‘Dr Bloom?’ He stood in front of a smaller side entrance, filling the space with his large frame. ‘I’ve been expecting you.’ His expression was welcoming and almost warm but his eyes looked wary. Bloom wondered how Seraphine might have introduced her to these people.

‘And you are?’ She walked purposefully towards him ensuring her shoulders were square and her back straight.

‘You can call me George,’ he said as he punched a six-digit code into the security lock on his left and pushed the door wide, holding it so that she could pass. She almost hesitated before entering, but she forced herself to stay strong, to be confident. The only way to help Jameson, Karene and the children was to know who they were dealing with. And this was the only way.

The interior was much smarter than the tired exterior. The corridor was carpeted in cream and the walls were newly painted.

‘Telephone.’ George held out his palm and Bloom gave him her phone. When he turned and walked away she noticed a gun bulging beneath the back of his shirt. Bloom suppressed her panic and followed him up the wide stairway to the first floor.

‘Did you come alone as instructed?’ he asked.

‘I did.’

George unlocked an apartment door on the rear side of the building and gestured for her to go in. She entered a short hallway with a slim desk along one wall. The surface of the desk was clear apart from a laminated sheet of information about the building. Bloom walked along the hall and at the end, in the room to the left, she found exactly what she was looking for. Karene, Sophie and Jake were sitting side by side on a two-seater sofa. She had been right to come here. She had found them and they were unharmed. She felt a little euphoric. They were staring straight ahead with their hands on their knees. She stepped into the room, trying to catch their attention, wanting them to see her and share her relief. But then she saw what they were looking at.

In the doorway to the kitchen stood a second man dressed in a khaki shirt and combat trousers and holding the biggest gun Bloom had ever seen.

Once more she pushed her panic aside, scanned the kitchen and tried to keep her voice level. ‘Where’s Jameson?’ she asked.

George pushed her further into the room and Karene finally glanced up.

‘Oh my God, Augusta,’ she said and started to stand up until the man with the machine gun shouted at her to sit back down. She did as she was told, her eyes a mixture of desperation and hope.

George pulled a chair from beneath the table and placed it next to the sofa beside Sophie. He pointed to it. ‘Sit,’ he said, and so she did.

‘Where’s Marcus?’ she said again.

Karene shook her head. ‘We haven’t seen him.’