”...from One Shell Square. We’re on the west side of the tower, investigating what appears to have been a bomb set off inside. As you can see, a fire is now raging in the 35th floor…”

I stopped listening, concentrating on maintaining the ship’s altitude. Wind currents around skyscrapers are always tricky, and they only get worse if the building is on fire, sending out random hot drafts.

I felt slightly light-headed, a side-effect of my direct link into the VTOL ’s controls, making the ship an extension of myself. Motion inside one of the suites alongside the fire caught my eye, and I swung the spotlight onto it.

Two figures slammed into the window, and I saw hairline fractures arc across the glass like permanent bolts of lightning. One was huge, hulking and dark. The other was smaller, his features hidden. Blood smeared the glass.

“Two men are inside, fighting, in the suite next to the fire.” Red was on top of it. The camera drone swung into the beam of light, fixing on the action, its turbines whirring.