All around him men began to rage. Bottles and bricks, and whatever came to hand, were flung at the police wall. Their collective fury seeped into Bilal. A boy in a hoodie with a scarf wrapped around his mouth shoved him from behind. He fell forward, almost tripping over a bag that someone had left in the middle of the street. The stench of petrol rose up. As he steadied himself he noticed that the bag contained glass bottles and some kind of oil. He watched as five men gathered around a car and began to rock it back and forth before turning it over. Behind him a group of young boys cheered and raised their hands in victory. His anger rose and he considered picking up one of the bottles in the bag. But the police began to move forward in formation in an attempt to herd the men down the street. Bilal backed away.

He spotted Jimmy Khan; the men had been neighbours for years, exchanging pleasantries on the way to work and at Friday prayers. He was standing by the bag, a bottle in one hand, his phone in the other. Bilal watched as Jimmy looked at his phone and then flung the bottle into the window of the travel agency across the road. The glass shattered and as mob mentality kicked in, a volley of other bottles were hurled into the building, creating explosion after explosion. The shop was alight, flames licking up the front to the roof, as though trying to escape into the night sky.

Jia stood motionless, looking down at Nowak, her phone in her hand. She was jolted back by the sound of smashing glass coming from the next room. Nadeem helped Idris to his feet. The bullet had only grazed his arm. The temperature began to rise quickly. It was time to move.

‘Take the money,’ said Jia.

Her cousins grabbed the bags of cash, throwing in the last few wads lying on the floor, and began making their way back to the basement from which they’d come.

Jia stood by the trapdoor and waited until her men were safely underground, flames rising rapidly all around her. From the back of the room, she watched the travel agency burn, the fire devouring everything in its path. She turned off her phone and threw it on the flames before she left. It exploded behind her.

Back in the restaurant, Jia’s cousins pulled off their masks and threw them into the trunk with their gloves and guns. Once Jia had emerged from the basement, Nadeem and Malik closed the trapdoor and pushed the box back into place. They looked at each other, sweat pouring from their faces. The heat was intense, even here. ‘Well –’ said Idris. His words were cut short by the sound of an explosion nearby.

‘What was that?’ said Nadeem. ‘It sounded close. I think we should get out of here.’