Leni turned on the hot tap.

“Leni!” shouted Strasser. “You must believe me!”

Leni put a finger to her lips.

“Shh, Carl, shh.”

“But you must understand, I can’t help you!”

Leni looked down at the bath.

“There’s room for a lot more hot water, isn’t there?”

“Anything else, Leni, I’d do! But this I can’t. I promise!”

Leni stood up and pointed the gun at Strasser’s face.

“Lie back,” she ordered.

Strasser did as he was told.

“But Leni…”

“Shut up! The water’s going to get very hot soon, and then you’re going to have to make your mind up. Stay in it and get burned. Or jump out and get shot. Or of course there is a third option, and that’s for you to do as you’re told.”

Strasser could feel the hot water making its way up the bath. At the moment, it was bearable, but he knew that in a few minutes, even with the water overflowing, it would be almost boiling. What he hadn’t counted on was Leni turning the tap on to full. After half a minute, he felt his feet beginning to get scalded.

“Christ, Leni! Turn it off!”

Leni’s reply was to bring the gun closer to his face. The heat was now on his legs—within seconds it would be enveloping his groin.

“Leni!”

She pressed the gun against his forehead. He could feel his genitals starting to burn, the intensity of the heat more painful than he could ever have imagined.

“I’ll do it!” he shouted.

“Do what?” said Leni.

“Get Lockhart out! Fuck! Please, Leni, turn off the water!”

Leni took the gun away from his head and turned off the hot tap.

“The cold!”

“Not yet,” said Leni. “Not until you promise me one more thing.”

“Anything! What?”

“You do anything that Lockhart says.”

All Strasser could think about was the ferocity of the heat on his legs and genitals. A small part of his brain, a minuscule part that was not concerned with pain, was curious, but his priority was to listen to his body, to get rid of the agony.

“Fuck! Yes! All right! Whatever you say!”

“Say it!” barked Leni.

“Say what?”

“Say you’ll obey Lockhart!”

Strasser’s pause resulted in Leni reaching for the hot tap again.

“I’ll obey him!” said Strasser. “I’ll do whatever he says!”

Leni smiled. This time she turned the cold tap.

“What a good boy you are,” she said, passing Strasser a towel.

“And by the way,” she added, “don’t think of doing anything stupid. If anything happens to me, you’ll be the first person they’ll come to.”

Strasser nodded once more. As the cold water crept up his body, he began to wonder how on earth Leni and Lockhart could have anything to do with each other.