A beating such as this would have to be reported to the police. And while he was out of the box, he was pretty certain that would have happened. He glanced at the clock above the door, noting the late hour, plus the fact he’d been here since early morning. A uniform would no doubt appear tonight or early tomorrow.

How soon would it be before Cleverly was made aware of his whereabouts?

He’d replayed the scene of his capture endless times in his head since he was hanging up in that warehouse. The one and only thing he knew for certain was that he still did not trust Cleverly. And what of the Kommandant? How did he play out in all of this?

The door opened and a nurse looked in. Seeing him sitting up, she gave him a big smile. She was, he registered, small and dark, and very easy on the eye. Especially to someone who’d been viewing nothing but big male bastards for too long.

‘You’re awake. Good.’ She came up close to take a swift look at his dressings.

‘Was it you who cleaned me up?’ McNab said.

She nodded.

‘Then I’m sorry for the mess and the smell.’

She dismissed his apology with a small shake of her head. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Great,’ McNab said, throwing back the cover and swinging his legs out of the bed. ‘Good to go, in fact.’

She looked a little taken aback by this. ‘You haven’t been discharged yet.’

McNab gave her a big smile. ‘I’m discharging myself. So if you could give me my clothes?’

‘I don’t advise it,’ she said pointedly.

McNab observed her determined expression. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d thought.

‘The guys who beat me up are likely to come looking for me,’ he said. ‘Even in here.’

Her face clouded over at that.

‘Which is why I need to go.’

She was mulling it over. McNab couldn’t imagine she hadn’t faced a similar scenario before now, working as she did in the Accident and Emergency department of an innercity hospital. She certainly would have in Glasgow.

‘My clothes?’ he tried again.

With a shrug, she pointed to the bedside cabinet. ‘They’re in there.’ A pause, then, ‘Is there someone you could call to pick you up?’

‘Sadly, the bastards stole my mobile and wallet,’ McNab said.

‘You could use my mobile,’ she offered.

McNab considered this, but only briefly, since he already knew where he was going and only required the means to get there. He said as much.

‘If you could just lend me enough money for a taxi to my safe place?’ He checked her name badge. ‘I’ll pay you back, Nurse Jenny, I promise.’ He gave her what he hoped was a winning smile.

He watched as she sized him up, wondering if she would ever see the money again.