At the bottom, the second of the two men had got Lori back to her feet and now held her tight against him, his gloved left hand clamped across her mouth. Her eyes bulged under sweat-damp strands of hair, as she regarded her boss with a mixture of horror and bewilderment.

‘Look … just take it easy,’ Northwood stammered as he rose to his feet; it wasn’t clear whether he was talking to Lori or the intruders. He tried to keep his voice level, but his eyes almost popped as they fixed on the weapon trained one-handed on his face. ‘For fuck’s sake … just chill, yeah?’

The taller intruder didn’t reply, but watched the closed door to the lounge for several tense seconds, in case someone in there had heard the commotion and was about to come out to see what it was. But thanks to the raucous music, that clearly hadn’t happened. The tall blagger finally glanced up the stairs to his compatriot, and nodded. The other intruder responded by scampering to the top and commencing what Northwood could only presume was a rapid search of the upper floor, checking the rooms for any other staff and/or guests. Northwood glanced sideways at Hoon, who lay twitching on the carpet. The guy was alive, but his eyes were closed and at this proximity his face looked like raw meat.

‘Okay, look … what do you fellas want?’ he asked, though in truth it seemed obvious. It had never been much of a secret that there was plenty of green stuff on these premises come Wednesday night.

The taller intruder didn’t bother answering; instead, his liquid brown gaze bored into the host. There wasn’t a hint of stress or tension in him, his woollen mask completely inscrutable. Feet now rumbled down the stairs as the shorter of the two returned and nodded.

The taller one nodded back in acknowledgement.

Again, Northwood tried the blokish approach. One of the many things he prized himself for was his gift of the gab, his ability to smooth things over. He might be a big, burly guy, but apart from his schooldays when he’d commenced his criminal career by extorting money from smaller kids in the playground, Northwood considered that he’d always been more of a cooler than a bouncer.

‘Listen, fellas …’ He attempted a friendly voice, as if he was partly with them on this. ‘I can see you’re on the job. I’ve no doubt you’re het up, coiled like springs, ready to go … yeah?’

The eyes in the scarlet woollen mask continued to spear into him.