Just ahead of him Jessica grabbed the banister to pivot around another corner and kept on going. Josh ran until his legs felt stiff, then until they felt like jelly, then until he couldn’t feel anything any more. Josh didn’t know what floor they’d reached; he didn’t even know how close the two goons were to catching him. He just kept running. Finally, they hit the last set of stairs. A flash of black caught his eye. He turned to look, misjudged the corner, and ran smack into a wall. When lights stopped flashing in front of his eyes, he looked up and saw the lithe silhouette of Granny Murata swing across the stairwell and into the two Yakuza thugs that were following them, knocking them off their feet. The bodyguard was clattering down the stairs towards Josh, his face red with rage. He grabbed for Josh’s throat but he ducked away and the bodyguard ended up punching the wall. “Argh!”
