Dedrick went out of the room. He returned in a few seconds with a roll of two-inch-wide adhesive tape.
‘One wrong move, and you’ll get it,’ Barratt warned me, raising the gun. Put your hands behind you.’
I put my hands behind me. There was nothing else I could do at the moment. Dedrick wound a length of tape around my wrists. He made a good job of it.
‘Round his mouth too,’ Barratt said.
Dedrick taped my mouth, crushing my upper lip against my teeth.
Barratt came over and stood before me, smiling viciously.
‘I’m going to make you sorry you interfered with me,’ he said, and hit me across the face with the gun-barrel. I staggered back. The back of my knees collided with the arm of the chair and I went over with a crash that shook the room.
‘Take it easy!’ Dedrick said, alarmed. ‘We don’t want anyone coming up here.’
Barratt snarled at him, came over to me and kicked me in the ribs. He kicked very hard, and I felt my ribs bend under the impact.
‘How about Maxie?’ Dedrick asked. ‘We’re wasting time, Jeff.’