Somewhere Laura could hear voices and the whine of air conditioning.  Her nose was blocked and she had problems breathing through her mouth.  Her nose hurt.  She wanted to throw up, but her mouth was full of something.
 
She opened her eyes and immediately screwed them shut again.  The room was too bright.  She tried to shield her eyes with her hand, but she couldn’t.  Handcuffs.  Leeson!  She forced her eyes open again.
 
She lay on her side on the floor.  Jones and Leeson stood huddled on the other side of the room, heads close, arguing inaudibly.  Several other men stood around, calf high boots and black uniforms.  She tried to scream an obscenity at Leeson, but her mouth was full of plastic.  Her rage came out muffled and undecipherable.  Leeson glanced at her.
 
“Get her out.  Next door.”
 
Two men grabbed her under her armpits and hauled her to her feet.  She kicked at their shins but they ignored her, dragging her towards the door.  She let her legs go limp, trying to maximise her dead weight, but they dragged her forward anyway.
 
Outside she was as blinded by the dark as she was by the light inside the apartment, but the cold air helped clear the last cobwebs from her mind.  He’d hit her.  The bastard had hit her!  She could taste the blood in her mouth.  Her sinuses screamed at her.  Had he broken her nose?  The complete and utter –
 
The two men shoved her through a door.  She staggered and fell, managing to twist onto her back before she hit the floor.  One of the security guys hit the light switch.  She coughed, her mouth filling with saliva and she gagged.  She coughed again, which just made it worse.  She couldn’t breathe.  Her eyes watered.  She was going to die.
 
She kicked out and felt her toe connect with a boot.  She took a long, laboured breath around the plastic gag, her saliva filling her oesophagus.  She choked again.
 
She felt a hand on the back of her head and her mouth was free.  She rolled onto her side and coughed until lights flashed in front of her eyes.  Then saliva rushed into her mouth and she vomited onto the carpet.
 
“You all right?”
 
“Fuck you,” she gasped.  She spat the acrid taste onto the carpet.  Blood from her broken nose mingled with the mess on the floor.  She was going to kill him.  Somehow she was going to get the cuffs off and then she was going to kill him.
 
One of the guards stepped out of the bathroom, a glass of water in his hand.
 
“Here,” he said, lifting her into a sitting position.  She glared at him, but took the water anyway.
 
“I bet your mother’s proud of you,” she rasped.
 
He waggled the empty glass.  “More?”
 
Before Laura could answer the door burst open and Leeson stormed into the room.
 
“You bitch!” he screamed.  “I am going to fuck you up!”
 
Jones followed him into the room.
 
“Sir?” she said, laying a hand on his arm.
 
Leeson shoved her hand free and waved a finger at Laura.  “You think you’ve won?  You think you’re fireproof now?”
 
“Sir?”  Jones held up a phone.  “I have the police on hold.”
 
“Screw them!”
 
“They’re at the gate.  They’ve got the signal from her phone.  Christmas told them it was his.  They’re coming regardless.”
 
Leeson pointed a finger at Laura, his face twisted in rage.  “Jesus!” he screamed, turned and snatched the phone from Jones’ hand, storming out of the apartment.
 
Jones held the door open, then jerked her head at the two guards.
 
“You too.  Wait outside.”
 
They left without a word.  Jones closed the door on them turned and leant against the door.  She stared at Laura for a moment.  Laura glared back.
 
“Cards on the table,” Jones said.  “We’re all up shit creek, dear.”  She grunted as she knelt beside Laura.  “You’ve got – “  She indicated the side of her mouth.  She pulled a tissue from her pocket.  “Let me –“  She dabbed at Laura’s face.
 
“When I say we, I mean all of us.  You, me, the Guild, governments, economies.  The world’s going to burn, dear, and people are going to be burnt.”  She dabbed at Laura’s upper lip.  “Peter’s quite cross.  With you, of course, but cross generally too.  He shouldn’t have hit you, though, but he’s stressed.  And he’s not quite come to terms with the way the world is about to change.”  She stopped dabbing and looked into her eyes.  “It is going to change, isn’t it?  Your friend got access to the files somehow, didn’t he.”
 
“Too right,” growled Laura.  “And it was down to me.”  She lifted her chin, daring Jones to do something about it.
 
Jones nodded.  “Your friends are quite loyal, you know.  Your friend Judy has arranged a campaign.  Our switchboards are flooded, apparently.  All Guild members, too.  I dread to think what my inbox looks like.  Peter and I have a pretty broad remit, but even he has a boss.  No one is so high up that a stink can’t reach them, if the stink is strong enough.  Do you want to clean up, by the way?”  She nodded at the bathroom.  “I’ve done my best, but to be honest no amount of washing is going to do anything for the swelling.  He shouldn’t have hit you, but my hands were tied, I’m afraid.  He’s my manager.”  She shrugged.  “Well, at least for now.”
 
Laura said nothing but maintained her stare.
 
“Anyway, it is what it is.  We can’t do anything about what’s passed.  Here, let me help you up.”  Jones hauled herself to her feet and hooked a hand under Laura’s arm.  “Let’s sit you down on a chair, shall we?”
 
For a moment Laura resisted, but the floor was uncomfortable and she was too close to the damp stain on the carpet.  Jones turned the chair to face the bed and steered Laura into it.  She sat on the bed and heaved a sigh.
 
“You’re a problem, dear, and I’m really at a loss with what to do with you.  Peter, bless him, is very good at the tactical, but strategically he’s a little short sighted.  He’s as likely to go down in flames and take you with him as anything else.  And he is going to crash and burn, there’s no way out for him.  Maybe we all will, but I don’t think so.  I think the Guild will survive, but obviously in a very different world.  Heads will roll, but not the whole body.  Exciting times, one way or the other.  Opportunities for some, if they can ride the storm out.”
 
She rose and moved to the window.  She tweaked the curtain.
 
“The police will be here in a moment.  They’ll need to see your phone, of course.  We’ll huff and puff, but we’ll have to let them into the room.  Peter will supervise that.”  She turned and stared at Laura.  “As they go in everyone will be focused on that.  Them, Peter, everyone.  And the police will be looking for Christmas.  A man, not two women.  Unless you screw things up, which, no offense, dear, seems to be your special talent.  So, if I let you go, are you going to screw things up?  Remember, the police are looking for your boyfriend too.  It’s not in your interests to alert them to who you are.”
 
“Why?” asked Laura.
 
“Hm?  Why am I letting you go?  To be honest, it’s in my self-interest.  Christmas doesn’t seem the sort that would be intimidated into not giving evidence, especially if you were out of the picture.  And in his current mood, I don’t think Peter has your health at the top of his priorities.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  So keeping you doesn’t offer any advantage, and letting you go can only help me when hard questions are asked.”  She shrugged.  “Or you can just put it down to my good nature.”
 
She glanced around the curtain again.  “They’re here.  Now, sweetheart, are you going to be a good girl and let me take those cuffs off you?”