fortunately, not fatally.’

Anger started to take over from humiliation, and with her teeth clenched Jane moved away from him. ‘I didn’t come here to play childish games.’

He held his hands out. ‘I’m sorry if playing that game has upset you. But that was my intention. You have to learn to control your fear, and the only way you can do that it is by facing it. Now, I want you to go into the stalls and I’ll bring the target closer.’ He pulled back a cuff and glanced at his watch. ‘You only have five minutes left. But before you start practicing, I want to give you some breathing exercises to do every time you have that feeling of panic.’

Jane followed him to the stall as he switched on the no-entry red light. She was slowly calming down as he came to stand close beside her.