Maeve took a deep breath and stabbed the point of the scalpel into Robbie’s skin about a centimetre away from the wound. His whole body jerked and he whimpered pathetically. Boggle and Whitney weren’t grinning any more. Lewis was unmoved; he stayed his usual calm, cool self, watching Maeve, almost bored, like someone spectating at a game of chess. Maeve didn’t stop. She quickly dragged the scalpel towards the wound, then repeated the process on the other side, making a long slit with the puncture at its centre. Robbie was struggling against the bodies that held him down, but this was nothing.

‘OK, Samira,’ said Maeve. ‘Over to you. Get the tip of the forceps in and open them out. I need to see what I’m doing.’ Samira nodded and moved in closer. Maeve turned to Jibber-jabber. ‘You’re on torch duty. Shine it directly at the wound.’

Jibber-jabber came over to join Samira, who forced the forceps into the slit and opened them out. The inside of the wound was pink and shiny, like raw chicken.

The torch beam was wavering all over the place. Maeve looked at Jibber-jabber; his face was turned away and screwed tight.

‘If you’re too squeamish give the torch to Ella,’ Maeve snapped. ‘But you have to shine it in there or I can’t see a thing.’

‘Sorry.’ JJ pulled himself together and aimed the torch directly at the gaping wound. It jiggled slightly in his trembling hand, but he kept his eyes fixed in place.

Maeve held her breath again and tried to still her own trembling hand. She leant closer, closer – Samira widened the opening – and then she saw it, deep inside Robbie’s leg: a black tip.

‘There’s something there,’ she murmured, and Robbie moaned into the gag.

‘Here goes,’ she said and poked the nose of the tweezers inside the opening. ‘Wider,’ she said to Samira, and closed the tweezers on the sliver of metal, pulled …

‘Rrrrrrrrrrrrrgh,’ Robbie growled, fighting the two bodies on top of him.

Maeve tugged harder and the shard of metal slowly slid free. There it was, dripping blood. About two centimetres long, with a nasty jagged edge. She dropped it into a saucer by the bed.

‘Is that it?’ said Samira. She was trembling, sweat running down her face.

‘No. I need to check there’s nothing else in there.’ Maeve tried to give Robbie a reassuring smile. ‘Nearly over.’

He glared at her through angry, pained eyes.

‘Get the torch in closer, and Samira – wider still.’

‘I can’t …’

‘Yes, you can.’

Samira managed to force the forceps a little wider and Maeve poked about with the tweezers in the hole.

‘There!’

She dug deeper, causing Robbie to shudder down the entire length of his body. Then she extracted a small piece of mushy material.