Barbara swiped away Winston's hand. "Stop fussing. I'm fine. Look after Simon."

She felt Simon being pulled from her arms, but then the boy dug his fingers into her side and yelled, "No. I want Babra."

"It's okay, Simon. These nice ambulance officers just want to check if you're okay."

"No." He scrambled up her body, his foot digging onto her stomach.

"Careful," she said, "you'll hurt the pup."

Simon instantly released his grip and leant back. "Is… is it okay?'

Barbara reached into her jacket and pulled the shivering animal form her pocket. "He's fine, but he needs to be checked too. She handed the pup to the female ambulance officer. "Simon, will you go with Pup and see he's looked after?"

The lad nodded. "Will they check you too?"

Barbara smiled. "Of course. I'll be over in a minute."

"Okay."

She waited until Simon was out of earshot before allowing the other ambulance officer to look at her. "Will he be okay?" she asked.

The ambulance officer nodded. "Other than bad bruising, a few lacerations and dehydration, he looks okay. But you look like you've walked out of an explosion."

"If that's your bedside humour, it's not funny."

Winston chuckled. "It is a bit funny. You, umm… have singed your hair, your face is blacker than mine, and your jeans look like something from the 80s with all those rips."

"Hmmph. Where's Lynley?"

"Ah…" Winston raised his hand to calm her. "He's been concussed, but he'll be fine. He's in the ambulance."

"Concussed? Did he catch Theodore?"

"No. He had a fight with a low-hanging tree branch, then heard the explosions and ran back. He hit his head on a rock when he learned you were inside the house."

Barbara tried not to smile. "Does he know I'm okay?"

"No, probably not."

Barbara pushed away the man fussing to take her vitals. "Can we do that over there?" she said, pointing to the ambulance.

Tommy sat staring into space. He felt he should be doing something, but he couldn't remember what he did. All he could seem to think about was finding the teeth for the King of Spain. If he found them, everything would be okay. He remembered being in the trees. That must be where they are.

He shrugged off the space blanket and wandered off to too for the teeth. Where they dentures or individual teeth?

"Where is he?"

Winston and the small crowd of ambulance and police officers looked around. "He was sitting there," one of them said, pointing to the silver space blanket lying on the ambulance floor.

"Well, he's not there now. Don't just stand there. Start looking," Barbara ordered before she grunted then allowed Winston to help her up the step. "You too. Find him."

Barbara collapsed onto the gurney opposite Simon, who was cradling Pup and gently stroking its head.

"You okay?" she asked.

The boy nodded, then started to cough. "Yeah," he wheezed.

"We're about to give Simon some oxygen," the young ambulance officer said. "He's a bit hypoxic. We should give you some too."

Barbara nodded. Breathing was a bit hard, and her throat and lungs ached with every breath. "Water?"

"Let me fix Simon, then check you out first."

After his mask was fitted, the ambulance officer began to check Barbara's pulse, blood pressure, oxygen levels, and how clear her chest sounded. "Not too bad. Any pain?"

"Headache. General aches and my legs and back are killing me." She shifted her weight to allow the officer to run her hands over her body, checking for breaks or other injuries.

"You look pretty good for someone who was in an explosion."

Barbara gave the over-cheery woman a tight smile when Simon began to yell almost incoherently.

"What's wrong, Simon?"

"I think he's sick." Simon looked at Barbara with the same fear she had seen at the house.

The ambulance officer picked up the pup, which dropped over her hands. "He's breathing, but his lungs are struggling, Simon."

"Help him. Please."

The ambulance officer looked at Barbara, who pointed to the oxygen bottle. "Give it to the pup. I can wait."

"We have another portable bottle." The woman pulled up the roller door to reveal a compartment full of boxes and tubes. She grabbed a silver cylinder with a small black cap and handed it to Barbara. "We use these when we can't use the main bottle. Just put the cap over your nose and breath normally."

Barbara nodded. What a crazy day.

Winston found Tommy sitting in a small clear combing the grass with his fingers. "There you are, Sir. We've been looking for you."

"Did you find the King's teeth?"

Winston rolled his eyes. "Yes, someone gave them back to him, and he caught a plane back to Spain. Urgent court business."

"He didn't wait to say goodbye?"

"No. He… you'd disappeared, and he was worried he'd miss his flight."

"Okay," Lynley said cheerily, "I'll ring him tomorrow."

