That was the plan.

That the plan had to survive the arrival of an armed loan shark was a complication I had not foreseen.

But complications, I have found, are survivable if you keep your head.

Because just as I was about to begin, the heavy oak front door groaned open, and everything changed.

Chapter 7 — The Nightmare Walks In

A man walked into the dining room.

He was massive, and scarred, and dressed in a leather jacket, and he moved with the unhurried confidence of a person who is used to being the most dangerous thing in any room he enters.