Beth regained control of her senses to find a hand on her face and a thumb caressing her scar. Her lips and cheeks stung and it was all she could do not to scrunch them around to ease her discomfort. Lawrence Eversham was in front of her and he was talking, but she couldn’t focus on what he was saying.

She went to move her arm only to find it was attached to the rope stretched across the room.

The realisation of her predicament snapped Beth into full awareness. The drug must have affected her just enough that she’d allowed Eversham to secure her to the rope. Had she not regained her senses at this moment, she’d have fallen victim to him.

Her greatest fear was that she’d missed her chance due to the influence of the drug. That she was about to die in agony. Whatever the consequences, she had to act soon. Eversham was within reach and, judging by the rapturous, almost religious zeal in his eyes, he was close to being as far away from reality as Sarah.

This had to be her last chance.

Her only chance.

With no other means to attack him than her legs, she kept her eyes on his and swung her right leg forward, bending it at the knee and driving it upwards into his groin.

Beth didn’t wait to take satisfaction in the oofed grunt that came from Eversham. She gripped the rope with both hands and used it to support her upper body as she leapt upwards and planted her feet onto Eversham’s shoulders when he bent double to massage his injured groin.

The rope then gave her something to push against as she straightened her legs and drove Eversham towards the far wall.

His feet couldn’t move fast enough and he fell backwards. A dull thud sounded when his head struck stone.

Beth looked at Eversham and saw that, despite the blow, he was still conscious, if stunned. He was lifting a hand to his head and groaning, which meant she only had seconds before he was back on his feet. A minute at most.

She crabbed sideways, hauling Sarah after her. Instructions spilled from her mouth, but Sarah was slow to follow them and sluggish with her movements.

When her fingers grasped the knot Eversham had tied to secure the rope, they fumbled and twisted without gaining the right kind of purchase. She could feel them slipping and, while she wanted to look at what she was doing, she daren’t take her eyes from Eversham.

He swore and rested a hand on the ground as he tried to lever himself upright. Aware that time was running out, Beth gripped a part of the knot as tight as she could and pulled with all the strength she possessed.

The knot loosened.

Not enough to come free, but it was closer to unravelling.

Beth hooked two fingers into the hole she’d made and pulled.

The knot came apart and she felt a slackening of the rope securing her and Sarah.

By now Eversham was rising to his feet. All the genteel bonhomie had gone from his face as he shook his head and glared at her.

Not wanting to give him any kind of advantage, Beth charged forward while yelling at Sarah to come with her. The plan was to barge into him and crash his head into the wall for a second time.

It wasn’t the most sophisticated plan, but it was the best she could come up with. Eversham was too big and powerful for her to stand a chance of taking him one-on-one. Perhaps if she had her baton and a clear head she could do it, but not when manacled to a drugged-up civilian she had to protect.

Four paces from Eversham, Sarah tripped and staggered as she began to fall. The handcuffs connecting them dragged down Beth as well. Instead of ramming an elbow at Eversham’s head, as she planned, she thumped her shoulder into his gut.

He doubled over as they crashed to the ground, but there was no crunch of his head striking the stone wall for a second time. Even as Beth was trying to free herself, he was raining blows onto her back and shoulders. Each impact felt as if it was delivered by a heavy hammer. She could feel her limbs deadening from his onslaught and, despite her determination to save herself and Sarah, Beth couldn’t help but worry how long she would be able to endure this beating. Beth tried to jab at him with her free hand, but she couldn’t put half the force into her blows that Eversham was putting into his.

She felt the rope still in her fingers, got to her knees and thrust herself forward, ignoring his blows; a new plan fresh in her mind.

Her forehead collided with his chin rather than the nose she was aiming for. It didn’t matter, she gained enough time to quickly wrap the loose end of the rope twice round his throat.

His punches were now bouncing off her head and face, but she ducked her chin forward until it pressed on her chest and hauled on the two ends of the rope.

After what seemed like forever to Beth, the power of his punches began to subside. She could feel her lips had split and her eyes were starting to puff out from the blows he’d landed. Her nose felt broken, but she didn’t care.

She was winning.

Once all the power had gone from his body, Beth loosened her grip on the ropes and aimed a slap at his face.

He didn’t respond, so she checked for a pulse. It was faint, but present.

Beth pulled herself to her feet and untied the other end of the rope. Once she’d got it free, she used it to bind Eversham’s hands behind his back and then hog-tie him.

When she turned to Sarah, there was still that blank look in her eyes. Despite the battle Beth had just endured with Eversham, nothing was registering with Sarah yet.

‘Shit. You’re naked, Sarah.’

‘Am I?’

Beth couldn’t believe that she’d only just noticed Sarah’s nudity. A look at her own body revealed she was topless.

She figured Eversham must have been preparing them when she was out of it. Since coming to, she’d been so wrapped up in making her escape that she’d paid no attention to any of the peripheral details.

Her pyjama top lay on the ground, but when she picked it up, she saw that it could never be worn again. To at least cover her breasts, she tied a few of the bigger pieces together to form a rudimentary boob tube. Next she pulled the nightgown onto Sarah and tied the straps off above her shoulders.

When she saw where Eversham had placed the oxyacetylene kit, her knees threatened to buckle. It was the perfect tool to dispense both gas and oxygen into someone’s mouth and throat. That Eversham had swapped the nozzle he’d used to cut through the grill for one which had two open-ended pipes just confirmed her theory.

The last thing she did before going to get help was to check Eversham was breathing and that he couldn’t free himself.

Together with Sarah, Beth walked out of the castle and padded down the hill towards the house at the entrance to Workington Castle. The rough, stony tarmac would have stung her feet were her mind not reeling from her body’s reaction to how close to death she’d come. What had happened in the cellar at Highstead Castle was nothing compared to what she’d endured tonight.

Her imagination put a foul taste in her mouth as she fought against the horrors it conjured about what had almost become her fate. She forced herself to keep walking, to not worry that she was half dressed and to believe that, despite everything, she was safe. All that mattered now was getting help for Sarah and a pair of handcuffs onto Eversham.