‘Not so fast,’ said Bailey, withdrawing her right hand from the pocket of her Hugo Boss jacket. She held it up high so they could see what she was clutching in her fist.

83

They all peered at her right hand trying to work out what she was holding. Nancy paused, the drill whirring furiously, its tip poised barely a centimetre from the side of Jennifer’s head. After a few long seconds of scrutinising Bailey with her dark close-set eyes, she took her finger off the trigger and the tool lapsed into silence.

Bailey cleared her throat. ‘This is an M67 fragmentation grenade,’ she said.

Their eyes widened and she saw their fingers tighten on the triggers of their shotguns. Smiling thinly, she withdrew her other hand from her left pocket. She held it up to reveal a small metallic item dangling from her index finger.

‘And this is the pin.’

They froze and their eyes grew wider still. They knew that without the pin to hold it in place, the spring-loaded release lever would pop off the grenade, activating a three-second fuse that would detonate the high explosives contained therein… if she released her grip on it.

‘This grenade is a bit like a dead man’s switch,’ she said. ‘Sure you could blow my head off with those shotguns, but then I’d drop this grenade and you’d all die.’

The shotguns wavered slightly.

‘I looked on the internet just before I came here,’ she said, ‘and I found out that this particular grenade has a kill radius of five metres, which would make you all dead if I dropped it right now. In addition to that, it’ll spread red-hot shrapnel to a radius of fifteen metres… but the shrapnel has been known to travel up to two hundred and twenty metres from the centre of the blast.’

Bailey glanced around at the bare concrete space in which they were gathered.

‘There’s no cover here. And nowhere for you to run. If I drop this grenade right now, you’ll all end up either dead or seriously injured.’

‘So will you and your sister,’ said Rick.

Bailey shrugged. ‘Better that we go out my way rather than your way. And at least I get to take a whole load of you with me as well.’

‘She’s bullshitting,’ said Shane with a sneer.

‘Oh yeah?’ said Bailey.

With a flick of her left wrist, she tossed the pin out through the open side of the building. It arced into the darkness and tumbled down out of sight below.

‘Think I’m bullshitting now?’ she said.

‘You crazy fucking bitch,’ muttered Rick.

Nancy didn’t look in the remotest bit scared. ‘You’ll never escape,’ she hissed.

‘Put down the drill and untie my sister,’ ordered Bailey.

Nancy ground her teeth sullenly, her dark eyes boring into Bailey with unalloyed hatred.

No one made any move.

‘I said untie her!’ shouted Bailey.

With the greatest reluctance, Nancy gave an infinitesimal nod to Shane. He pulled a folding knife from his pocket, opened it up and sliced the duct tape from Jennifer’s wrists and ankles.