The pain from his viciously swollen ankle arrowed up through his leg, but still he kept going. His shift was finished and, if he was quick, he could make it out of the building without meeting a soul. He had been working here long enough to know Holloway’s shortcuts.
Robins knew he was on borrowed time, but he had to get away. They had been called in one by one this morning to give their DNA samples, which were then whisked off to the Forensic Service labs in Hammersmith. As he’d given his sample, his eyes had strayed to the red flag on the corner of the zip bag and the single word written on it: ‘Urgent’. He didn’t know how these things worked – did it take them hours or days to process them? – but he didn’t want to find out. He had to escape this place, to gather his thoughts and form a plan.
Initially he had been elated to escape Grace. His plunge on to the suicide net was a desperate act, but it had worked. Grace had hesitated to follow and, though he had hurt himself in the fall, he’d got away, limping to the safety of C-Block. He didn’t think Grace had clocked that it was him – she still seemed to regard him as a friend during their recent conversation in the Seg – and in normal circumstances he would have breathed a sigh of relief. But nothing was normal about this current situation. Proud in particular seemed determined to run this one to ground and there was no telling what Grace might do, once her brief spell in the Segregation unit was over.
As Robins neared the back exit, he suddenly wondered if he would ever come back. It would be incriminating for sure, but perhaps it would be best to flee? He had savings, a car … He could go to Holyhead? Or Dover? There were plenty of places to hide out. He could start again. Reinvent himself.
The staff exit was only fifty feet away now and, buoyed by these thoughts, he picked up the pace. But as he neared the door, he suddenly became aware of movement close by. This exit was always deserted, but suddenly there were bodies in front of him. Men in suits, cutting off his escape route. Instinctively, Mark turned around, but here his way was blocked too. Benjamin Proud was hurrying towards him, a grim smile on his face.
‘Now where are you going in such a hurry?’ Proud said coolly.
Robins didn’t know what to say, flustered by Proud’s sudden appearance.
‘Can’t remember? Perhaps it’ll come back to you once we’re inside. I’d like a word with you, if I may.’
Proud gestured towards the staff quarters, a look of triumph writ large on his face. And in that moment, Mark Robins knew that all was lost.