Winston took his boss's elbow and began to guide him back to the house. "Yes, you do that. Right now, you need to see Barbara?"

"Okie-dokie."

Tommy frowned as he walked up to the ambulance. Someone wrapped silverfoil around him and tried to make him sit, but he was staring at the sight in front of him trying hard to make sense of it. There was an almost-naked boy lying along the seat, a witch with frizzy reddish hair and black warpaint streaked across her face and arms sitting on the bed holding a silver canister in one hand while nursing a dog with tubes attached to its face and pads on its chest monitoring its heartbeat.

"Sir!" the witch said.

He looked around behind him. No one was there. He pointed to his chest. "Me?"

"Yes, you idiot. Come up here and sit down."

He obeyed. If he didn't, she might put a spell on him and turn him into a frog. "I don't want to be a frog," he told her as he sat down, leaving the space where the dog was lying between them.

"Well, you're not exactly Prince Charming. You look like… you're tired."

"Are you a good witch? Or the wicked witch?"

The woman frowned at him. Another woman in a uniform placed her hand on his forehead. "He's confused," she told the witch.

"She put a spell on me."

"Yes, she did, years ago."

Tommy turned to the voice. It was the man in the forest. This was terribly confusing. "I'm tired."

"He should lie down," Ms Uniform said. "But the other ambulance is in the convoy with the PM and his wife."

The witch shuffled up the gurney, then lifted the pup onto her lap. Taking the canister away from her face, she fixed him with a mesmerising glare. "Tommy, come in here." She patted the bed. "Why don't you have a little snooze?"

"Tommy?" She had called him Sir before. "Sir Tommy," he said firmly.

"Okay, SIR Tommy. Come up here and lie down. You're not the only one getting tired."

She looked angry, so he climbed up and sat on the edge near the door.

Barbara watched as Tommy slowly leant over on his side. Winston lifted his legs and lucked them up on the gurney. "He's been a right handful. He told everyone that the King of Spain had lost his teeth."

Barbara laughed, which made her bump her nose on the breathing cap. "Did you record it?"

"No, unfortunately not."

She turned to the ambulance officer. "He's being really weird, even for him. Is he okay?"

"They'll do a scan at the hospital, but I've seen a lot worse. I think he had the first concussion at the front and the second hitting his head on the ground. He should be fine in a day or two. He won't remember any of this."

"Really? Nothing?"

"Highly unlikely."

"Thanks."

Barbara waited until Winston had gone off to check on the arrival of the PM, and the ambulance officer had stepped out to confer with her colleague. She bent down close to Tommy's ear. "I love you, you dopey great idiot."

"Mmm," he murmured, "I love you too, Barbara."

She sat back up and stared out the window, praying that the ambulance officer was right.

"Simon! Dear, are you alright?"

"Mummy!" Simon almost squashed Barbara as he scrambled over her to get to his mother.

Barbara smiled as she watched mother and son embrace. Behind them, the Prime Minister was trying to edge into the embrace. "Son, it's so good to see you."

Simon pulled away. "This is Babra," he said in a startingly professional and obviously well-schooled manner. "She found me then carried me. It was dark. I was scared and then we were flying, and all my clothes fell off, and we ran and hid in the forest because the fire monster was chasing us. My feet hurt, so Babra put me on her shoulders like Daddy does, and brought me back."

The PM and his wife stared at Barbara who was glad her face was sooty because it covered the redness pulsating in her face. "Hiya, I'm Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers." She extended her hand.

"We are both extremely grateful Sergeant Havers. If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know. We owe you more than you could ever imagine."

"Thanks, but I was happy to help. Simon's a lovely boy."

Simon's mother wiped her eyes. "Thank you. I mean it."

Barbara nodded. "I know."

"Now Simon, I'm going to come with you to the hospital so the doctors can check you out. Then we're going home."

"No. I want to go with Barbra and Pup. Pup's not well."

The woman turned back to Barbara and frowned. "Where did the puppy come from?"

"Simon had him. I think that's how Theodore lured him away."

The woman nodded. "Yes, he slipped under the fence at the pre-school. the security detail didn't notice him go until... it was too late." She pointed to Tommy who was sleeping peacefully at Barbara's feet.

"My boss. He received a concussion chasing Theodore."

"Maybe he could go in the other ambulance and I can travel with you and Simon."

"And Pup," Simon chipped in.

"And Pup," his mother confirmed. "I'll just speak to your father first."