And then the room exploded.

2

The blast hit Karene with a violent thrust and she jolted backwards, landing hard on the concrete paving slabs. She instinctively raised her arm across her eyes as glass from the windows rained down on her. She was surrounded by hot air, rushing across her skin, and a thick grey cloud of choking dust. She heard the man on stilts fall, colliding with a table which then collapsed, spraying glassware across the floor.

She could see nothing, hear so little: the world dull and distant as though she was underwater. Should she run? Should she hide? She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. Her mouth tasted of metal and something somewhere was burning.

She tried to focus. She was surrounded by fog. A figure in the distance was trying to stand. They stumbled and then righted themselves.

‘Hey,’ she called. ‘Hello?’ But although her lips were moving, there was no sound at all. She tried again, but the figure moved away from her and was swallowed by the grey.

She crawled towards the man on stilts.

‘Are you OK?’ she said, pressing her index finger and thumb into an ‘OK’ sign so that she might at least communicate something.

The man nodded. He sat up. He looked up at the building, just decipherable through the dust, and shook his head.

Karene followed his gaze.

Harry.

She needed to get in there.

She stood up and, staying crouched, ran towards the stone steps.

A strong hand grabbed her by the arm.

‘Get down,’ shouted the man. He had clumps of grey soot in his hair.

Karene shook her head.

‘Hey,’ yelled the man, pulling her down to the floor. He pressed his mouth against her ear so that she could hear him more clearly. ‘This place is full of military personnel. And none of them are running towards the blast area, are they?’

‘Why the hell not?’ she shouted. Her voice squeaked each word.

‘Because we don’t know what that was, if it’s finished or if there might be worse still to come. We need to wait.’

Karene looked at the man in disbelief. ‘How long will that take?’ she shouted, pulling her arm away. ‘People might be hurt. They might be bleeding.’

Harry.

She pushed the man aside and continued up the stairs. She could hear someone screaming. She knew that she was out of her depth but what choice did she have?

She stepped inside the reception. It was dark and thick with smoke. Harry had been in a room to the left. She squinted, looking in that direction, hoping her eyes would adjust. The shapes made no sense. She blinked several times. Large slabs of burning wood blocked her path and the mangled remnants of something metal formed a barrier ahead.