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to her and put her mouth to her ear and spoke in a voice so quiet that the woman could only just hear her.
    "I'm here to get you out of this," Sara said. "Speak to me like this so that they don't hear. Do you understand?"
    The woman gave a hesitant nod. She was still shaking with fear or shock. Sara had no time to comfort her properly just now so she pressed on bluntly.
    "I need you to tell me about what is inside that room. I need to know how many hostages there are. How many terrorists and their positions and anything you can tell me about their weapons."
    Sara waited for a response but the woman was just staring blankly. She reached up with her hand and took hold of the woman's face just under the chin. She turned it so that she was facing her. She stared at her eyes and waited until she saw signs of recognition.
    "You are safe now," Sara said risking a slightly louder voice away from the woman's ear so that she didn't break the contact she had just made.
    "You are safe now," she repeated. "No one is going to hurt you now but I need you to help me or the people that are left in there are going to be hurt. Will you help me?"
    The blankness remained in the other woman's face but there was a spark of life there now as well. Sara decided to take a risk and push the woman harder this was no time for a softly softly approach.
    "If there are people in there you care about I need you to help me help them or they are going to die."
    The woman blinked and Sara could tell she had finally got through to her. She moved again and spoke into her ear. "I need you to tell 'em what is in that room."
    The woman nodded again but more surely than before she took a couple of deep breathes and swallowed before putting her mouth to Sara's ear.
    "There . . . there were twelve of us being held and four or five of them."
    "Was it four or five? It's important that I know exactly," Sara asked.
    The other woman hesitated and closed her eyes, she nodded her head almost imperceptibly while she counted from memory. "It was five," she said after a moment.
    "Good. Now what can you tell me about their positions and yours?"
    "We were all told to kneel facing towards the back wall. When they first took us in there they moved all the units and made a wide open space but they forced us up against the wall. I think there was one of them at either side of our line but the others moved around, pacing," she hesitated as a thought came to her. "No, that's wrong. We were all put up against the wall but when the fifth terrorist came in someone was taken from there and they went up behind the counter. Then the others moved some of the shelves to block the counter from us and covered it in those blanket things."
    "So how many terrorists and hostages are out in the open and how many are behind the counter?" Sara could see the tears rolling down the woman's cheeks after being questioned so hard after such an ordeal but it had to be done.
    "Eleven of us against the wall with four of them watching," she looked at the unconscious body. "That would be ten and three now I guess. There was only one of each behind the counter, it sounded like whoever they took was being questioned about something but I couldn't make out what was being said."
    Sara nodded her mind already considering the options. She had no choice but to go in but should she go in through this entrance and take out the bulk of the threat but risk the hostage being held alone or should she try to go in the other way assuming it opened out of view of the rest of the room? Tactically there was only one option. If she went in the other way and she made even the slightest sound ten hostages could be killed, by going in this way only one of them was at risk.
    "That's been very helpful," Sara said taking a moment now to reassure the young woman. "I have to go in there and I want you to crouch down in this corner. Don't get up for anything there could be shooting and I don't want you to be hit by a stray bullet."
    The look