Jason pulled himself away from Ethan Grant. He looked at Dani and then carefully moved around the spilled acid and over to her. Dani could see now that the acid had burned away much of his clothes down one side. The bloody, pulpy mess underneath was clearly evident. Yet he almost seemed oblivious as he moved forwards towards Dani with purpose. He was running on nothing but adrenaline.

He crouched down and tugged at her hands.

‘I can’t get these off,’ Jason said. ‘I’ll go and get help.’

‘No!’ Dani said ‘You’re not leaving me here alone. You can’t.’

‘I’m not sure what else to do!’

‘Stand by the fucking door with a wrench in your hand. Take her damn head off when she comes back in!’

Jason huffed at that.

‘Over there,’ Dani said, nodding into the far corner where some of the racking looked like it contained tools. ‘There must be something you can use to pick the cuffs.’

‘I’ve never done that before,’ Jason said.

‘No, but I’m guessing you’ve never sawn through plastic cable ties with a shoelace while hog-tied either?’

‘No. But I did see the YouTube video for that one.’

Jason almost smiled.

‘And I’ve seen plenty on how to pick locks. Come on, Jason, hurry!’

He stood and jumped over the acid pool and limped to the corner. After rattling about for a few seconds, he turned around.

‘Even better,’ he said, holding up a set of bolt cutters.

He gingerly moved back over and behind Dani. She heard him straining as he heaved down on the cutters. There was a crunching sound and Dani pulled at her wrists but they were still held firmly together.

‘Jason?’

‘Fuck’s sake. Those things bent the cutters. But… just let me try one more time.’

Jason heaved again and this time she heard a snap. But when she pulled her hands, she still couldn’t move them forwards.

The next thing she knew the cutters were hurtling through the air in front of her. They clattered against the racking at the end of the room.

‘Useless!’ Jason shouted. He came back in front of Dani, his face contorted in a painful grimace as he clutched his stricken side with his good arm. ‘The chain is almost cut through, you can probably pull them off now, but you need to work them properly.’

Jason quickly explained the technique, which was much the same as an alternative technique for snapping cable ties. He instructed her to pull the cuffs down, twist the wrists so her palms were facing outwards, then pull out and down in one sharp motion.

‘Got it,’ Dani said. She’d seen those videos too.

She tried and cried out in pain when all that happened was that the cuffs dug into the flesh on her wrists.

‘It’s almost there, Dani, do it again.’