‘Clozapine. I’ve not heard of it,’ Tripp said.

‘Ma’am, are we good to go?’ the armed unit leader whispered to her.

‘Sure,’ she confirmed. ‘Any noise from inside the flat?’

‘Some movement, no voices. It’s definitely occupied.’

‘Right. Weapons lowered. If there’s a situation in progress, he may well use Janet Monroe as a shield. I don’t want any weapons going off unless there’s a clean, clear shot. Otherwise, we’re negotiating for as long as it takes. We don’t need to announce our presence. Janet isn’t going to complain that we didn’t give her a warning to open up. Just get that door …’

It opened. For a split second, twenty police officers froze. Rune Maclure didn’t. His eyes met Ava’s fleetingly as he stepped backwards and slammed the door.

‘Rune,’ Ava shouted through the wood. ‘You’ve seen the force we have out here. Open the door – last opportunity – or we’ll have to break it down.’

The response was a single gunshot that hit the door from inside the flat, hard enough for the impression to be seen from the corridor side, even if the bullet didn’t quite make it through. Ava jumped clear of the door panel, one hand pressed to her stomach where the bullet would have entered had it got past the wood. Shaken, she mentally chalked off another one of her lives.

‘You’ve made your point,’ Ava said. ‘Just let me in to make sure Janet’s okay. If you can reassure me of that, you’ve bought yourself some time.’

An inhuman noise came from within the flat – a half-screeching, abrasive call. No words.

‘Break it down,’ Ava ordered. ‘Right now.’

She stepped back as the door took a hammering, splintering before it slammed inwards to reveal not the one body they’d been expecting to see, but two.

Ava stepped through, backed up by half a dozen rifles pointed at the floor just behind her feet.

Rune Maclure had a gun and was aiming it at the top of Janet’s head as she tried feebly to pull some slack into the rope around her neck.

‘Put the gun down,’ Ava instructed. ‘This is the only way out. Whatever happens to Janet and …’ She half recognised the other man’s face, purple and swollen as it was, but couldn’t place him immediately. ‘… this other man, you can’t get out of here.’

‘I wanted you,’ Maclure said. ‘I offered you the chance to know me. To truly know me. Perhaps if you’d taken it, this could have been avoided. No more silly traps and lies.’

‘I’ll give the instruction to shoot,’ Ava said. ‘Three seconds. Lower your weapon.’

‘Shoot me and I’ll shoot her. You know my muscles’ll spasm. I won’t be able to help it.’

‘Then let me untie them,’ Ava said, ‘and we’ll talk.’