Her heart leaped. It wasn’t conveniently placed right beside her like in the movies; she couldn’t even touch it with her hand at full stretch. But if she could somehow balance on the narrow ledge and leap for it …

It was suicide. But so was staying in here.

She heard Swagger pulling off his heavy leathers and throwing them on the ground, breathing hoarsely. Either he was still in the mood or—

Uh-oh. Now she could hear bones clicking and popping, and the first guttural stirrings of the lupine creature inside Swagger.

‘’Wolf’s at your door, baby,’ she heard him rasp.

Kate dropped the crowbar and desperately swung herself out through the window feet first. Clinging to the top of the window frame, balancing her butt on the sill, she stretched out her long legs towards the downspout. Edging forward till she teetered on the ledge, she could just grip the rusting drainpipe with both ankles.

With a chilling roar, Swagger smashed down the door at last. She caught a glimpse of matted fur, vivid yellow eyes, sharp teeth snapping for her. Then, her ankles still locked around the downspout, she twisted her body around and pushed away from the windowsill with both hands.

For a sickening second she was sure she would fall. Then, to her amazement, her outstretched palms were slithering over the rusting metal of the downspout.

Swagger’s huge head burst through the window, swinging around to face her, snarling and snapping at her. But the window was too small for him to lean out any further. He howled in impotent rage.

Kate knew the alarm would be raised in seconds and began to shinny down. The pipe was cold as she gripped it with both hands, the brackets that held it to the wall rusted and weak. Her lifeline began to creak ominously.

She winced in pain as metal fragments stuck in her palms, and tried to slide down as smoothly as she could, before the pipe gave way all together. Then, without warning, the section of pipe she was clinging to pulled away from the wall. Kate was so horrified she couldn’t even cry out. The world whistled about her as she fell, arms and legs flailing, dreading the inevitable crushing impact.

But her fall was broken by a couple of trashcans that –thank God – couldn’t have been emptied for weeks. They were filled to overflowing with bags of soft, slimy garbage that worked like smelly airbags. Her landing was only painful and humiliating instead of fatal.

‘Would you mind getting out of there? You’re making the trash all dirty.’

Kate looked round wildly and saw a dark figure looming over her. It was a garbage collector. Where had he sprung from? Why was he grinning like a—?

‘Tom!’ she wailed in disbelief.