“
Britt ignored the growing sense of dread swirling inside her stomach and tapped tentatively on the battered door of Lorraine Grayson’s office. Fifteen seconds dragged by. Apart from her heart beating more rapidly in her chest, nothing happened. As she raised her hand for a second attempt, a scream from inside caused her to recoil. It was the kind she’d only ever heard in those low-budget horror movies Howie enjoyed watching on a Friday evening after drinking too much Guinness. The scream morphed into a deathly gurgle. It sounded like someone was being strangled. A few seconds of forbidding silence. Then a grunting noise, followed by the sound of something being smashed in furious retribution, caused Britt to think twice about entering this madwoman’s lair. Maybe she would come back in half an hour. Yes. A quick espresso in the NSIS canteen to allow things to calm down. By then, Lorraine’s mood would have descended from the realms of complete insanity, dropped through the domain of the dangerously demented, and settled into its more natural state of moderate lunacy. Hopefully. Then the door swung open and Lorraine’s squat figure was in front of her – cheeks crimson, hair tousled, eyes bulging, lungs heaving. From the look of her, Britt wouldn’t have been surprised to discover she had just strangled someone.
”
”