An ear-splitting screech tore through the room. Amber jerked around sharply. A fight had suddenly erupted out of nowhere, two inmates viciously going at it. She’d passed by their table only moments earlier, where they’d been sitting together, just the two of them, chatting in low tones, ostensibly engaged in amicable conversation.

But now, all of a sudden, they were punching and scratching each other, wrenching each other’s hair out, screaming and spitting abuse.

A fight.

A slam.

Amber’s heart rate immediately tripled as she frantically tried to think what to do. She cast her mind back to her training, trying to recall which control and restraint procedure would be most appropriate.

She looked around desperately for support, but there were no other prison officers present in the canteen. She was all by herself.

‘You fucking bitch!’ one of them was screaming. ‘He’s mine!’

‘Well now he’s mine!’ screamed the other one.

She recognised them as Agata and Marlena. They were both Eastern European. Agata was Polish and Marlena was Slovakian. Or was it the other way round? Right now, it didn’t really matter.

A tray of food got knocked off the table, clattering noisily onto the floor, splattering chilli con carne over the surrounding inmates, which didn’t help to defuse the situation.

There was nothing else for it. Amber took a deep breath and waded straight in.

‘That’s enough!’ she barked, attempting to separate them, but it was like trying to pull apart two very large, particularly vicious cats.

There were whoops of encouragement from the rest of the inmates. They revelled in diversions like this and they had all stopped eating to watch.

‘You’re nothing but a fucking slut!’ shouted Marlena as she swiped at Agata’s eyes with her long, painted fingernails.

‘He’s over you! You don’t mean anything now!’ hissed Agata as she kicked Marlena in the shins.

Marlena responded with a left hook.

Unfortunately, Amber’s face was in the way and she caught part of the blow on her temple, the force of it knocking her glasses right off her head. They skittered across the floor under a table.

She staggered back, momentarily stunned, her head throbbing from the impact.

The two inmates paused, staring at her in surprise as if registering her presence for the first time.

And then a large heavy figure barrelled into Marlena, knocking her to the ground.

It was Terry.

At last. Backup.

He knelt on Marlena’s back and bent her arm roughly behind her so she was pinned to the floor. She shrieked in pain, swearing at him.

‘Fighting’s not allowed!’ he growled in her ear.

‘That fucking bitch took my man!’ she shouted.

Amber gathered herself and turned to face Agata, who backed down, hands raised defensively, a nervous smile on her face.

‘It wasn’t my fault,’ she said. ‘She started it.’

‘I’m putting you both on the nicking sheet,’ said Amber, trying to block out the throbbing pain in the side of her head.

The situation was soon ironed out and the canteen went back to normal. There was a faint air of disappointment – from the inmates, at least – that the excitement was over.