‘I clued Collins in when I couldn’t get hold of you. He should be there any minute with a message for you to call me. We’re going to need Collins’ help arresting Heidi in a public place, especially if Garrett’s around.’

‘Right, Sarge.’ Sterling sprung to her feet, too full of nervous energy to sit any longer. Heidi? Everything had been pointing to one of the Lorrimer brothers, or maybe both. But not Heidi.

‘So, you and Collins sit tight,’ Ryder was saying. ‘When we get there, we’ll work out the best way to take them into custody.’

Sterling swung around as a loud knock came at the door. ‘He’s here’s now, Sarge.’

‘Good. Can I have a word with him?’

Sterling put the phone on the benchtop and hurried to the door. Turning the deadlock with one hand, she grasped the knob and pulled the door open.

A powerful shove in the chest sent her careering backwards. Her spine struck the corner of the bench, pain reverberating through her trunk. She cried out, grappling for the benchtop, and somehow managed to stay upright. Dazed, shocked and winded, she dragged air into her lungs, watching as Heidi came towards her brandishing a syringe.

Sterling pushed away from the bench, dropped her chin to her chest and charged, ramming her cranium into Heidi’s stomach with such force it jolted the syringe from her grasp. Heidi howled. Sterling dropped to all fours, crawling away and searching the floor for the lethal dose meant for her.

She spotted it by the bed and clambered towards it, reaching, stretching; fingertips almost touching the small, plastic cylinder before cruel fingers tightened on her skull like a vice. A scream of rage burst from Sterling’s throat as she twisted her body, striking out with her legs again and again, hoping to kick the syringe under the bed.

Then Heidi hauled her up by two handfuls of her hair. Sterling cried out as strands of hair were ripped from her scalp. Heidi’s arm hooked around her throat, the pressure of her bicep almost crushing Sterling’s windpipe. Lightheaded, Sterling reached behind her, feeling the bones of Heidi’s forehead with her fingers before plunging her thumbs into her eyes. With a roar of agony Heidi released her.

Gasping for air, Sterling staggered away. And then a shove from behind sent her sprawling on top of the open suitcase, the wind knocked out of her as the metal rim of the hard case dug into her stomach. Sterling’s arm was trapped beneath her. She moved her fingers, feeling for the Glock she’d packed between her clothes. And then the lid of the suitcase rammed into her, striking her on the shoulder over and over and over.

Sterling lay prone, her fingers curled around the grip of the Glock, sensing Heidi looming over her.