A loud bang drags me from the sheltered path my thoughts had walked me down.

Unfocused.

The sound reflects from the old buildings like laughing faces in a hall of broken mirrors. It takes a second to register. It shouldn’t. It’s my job to see all, vigilance incarnate. Distraction is a killer.

She lies at my feet, shaking, coughing, blood spreading across the floor like thick syrup, filling channels between cobbles. On one knee, I take her in my arms, feel the life seeping from her.

‘Don’t blame yourself,’ she says, red eyes greying, always the professional.

‘I’m sorry,’ I tell her. ‘I should have…’

‘Shh.’ She holds a finger to my quivering lips and draws the breath from my lungs.

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