"Where you gonna run to?" he said, his voice so deep that it sent a vibration through the floorboards. "I can see you, Alex."

My heart seemed to stop for an instant as I heard my name. He couldn't know who I was. There was no way. We lived more than a mile away and we never came to this part of town unless we were hitting a house. Then it struck me. He was a cop. He'd been following Toby and me after a previous job and had framed us by setting up this house as bait.

The thought filled me with panic. At last, the thing I never thought would happen was finally happening-I was about to be busted. Another ear-piercing scream penetrated the room from downstairs. What the hell were the police doing to Toby? I suddenly wished I was back at home, tucked away in bed and dreaming, wished I had never stolen that money from Daniel Richards. And I knew that if I didn't make it out of this room, I wouldn't be back in my own bed for months, maybe years.

I fingered the money in my pocket, realizing how pathetic I was to risk everything for a few hundred quid-money that would be useless behind bars. But maybe it could prove useful here. Grabbing as many of the notes as I could, I wrenched them from my pocket and threw them at the man. I didn't wait to see what effect they'd have, but dived to the floor, rolling under his reach and scrambling to my feet on the other side of the room.

I couldn't see the door: it was too dark. I slapped my hands furiously against the wall, knowing that I had only seconds before I felt the cop's huge hand on my shoulder. But there was nothing there except shelves and books. Risking a look behind me, I saw the man's two disembodied eyes race across the room, and it was all I could manage not to collapse to the floor screaming.

Just as he was above me, however, my hand hit the doorframe. Reaching across, I felt the handle and twisted it, ripping the door open so hard that it almost came off its hinges. It struck the man square in the face, but his only response was to laugh-a deep, grating rumble that followed me out onto the landing.