20
- 20 -
A noise woke Leopold. At first he could not place it, but when he heard a soft tread that his mind told him was footsteps, he clearly remembered the click of the door unlocking.
He opened his eyes. He was lying on one side, his back to the room, and he could see nothing.
His heart pounded, like on those rare occasions when a debate entered its final stage with both positions equally balanced. He knew that to make the wrong move would be to invite disaster. A misjudged word could let the opponent in, and the slightest c***k in his defence would be forced wider.
But this wasn’t a debate. This was Outside, where he was more likely to be opened with a blade than with words.
He threw himself onto his back. “Who’s there?”
At least, that is what he attempted to say, but the hand
