But Abs knew there was only one thing he could do. He had to wait for the car to slow – they would surely hit a red light soon – and then open the door and throw himself out. People did it all the time in films, or the stuntmen did, and they escaped with barely a scratch. But this wasn’t the movies, and Abs knew that if he got it wrong, he could be very badly injured. He could be paralysed or knocked out, and all they had to do was turn the car around and aim for him…

Abs let out a little sob. He had to be brave – but the thought of hurling himself out of the car was terrifying. And he knew that if he didn’t make a decision about what to do now, right now, they would drive him somewhere and torture him, kill him – just like they did to Deano.

He didn’t know what to do; he wished someone would please tell him what to do. There was no way he could take on these guys. All three of them looked like they could take care of themselves, and Abs was a lover, not a fighter. But if he didn’t, or if he didn’t escape the car soon, he was going to die in a car crusher somewhere or be dropped off the side of a yacht or his bones melted in an acid bath…

And now they were slowing at some lights and –

Oh, fuck it.

Abs grabbed the handle and shoved his shoulder into the door and threw himself out while the car was still moving. He hit the ground hard, had never felt such pain – his brain was literally vibrating in his head. He rolled across the tarmac, over and over, the sleeves of his jacket and hoodie tearing and the road scraping the skin off his wrists and hands – and finally came to a stop. He wondered for a split second if he was dead, but he could hear his heart thumping in his chest, and it felt like every bit of him was on fire, so he guessed he wasn’t.

There was a screech of brakes. The car had come to a stop up ahead. The engine was idling, smoke puttering from the exhaust. Right now was the time to get the registration number, but it was almost upside down in his vision, and Abs wasn’t thinking straight; his brain felt like it was still ricocheting around his skull like a pinball.

He had to get up right away. Every molecule in his body was screaming for him to flee, but instead he lay in the road totally still, hoping they might think he was dead. The car’s engine growled, smoke from the exhaust lifting into the night sky.

He prayed that any moment now the car was going to drive off. Any moment now…

But instead the car doors swung open and Abs knew that his nightmare wasn’t over. He climbed to his feet and stumbled along the road, desperately trying to get his bearings. The footsteps of the men thundered on the road behind him. He cut left into a narrow alley, panic rising in him, and nearly lost his footing on a dumped bin bag of rubbish.