She blinked in the light and stared at him with fear-crazed, bloodshot eyes. Her hair was all awry and the nightdress was torn at the shoulder from her struggle against her kidnappers. Tendons stood out on her neck like cords. Her voice was croaky and full of emotion as she replied, ‘I-I’m Margot Segal. Where am I? Oh God, I thought they were going to kill me.’

‘Nobody’s going to hurt you now. You’re safe.’

‘W-who are you? Are you the police?’

Ben hesitated a moment before replying. He’d been thinking about this for some time. Making a snap decision he flashed his fake ID. ‘Inspector Jacques Dardenne, special antiterrorist division. This is my colleague, Mike Anderson, of the FBI Joint Task Force.’

‘Enchanté, Madame,’ Roth said graciously. His French accent was as bad as his acting.

There was a long carving knife on the table. Ben didn’t want to imagine what the kidnappers had been planning on using it for in the event that they decided to murder her. Beheading was the method most beloved by these fanatics. He picked it up to slice the plastic cable ties holding her ankles and wrists. She gasped as her hands were cut free, and began rubbing her chafed wrists.

‘Are you hurt? Did they harm you in any way?’

She shook her head. Trying not to look at the dead men and the blood everywhere. ‘They didn’t do anything to me, but my feet are hurting. They made me walk such a long way. And I’m so cold and hungry. They didn’t give me a single thing to eat this whole time.’

Ben examined her feet. They were dirty and the soles were cut and abraded from the long march at gunpoint through the tunnels. The bastards must have smuggled her inside the République Métro station in the dead of night when nobody was around. He stripped off his jacket and wrapped it over her bare shoulders. She shivered and pulled it tight around herself.

One of the dead guards wasn’t too large a man, with smallish feet that looked about the same size as Margot Segal’s. He was wearing soft, cushiony Nikes that he wouldn’t be needing any more, so Ben pulled them off him and knelt down to gently slide each in turn onto her feet. It was the best he could do for her for now.

She winced a little as he eased the shoes on. ‘You don’t know how happy I am to see you. Are the other officers coming too?’

‘We’re on an undercover operation,’ Ben said. ‘Top secret. You were kidnapped by members of a terror organisation who may have infiltrated the government and police. That’s why it’s just him and me, for the moment. We can’t afford to take any risks with your safety. Understand?’

‘Oh, my goodness.’ She looked fazed, but seemed to believe him.