Bob didn’t bother trying to get her into a seat. He grabbed his paperwork and slapped the bulkhead. “Stick your foot down, Dougie. Put them on standby. Her sats are only eighty-six, and she’s knackered.”

The vehicle moved off, its sirens blaring to clear a path through the chaos. Rosie squeezed Jem’s clammy fingers. “Hey,” she said. “I know you’re tired, but no slacking on the breathing, okay? I’m not doing all the bloody paperwork for this.”

Jem managed a weak smile and then set off coughing, until she retched and yanked her oxygen mask down.

“Help me…I can’t…” She slapped at Bob’s arm as he tried to resecure the mask. “I can’t breathe.”

“Jem, you need the medicine,” he said. The liquid-filled chamber beneath the mask created a thin mist as the oxygen hit it, but none of the mist was going anywhere near her. On the monitor, eighty-six percent dropped to eighty-five and then eighty-three.

Rosie knelt up properly, wrapping her arm around the head of the stretcher so she wouldn’t go flying. “Here, let me hold it for you.” She placed the mask close to Jem’s face, though not so close it made her claustrophobic. “How’s that? Any easier?”

“Yes,” Jem whispered.

“We’ll have you there in no time,” Bob said. “You know what Dougie’s driving is like.” His eyes were fixed on the sats reading, and he’d set a ventilation bag in readiness by his feet. He mopped his brow with a paper towel when the figure climbed to eighty-eight.

“That’s the best they’ve been,” he said to Rosie. “She’ll go straight into Resus at A&E, and they’ll be ready for her, so don’t worry.”

“Easier said than done,” Rosie said, watching Jem’s eyes roll as she fought to stay conscious.

Bob was watching her as well, missing nothing, his foot tapping an uneasy beat on the ventilation bag. “Yeah, isn’t it just?”

* * *

“On my count.” Bob’s curt instruction brought a semblance of order to the staff gathered in the Resus bay, most of whom obviously recognised Jem.

Rosie found a spot on the periphery, her attempts to feign authority undermined by the blood and soot covering her, and ignored by a team who had far greater concerns. Jem wasn’t ignoring her; her eyes had tracked Rosie’s position since their arrival in the bay, but as the team slid her onto the bed her gaze fell away, as if she was humiliated by her own weakness.