But the four men in the room were already on the floor. All on top of one another, except for one on his own, who was cuffed. There was some kind of scuffle going on, and a fair amount of blood. A gurgling noise could be heard coming from underneath it all, and the armed response unit shouted for the men to move away from one another.

The all clear had come over the radio, and Kelly took the stairs as fast as she could. She stopped dead in the middle of the room when she saw the scene. She looked from Will to Liam, who was being cradled by his friend; to Jason Cotton, cuffed on the floor; and then to Jordan Watson, who lay on his back, bloody hands in the air, staring at her.

Adam Cotton was in a critical condition. He was struggling to breathe. Someone shouted into a radio: ‘Medic!’

Medics accompanied armed response units routinely, and it wasn’t long before a team was running up the metal stairwell, carrying emergency equipment. Basic CPR was useless at this point: they needed to stop the blood flow. They compressed the wounds they found. Adam groaned.

Kelly made a rapid assessment in her head. Before any kind of crime-scene investigator was called, she had to stabilise the situation. Everybody was pumped full of adrenalin, and somebody had to make some serious decisions.

‘He’s a suspect, get him out of here,’ she said, pointing to Jason Cotton.

‘Fuck you, bitch.’

Jason was manhandled away.

‘Jordan, are you hurt?’ she asked.

He shook his head.

‘Will?’

‘Liam’s cut pretty bad.’

‘He’s lucid, do an injury assessment!’ shouted the medic working on Adam Cotton.

Will nodded, and Kelly helped him. Liam had a deep cut to his thigh; Will stripped his T-shirt off and wrapped the wound.

‘Fuck, that hurts!’ Liam gasped.

‘You’ll live,’ Kelly said, going to Jordan. She knelt down and reached out to touch him. He was shaking and staring goggle-eyed at her. ‘Jordan? Do you know who I am?’

He nodded.

‘Good. Are you hurt?’ She looked him over quickly. He shook his head.

‘What happened?’ he asked.

Kelly’s eyes flickered over to where Adam Cotton was lying, and Jordan followed them. The young man was on his back, surrounded by officers trying to save his life. He convulsed as blood spurted out of him.

‘Was that me?’ Jordan asked faintly.

‘You don’t remember?’

He shook his head.

‘No, it was me,’ Liam said. ‘Cotton had two knives and went for Jordan. I got in the middle.’

Kelly glanced back to where Adam Cotton lay and saw two knives on the floor close by. She knew with every fibre of her being that they belonged in Thomas Watson’s knife block. There was little she could do to protect Jordan now.

‘And Jordan was the target but he came out unscathed?’

‘I was faster than Adam.’