As Raymond bent over with his back towards him, Jed held his forefinger to his mouth to tell Frankie to be quiet and to let her know he was all right. I love you, he mouthed to her.

Frankie bit Raymond’s hand, as he tried to gag her. Raymond felt terrible. He was cut out for most things, but not this shit. He was mad to have let Eddie talk him into this. He should have been a man and refused.

Jed lay still as Raymond finally managed to tie and gag Frankie. He cursed himself for not bringing a proper weapon with him. Pretending he was knocked out cold was all he could do. Raymond was double his size and was armed with his infamous baseball bat, and Jed knew that Frankie needed him alive, not dead.

Jessica was frozen with shock. She couldn’t breathe, move or anything. Her daughter’s screams had been awful. She had wanted to get up and help her, but she had been paralysed by fear and couldn’t. She felt faint again, really ill.

Seeing Raymond bundle Frankie towards the car, Eddie picked up the machine gun and studied it. He had never used one of these things before, but he was sure he could handle it.

As Raymond’s car pulled away, Eddie got out of his car and took a pop at one of the nearby squashed cars. Perfect, he thought, as the bullets landed exactly where he aimed them.

Hearing the fun being fired, Jed quickly got up. It was obvious what was coming next and he knew he had no choice other than to leg it. Raymond had smashed a couple of windows in the trailer and, realising the gunshots were coming from the front, Jed squeezed himself out of a back window and literally ran for his life.

At the sound of the gun being fired, Jessica lost consciousness. Out for the count, she was totally unaware of her husband’s footsteps nearing.

In the back of Raymond’s car, Frankie was desperately trying to pull the gag off her mouth. She had seen her father waiting in the shadows as Raymond had lifted her into his motor, and not only was she worried about Jed, she was also concerned about her mother.

Realising Frankie was making all sorts of funny noises, Raymond stopped the car. He had to check she was all right in case she couldn’t breathe properly. ‘Are you OK? Can you breathe?’ he asked as he pulled the gag off her.

‘You stupid fucking idiot. I saw me dad outside and Mum’s in that trailer.’

‘What?’ Raymond asked incredulously. Frankie was winding him up – she had to be.

‘I swear on my baby’s life, Mum’s in there. She came to see me to sort stuff out. When she heard your voice, she hid under the bed.’