But on the inside her heart was racing furiously, her mind frantically going over her very limited options. She would doubtless give herself away, and if that happened, what would they do to her? If she failed their test, then she was quite certain they’d kill her here and now. She’d gained too much of their trust by now for them to just walk away like they would have done at the very beginning had they discovered she was a cop. Wounded pride would also play a big part in their retribution.

She glanced nervously at the large windows, recalling with a chill how the private eye had died. Falling from a height was a sure way to dispatch someone and it was near impossible to prove as murder.

If, by some miracle, she got out of this, she made a mental note to recommend to Frank that all undercover apartments be situated on the ground floor from now on.

She turned to look at Archie. He smiled at her, revealing his brown decaying teeth. Holding up the needle, he flicked the tip. A dribble of liquid oozed out of the top.

The other three stared down at her, their faces grim and forbidding. She rolled up her left sleeve and stared back at them insolently, not breaking eye contact as Archie leant forward and injected her with the drug.

She suppressed a wince at the bite of the needle. And almost immediately she felt the drug hit her system.

Her vision started to blur slightly while her heart rate seemed to increase even further. A feeling of drowsiness descended upon her and the rest of her body started to drift away from her control, like a boat cut loose from its moorings.

Rick knelt down in front of her. He stared at her with those blacker-than-black eyes. Mesmerised, she could not tear herself away from their terrible gaze.

She tried to analyse the situation, but her thoughts had lost the ability to cohere, scattering hopelessly like oiled marbles slipping through her grasp.

Rick opened his mouth, his gravelly voice emerging in a soft almost gentle tone.

‘Are you an undercover police officer?’

43

It was an easy question. She knew the answer to that one. The answer was very simple. Just one word would suffice. And that word was ‘yes’.

Are you an undercover police officer?

Some vague instinct deep within her told her that she had to deny it. But right now lying seemed like so much effort, almost insurmountably so.

It was so much easier just to answer in the affirmative because, after all, that was the truth.

Her brain started to formulate the word, her neurons sending signals to her vocal muscles.

She opened her mouth to speak.

And at that very moment they were interrupted by the metallic sound of a key entering the front-door lock.

The four men spun around sharply.

The door creaked open and a man emerged from the hallway into the living room.