‘I can help you with that,’ Maclure smiled.

Ava looked down at the two bodies, fighting the pressure around their necks less now, each barely breathing. The man’s fingers had given up their purchase on the rope between them and were twitching on his chest.

‘If I open the window, the rope will release. It may be too late, but it’s worth a try. Tell your men to move away from the door.’

‘I’m not negotiating at this point,’ Ava said, taking a step further towards Maclure.

‘Then they both die in front of you,’ he smiled.

‘Fuck,’ Ava muttered. She didn’t have the time or luxury of playing hardball when two lives were being lost right in front of her. ‘Move back. Everyone up the corridor now. Guns down.’

‘Thank you,’ Maclure said, pulling the window down from the top to its lowest setting, leaving the upper half open to the elements.

The rope that had been wrapped around Janet Monroe’s feet flew into the room and became a benign snake on the floor. Immediately, Janet was pulled towards the other man, neither of them moving, the nooses around their necks too tight for any quick relief.

‘Let me help them,’ Ava said. ‘Lower your gun while I do that. Please.’

‘Do whatever you want,’ Maclure said. ‘I don’t need their deaths. I’m strong enough. I’ve already become. I was simply waiting for a sign. This is it.’

Ava glared at him. ‘What’s Clozapine?’ she demanded, edging closer to Janet.

Maclure cocked his head to one side. ‘A distraction,’ he said. ‘It was an attempt to deny my true self.’

Ava knelt down slowly and began releasing the knot that was preventing Janet from drawing breath.

‘And who is the true you?’ Ava asked, keeping the conversation going while her fingers worked too slowly.

Across the room, the other man’s feet were drumming a death dance on the carpet, his body finally giving up the fight.

‘Not who,’ Maclure smiled. ‘Like most humans, you lack vision. When I realised denying nature was wrong, when I gave in to it, it all happened so fast. It’s blissful, Ava. I wish I could have shared it with you.’

Ava released the noose from Janet’s throat, almost too scared to attempt to find her pulse. Instead, she moved across the room to help the man, turning her back on Maclure as she repositioned herself.

She heard his steps, heavy, purposeful, before turning to find him using an armchair to get himself into the window frame, thrusting his upper body out into the void. He lurched forwards, arms outstretched, face a vision of ecstasy as he tipped downwards.