‘Shona, DOWN!’ he screamed, as the rifle’s report roared and cracked. Tom realised that he was obstructing the sniper’s view of Aleks, who was bringing the Glock to bear on him, and threw himself to the left, clearing the way for their unseen saviour. He rolled into a tyre rut and raised his head just enough to hear the second explosion from the rifle. Aleks was thrown backwards as the next shot hit him centre-mass, hurling him back with the terrible force of a large-calibre impact.

Two down, one to go, thought Tom as he began to move, striding with force across the uneven ground to the spot he’d marked Luka as last occupying. Shona was screaming on the ground, with Cameron laying protectively over her, as Tom lunged past them towards Luka.

Tom figured no more than three seconds had passed since the last shot and he bolted towards Luka, who was squatting on the ground, the phone falling from his grip as he reached for the pistol secured in the front of his trousers. There was a look of utter confusion, panic, and horror on his face. Tom’s reactions were far too quick for him and it seemed as if Luka was wading through treacle, his body yet to catch up with what his eyes had just witnessed.

Tom did not give him a chance to recover, kicking him with a brutal Muay Thai right-footed front-kick that caught the still-rising Luka square on the cheekbone. Flesh split and bones cracked. Luka was stunned and bleeding, but he was strong. He swayed but did not fall, just slumped to his knees.

Tom had no intention of leaving it there, not while he was still cuffed. Luka had signed his own death warrant when he had pointed a gun at his family. Tom stepped over the kneeling Luka so that the man’s head and neck were between his thighs. He picked his right leg up, secured his foot behind his left calf, and fell to the ground onto his back. He tightened the triangle chokehold on Luka’s neck and squeezed as tight as he could. Luka began to buck and thrash, but Tom tightened the choke even more and sharply bucked his hips, jerking his leg upwards. There was a muffled click from Luka’s neck and he died immediately, his neck snapped.

Tom raised himself onto his haunches and reached into his boot top to retrieve the folding knife that had remained there during his captivity. He’d not been able to come up with a feasible way of deploying it until that moment. He opened the blade behind his back and the keen edge bit through the restraints, quickly freeing his wrists.

He looked at Luka, his eyes open but dead and lifeless. A faint tinny voice came from the dropped smartphone, close to the body,