I was no sooner through the door than something seized me by the throat, lifted me high in the air, and shook me like a wolf with a hare in its jaws. Through spotted vision, I could see it was a hulking bobby. He raised his spiked billy club to smash my head in, a smile on his smooth gray plastic face. His eyes glittered black, and red veins pulsed beneath the surface of his corpse-like skin. With a snarl, I plunged the dissecting needle into his wrist. His grip loosened, and I twisted away from him. He grabbed me by the left arm and twisted it. I managed to hang on to my bag, but in a moment or two my bones would snap.