Lucy Alice Chang, the Chinese girl with red hair, was waiting for me.

As she slid off the barstool in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, I eyed up her elegant little black number, with those thin straps over the shoulders. She click-clacked on heels a mile high, just to let me look into her inky-pool eyes. With her red hair, make- up and soft pouty lips I couldn't have picked a better lovely to show me around the sights of Singapore. I reminded myself to say something on the subject to old Ivan from the Russian Embassy.

When I bumped into Ivan at the Jane's Defence meeting in Jordan I mentioned I was off on holiday to Singapore. It was my first visit, so who could show me around?

"Lucy Chang," he said," Leave it all to me. I'll arrange a meeting place and you just turn up. Lucy has fire red hair by the way. She's a real cracker. You can't miss her."

The meeting in the hotel went like clockwork. I was early but she was already waiting for me. I introduced myself.

"Peter B.Cassidy," she said sweetly." I like your name." Her excellent English, learnt in Geneva, made talking so easy, just as if we'd been old school friends. We talked about where to go in the city the next day.

"First let's eat here" I said. "I'm hungry."

She maintained my interest through out the meal. I enjoyed her company but was a little surprised at how little she ate. Maybe she was keeping an eye on her shapely figure. My next surprise came when I noticed how much alcohol she was drinking. In a nutshell her quota of whisky would have floated a Royal Navy battleship. Yet surprisingly enough she didn't appear to get drunk.

As I ordered another cocktail she glanced at her gold Gucci wristwatch.

"Do you need to get home in a hurry?" I asked.

Lucy smiled and shook her head.

"No. I was just wondering if you'd like to see where I live. I'm on my own, so you'd be most welcome."

Her offer was an impossible one to turn down, you see I'd looked deep into those eyes of hers, and cast a lustful eye over her shapely body. So after dinner I ordered a taxi and we went to her flat.

We sipped drinks on her settee and listened to 'jazz, followed by some romantic music. The music drifting through the flat made me sink lower in my seat and relax. As I did so I cast the odd glance about taking in the neatness of the flat. Nothing was out of place. Too neat, perhaps. Yes, almost too neat and my hackles arose. Was this a set up? I glanced around for any suspicious signs. Then I remembered Ivan, the Russian, who arranged for me to meet Lucy.

I considered the planned meeting for a long time. I didn't want to be a stooge or blackmailed...

The malt whisky was so satisfying. We relaxed. Lucy took my hand and drew me closer. The fragrance of her perfume was essentially like some dizzy Burmese orchid. I breathed in deeply enjoying the pleasure. I squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.

Suddenly she whispered in my ear as I started to doze about changing into something more comfortable. I nodded in agreement, and she left the room.

Ten minutes later I was in the small kitchen looking for a glass of water. It was a neat kitchen. Nothing was out of place. Out of curiosity I opened wall cupboards to find them empty; no wok, no bags of rice, no sauces, no pots or pans, no crockery. It was weird. Perhaps the flat was rented.

As a thought popped into my head I looked in the fridge. That too was empty. There was no milk, cheese, butter or bread, just the one bar of Toblerone chocolate, not even a can of beer. Strange. I searched a little more.

Another ten minutes passed and I got up to shout outside the closed bedroom door. "Lucy, I need some fresh air. I'll be back in a few minutes". I Really wanted to do a little quiet thinking.

I think I heard an answer, so I left the flat. After walking for about a mile I turned back towards the flat. My head was clearer.

From a distance I saw a car stop outside the flat. The driver, wearing American army uniform, jumped out and pounded with his fists on her door. His face was flushed with anger as he gave up knocking and drove away to a screech of tyres. I was puzzled by what I'd witnessed.

When I got to the door of the flat I found it open. All the lights were on. I was apprehensive. I searched each room even the bedrooms but all the rooms were empty. I was puzzled so I went outside to think.

On returning to the flat I checked the rooms again. Again the same result; the rooms were empty. I was in the bedroom when a sound caught my attention. It came from the kitchen. I crept back in there. Lucy was instantly recognisable by her mass of long red hair. Her back was towards me as I moved closer. As I watched, her right hand came up grasping a bar of chocolate. Her left hand parted the hair at the back of her head to reveal a triangular opening. The opening throbbed as something pink moved within.

Suddenly Lucy thrust the Toblerone into the space. Next, I heard the thud as something heavy, the size of a golf ball, dropped onto the carpet. As it swivelled the eye winked up at me. Suddenly a red cloud of choking gas filled the kitchen. I coughed. I got smart very quickly when I sensed something alien coming through that cloud.

One wink from a beautiful Chinese puzzle and I ran.

And I'm still running!