It had started out as an investigation by the task force into Roy Slack’s criminal empire. Now it was much more than that. Murders had been committed. Threats made. The police, whose job it was to protect the people of London, could no longer protect themselves. It was a terrible state of affairs.

And for me it was also personal. I’d lost a baby. My boyfriend was lying in hospital with a bullet wound. One of my colleagues was dead. My mother was living in fear. And my house had been shot up.

So naturally I was angry. In fact a rage I had never known had taken hold of every cell in my body.

And it was directed at two people. One was Roy Slack, the man who was seeking a brutal revenge against the Met.

And the other was the bloodthirsty bitch who was helping him.

I arrived at the New Scotland Yard building just before two o’clock. The car dropped me outside the entrance on the Victoria Embankment.

The sight that greeted me brought tears to my eyes. The paving slabs around the entrance were covered with flowers that had been laid as a tribute to those who’d been killed, including the Commissioner, John Saunders.

Some of the bunches were stacked beneath the famous revolving sign carrying the words New Scotland Yard. Others spilled over onto the pavement.

There were dozens of people around and some of them looked visibly upset. I also saw two TV camera crews who were filming what was going on.

I quickly entered the building so they didn’t spot me. The atmosphere inside was understandably tense and muted. Most people were still in shock. They spoke quietly, eyes downcast, grief etched into their features. I’d expected this but it was still difficult to take.

Upstairs in the task force office, the team were hard at it. Rushing around. Talking into phones. Tapping furiously at keyboards. There were some people I didn’t recognise, no doubt drafted in from other departments.

Several of my colleagues stopped what they were doing when they saw me walk in and two of them – Kate Chappell and Janet Dean – came over to see how I was.

‘Laura,’ Kate bellowed as she approached. ‘What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Aidan?’

‘I was,’ I said. ‘But his parents are with him right now and he’s doing well. We both thought that I’d be more useful here.’

Janet pulled a face. ‘That goes against protocol, love. You’re the girlfriend of one of the victims.’

I shrugged. ‘I’m sure that won’t be an issue considering how bad things are.’

‘Well, Drummond’s in his office,’ Janet said. ‘Let me know how you get on. Perhaps we can have a coffee downstairs.’

‘So have there been any developments?’