The man in the little lift was wearing a balaclava and Bianca felt her body grow stiff with tension. The plump woman beside her squealed in fright as she stared at the man, whose black eyes, beady and dead-looking, glared at her.

The man suddenly brandished a knife and grabbed Bianca by the arm, propelling her forwards, into him. “Silence!” he growled in a thick Middle Eastern accent and Bianca winced. He stank of stale sweat and something else; drugs probably, she thought, her ...