For long moments all they could do was lie there, the wind completely knocked out of them. They could hear people yelling, out in the street.
‘What the fu-’ said Dolly, crawling to her feet and helping Annie get back to hers. They stared at each other in shock, then looked at the window. It had blown in, but there were still jagged bits of glass clinging to the edges of the frame.
‘You OK?’ asked Annie. She saw that a trickle of blood was winding its way down Dolly’s cheek.
Dolly nodded. ‘Yeah. You?’
‘Doll, you’re bleeding.’ Annie fumbled in her bag, found a tissue, dabbed at Dolly’s face.
Dolly looked in surprise at the blood on the tissue. Then Annie turned and stumbled out of the door, down the stairs. Dolly followed. They threw open the double doors on to a scene of chaos. Smoke, flames, and…
‘That’s my car,’ gasped Annie.
Or at least it had been. All that remained of the Mercedes was a blackened, mangled, smoking heap. Cars around it had caught some of the blast, too. All the windows on the opposite side of the street, where she had parked, had shattered. Glass glittered on the pavement like snow after a winter blizzard.
‘Where’s Tone?’ asked Annie, her heart in her mouth. She’d seen him parked up in the company Jag when she’d arrived. He’d waved at her. Huge, bald and wearing twin gold crosses in his ears, he was an old and trusted friend.
Her ears were humming and she was afraid she was about to pass out.
Delight and Marlena crowded into the door behind them.
‘Oh my God, what happened?’ demanded Delight, eyes wide.
Annie barely heard her. She couldn’t see Tony. She couldn’t see the Jag. Bile rose in her throat. This wasn’t the first time she’d survived an explosion. Terrifying memories came flooding back in all their sick-making, ear-shattering horror. The glass, the sirens, the screaming…
‘Oh Jesus…’ She couldn’t see Tony anywhere.
‘There he is!’ said Dolly, pointing.
Tony was climbing out of the Jag. It was parked halfway down the street, on the other side of the road. His expression was shocked as he stared at the remains of Annie’s car. Then he spotted the women in the club doorway. After a long moment, he closed the car door and walked over.
‘I thought you were parked right next to it,’ said Annie, shuddering and clutching at her chest.
Beneath his usual healthy tan, Tony was looking grey.
‘I was,’ he said. ‘I went to fill up. When I got back, someone had nicked that spot, so I parked further away. You OK, Mrs C?’