Holly didn’t doubt that, if she rushed Howie, Maggie would help her overpower him. But what would happen when they got to the other side of the door? It could be their only chance of escape though…

‘So you want to blackmail me?’ he scoffed.

Maggie briefly shrugged her shoulders. ‘Call it what you want.’

‘So you’ll stay silent about what if I give you this fifty grand?’

‘Nobody has to know about cold storage.’

Holly knew Maggie was about to run out of leverage. ‘And you’d better let us out of here right now. Our friends have explicit instructions.’

‘I’m sure they have. But as I’ve got nothing to hide why don’t you call them?’ He pulled Holly’s phone from his pocket and held it out to her.

‘I will… after you step aside and we’ve walked.’ But Holly saw her brief hesitation had told Howie everything he needed to know.

He withdrew his arm. ‘You’re acting alone.’

‘She’s told you; we’ll only call them when we’re free.’ Maggie remained defiant. ‘If we don’t make it out they’re going to be sending the cops right to your door.’

‘How long?’

‘How long what?’ But Holly understood exactly what he was asking her.

‘How long before these friends of yours bring in the cavalry?’

Holly looked at her watch.

6:32 a.m.

Less than half an hour until sunrise. What did that mean for Abigail?

‘A couple of hours,’ Maggie answered for her.

‘That’s quite a window. If you were afraid something might happen to you wouldn’t you want them to come sooner? Or are you giving your story plenty of time?’

‘Pass me my phone.’ Holly extended her hand.

Howie shook his head once and pocketed it. ‘I think we’ve established there’s nobody waiting out there. And I’m not about to give you the phone so you can call anyone else.’

‘See what happens then. If they don’t—’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ he cut Maggie off sharply. ‘You’ve wasted enough of my time. I’ll let you both go but you have to tell me exactly who you are and who put you up to this.’

‘Look… we’re cops.’ Maggie tried to make it sound like a reluctant confession.

‘Don’t bother with that. Tell me the truth. Lester!’

The door opened. Holly expected somebody big to walk through it, but the man who appeared was lean and only slightly taller than Howie. He wore a grubby black and white varsity jacket and loose jeans. A dyed dark goatee hugged his gaunt features, and the peak of his jagged denim baseball cap was pulled low so his sunken sockets were in shadow.

‘I heard.’ Lester stepped past Howie.

Holly saw he had the fingers of his left hand through the holes of a brass knuckleduster and that his right held a hypodermic needle.

‘You don’t want to fuck with Lester.’ Howie turned, took a key from his jeans pocket and locked the door.

Holly swallowed and couldn’t disguise it.

‘You don’t scare us,’ Maggie said scornfully.

Howie closed his eyes. ‘Who put you up to this?’

Lester took a few paces towards Holly.

‘Don’t.’

‘Touch her and you’ll have me to deal with,’ Maggie threatened.

But Holly was sure Howie would rush Maggie while Lester was taking care of her.

‘Just make this easy on yourselves. You’re gonna tell me everything I want to know but it’s up to you if you want to get brain damage in the process.’

‘Stay back!’ Holly yelled as Lester playfully jinked sideways and then forwards towards her.

‘Now I’m sure there’s nobody waiting for you, we’ve got plenty of time.’ Howie remained by the door. ‘Fifty grand? You’re both gonna make me so much more than that. While we’re doing what we’re about to do to you and you’re begging us to stop, one second, one fucking second of that will make me fifty grand.’

Holly figured they were in the middle of a bigger situation than either of them had envisaged. ‘Just let us walk out of here.’ She couldn’t keep the fear out of her voice. ‘Stay back!’

Lester advanced.

‘Just wait!’ Maggie raised her palms. ‘We don’t know anything. That’s the truth. We were sent in here. All we were told were those two words “cold storage”.’

Howie puffed his cheeks in mock relief. ‘So you’re not threatening to blackmail me now?’

‘She’s telling the truth.’ But Holly knew the bluff had badly backfired. ‘Somebody has my child. I need to find her.’

Lester momentarily froze.

Howie lifted an eyebrow. ‘Your child?’

She nodded. ‘We were told to come here. We’ve no idea why. We don’t know what cold storage is.’

His features were impassive. ‘Hear that, Lester?’

He nodded the peak of his baseball cap.

‘Think we should help these ladies out?’

Lester grinned so his goatee stretched tight.

Holly barrelled at Lester. She could knock the hypodermic from his grip. Maggie headed towards Howie.

Holly swung for Lester’s face.

Lester’s pockmarked expression was unperturbed by her assault. Stepping effortlessly sideways he lifted the needle high and swiped once at Holly with the knuckleduster.