ZOITECH, Friday 13:45

Back at the lab, Sam held open the cab door for Lyn as she exited. He paid and tipped the driver and together they attempted to climb the steps to the lobby but were prevented by tape cordoning off the building and a policeman barring their way. A couple of news crews were still around but most of the media scrum had subsided.

"What's this? I thought we could go back in?" said Lyn.

"Limited access only I'm afraid", said the policeman. "I can only let you in if you work here."

"This is my office. I just got back from Shoreditch."

"Name, please?"

Lyn told him. The policeman checked in with someone on his radio, then apparently satisfied, lifted the tape so they could enter.

The elevator was off limits so they took the stairs. When they emerged into the reception area the devastation struck Lyn anew. The smoke has dissipated by now, so the air was clear, and there was nothing to distract her from the ruin her office and her lab had become.

The wall displaying the dna base pairs behind the reception desk had been marked out with black and yellow hazard warning tape. Someone had decided the explosion behind it had made the wall unsafe. it was only an internal partition so the integrity of the building was unaffected, but it still shocked Lyn to see it. It had been the focal point of the room.

Most of the broken glass had been swept away. Small neat piles occupied some corners where the workers had not yet finished clearing it. Dozens of heavy-duty black bags were piled near the elevator, ready for disposal.

With the glass gone and much of the equipment separated into two piles - working and faulty - even the sound of the rooms were different.

Lyn walked slowly down the hallway dividing the offices and the lab. The doors had been completely removed. There was nothing left to secure apart from a couple of computers which still worked. Her own office, furthest from the lab, was the least affected by the blast. She told Sam to help himself to his bag, excused herself, and shut herself in her office. Sitting there with the door closed she couldn't see any sign of the damage and injury that had taken place that morning. The only clue was the faint smell of something burned which was everywhere.

The grant application she had been working on that morning still sat on her desk. It was the last thing Alice had arranged for her.

Lyn buried her face in her hands and tried notto cry.