Page 209 of The Sleepwalker

The gravelly, frozen ground is so hard it feels like concrete.

As he approaches the brick building, he radios Jamal.

‘I’m following you in,’ he says. ‘I’m following you in, over.’

Joona tears off his hat and uses it to cover his nose and mouth, then raises his pistol and heads in through the doorway.

In the smoke up ahead, the operatives’ tactical lights sweep across a large room with peeling medallion wallpaper. Joona takes an immediate right, striding through a mudroom with a shower cubicle. Beside the washing machine, there are two axes in a red bucket. Both are still in their plastic wrapping.

‘Freeze, police!’ he hears Jamal shout somewhere deeper in the building.

Joona’s eyes are burning from the tear gas as he comes out into a shabby kitchen. The sink is full of bloody toilet paper, and there are several empty dog bowls on the floor, a pack of hotdog buns beside a beer can on the table.

He hears heavy footsteps and catches a glimpse of a man with long grey hair dart past the doorway up ahead.

Gun lights flash through the kitchen.

One of the operatives appears in the doorway, and Joona meets his eye and uses a hand to indicate the direction the man ran.

A series of metallic clangs reverberate through the pipes.

Joona turns back towards the mudroom and makes his way into a larger room with a narrow staircase to the floor above.

There are two spent tear gas canisters on the rough wooden floor.

The joists overhead creak, and a trickle of dust falls from the ceiling.

Jamal and another of the operatives come through from the adjoining room.

‘He’s upstairs,’ says Joona.

‘Alpha, follow me. Everyone else, stay downstairs,’ Jamal says over the radio.

The three men run up the stairs, covering each other as they tactically pick their way between the cupboards, chests of drawers and sofas.

The building is darker on the first floor, the air a little warmer and thick with dust. From the room to the right, they hear a muffled cough.

Jamal runs over and opens the door, swinging around to the left while his colleague takes the right.

Joona hurries after them with his Colt Combat raised.

They catch only a brief glimpse of the long-haired man as he runs through to another room, slamming the door behind him.

His feet thud against the floor.

Jamal stands with his back to the wall, takes off his breathing mask and tries the handle.

The door is locked.

Joona steps forward and kicks it as hard as he can. There is a crunching sound, and the door swings open. Splintered wood and broken metal drop to the carpeted floor on the other side.

The room is empty.

Against one wall, there are a number of old paint tins.

The man has escaped into another room, disappearing down a service corridor and passing them in the opposite direction.

Rather than run after him, Joona turns around and overtakes the man before he reaches the stairs.