‘Who the hell are you?’ said a voice behind her and she spun round to see two men in the doorway. Wearing tee-shirts and jeans, and with long hair and scruffy beards, they stared at her angrily. The one in front was tall and powerfully built, and had blonde dreads, which tumbled down his back. His fists were balled at his sides, the pupils of his eyes bulged; he was off his face on something.

‘I’m not here to make trouble.’ Sensing danger immediately, Sasha tried to sound calm, but her voice was almost lost beneath the music thumping from upstairs. ‘I’m not interested in anything here.’

‘Who are you, then?’ The man’s snarling voice matched the angry expression on his face. ‘Because you look like filth to me.’

‘Liam.’ The other man placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘Don’t—’

‘Shut up.’ The man called Liam shrugged him off and stepped forward. ‘Who let you inside?’

‘The door was open,’ Sasha said. ‘I’m not interested in any of this stuff, I’m just looking for someone.’

‘What stuff?’ Liam said in a goading voice. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

There was a set of double doors at the back of the room, but boxes were piled all around them, blocking her escape. There was only one way out and that was through the door behind these two men, and the one called Liam was in no mood to let her just walk out.

‘Her name is Lauren Weston.’ Sasha held up a hand, trying to placate him, but she could hardly hear herself think above the thump whoomp, thump whoomp of the bass and the blood pumping in her skull. She appealed to the man. ‘Can we turn the music down so I can explain?’

‘You’re taking the piss, just walking in here.’ Liam was tense and sweating. ‘And now you’ve seen all the gear.’

‘I haven’t seen anything,’ she tried to reassure him.

‘Are you blind, or thick, or what? You’re a liar,’ he spat.

Sasha knew that the last thing she should do was admit that she was a copper. The situation could take a very dangerous turn.

‘I’m sorry, I made a mistake coming inside.’ She made sure to keep eye contact with Liam. ‘But the door was open and I—’

‘She’s seen us now,’ Liam shouted at the other guy. ‘If we let her just walk out of here, we’re totally screwed.’

The only thing she could do was appeal to Liam’s mate. ‘Tell Liam this isn’t… we don’t need this situation to escalate.’

‘You’ll come back with other pigs.’

‘I’m not going to do that.’ She glanced around the room for something to defend herself with, but there was nothing, just boxes of stuff, and her police baton was in the boot of her Spider.