My eyes flutter open. His face comes into view and my lip curls with disgust. He mimics my action and squats down beside me.

That’s when I realise where I am - on the floor of what looks like a warehouse, bound and gagged. Seems like they got me.

He rips the gag off and laughs menacingly. ‘I guess you regret swindling is of all that cash, don’t you?’

‘If you’re meant to sound scary, it’s not working,’ I say.

Then his face hardens. He grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me up.

‘You stole a million pounds from us, and now we’re going to get revenge!’

He dropped me back on the floor with a thud.

‘Well that’s gonna be hard,’ I tell him, ‘since I have an appointment to bail my dad out of jail - a jail your father put him in.’

‘What makes you think you’ll be alive in a minute’s time?’ he asked, turning to me with a deranged grin.

‘Because,’ I say, ‘you should’ve tied my legs.’

I spring up, and masked figures come at me from all sides. I charge at one of them with all my might. He falls on impact and I continue running. I reach the door and smash into it with my shoulder, but it’s locked.

I guess I’ll just have to face them.

I raise my hands above my head as the first person stampede toward me. They are a few metres away before I pull my hands down, releasing them from their duct tape bonds. I punchthe person in the face, causing them to stumble, and I knee them in the ribs. They collapse in front of me.

‘Who’s next?’ I say, grinning.

Two of them run at me this time, from either side. I wait until the right moment, slide out of the way and they collide, knocking each other out.

Three down, two to go.

A lean woman wearing a sequinned mask steps forward and we circle each other. She looks trained.

I make the first move, kicking at her with my boots. She nimbly doges and lashes out with her hand in a karate chop. She hits my shoulder as I twist out of the way, grabbing her arm in the process. Defending against her lethal kicks, I twist the skin on her arm. She lets out a cry of anguish and temporarily stops, allowing me to hit the side of her face and pushing her into the wall.

Suddenly I hear a roar behind me and turn to see him running at me.. I am just in time to block his attack. I block hit after hit until I’m too exhausted. He grabs me and wraps his hands around my neck. Squeezing. Spots cloud my vision.

I do the only thing my brain can think of.

I kick him in the balls.

He squeaks before sinking to the floor.

Stupid man. He’s underestimated me.

I manage to kick the door down and leave.