A year previously, DI Delaney was responsible for the arrest of Michael Robinson, a vicious rapist. Robinson always claimed he was set up by the police but, before he could be brought to trial, he was brutally attacked in prison and left for dead. He survived, however, and a year later, out of hospital and fit for trial - he is pointing the finger squarely at Delaney for the assault that nearly killed him.
Mark never heard the Mauser shot for the bullet came ahead of the sound. There was only the massive shock in the upper part of his body, and then he was hurled backwards with a violence that drove the air from his lungs.The earth opened before him, and as he fell, there was a sensation of being engulfed in a swirling vortex of blackness and he knew for just a fleeting instant of time that he was dead'