Meltdown by Andy McNab

one told me,' he said as he strode
over to her. Danny could see that he was standing
too close to her for comfort, staring intently at her
face.
    Storm edged away. 'You haven't been here,' she
said, not looking at him. She turned to Danny.
'Danny, this is Albie; he works for the twins too. But
he's been ill.'
    Danny stood up and nodded at Albie. 'All right?'
    Albie ignored him and turned back to Storm. 'I'm
all right now. A lot better.' He put his hand on her
shoulder. 'I thought we could get a coffee or something,
have a talk.'
    Storm shrugged off his hand and grabbed a sheet
of paper from the top of the filing cabinet.
'I'm really busy, Albie. I'm sorry. Another time
maybe.'
    Albie moved closer still. Much too close. His face
was almost in Storm's as he spoke. 'You can take a
break, can't you? You're allowed that. Just come and
have a coffee with me.'
    As Storm backed away, Danny took a few steps
across the office so that he was immediately behind
Albie. 'She told you, she's busy. So leave it.'
    Albie wheeled round with lightning speed, his
eyes burning into Danny's. 'What the fuck has it got
to do with you!' he yelled.
    Danny took in the clenched fists, the glaring eyes,
the beads of perspiration on Albie's forehead. His
pulse began to race but his voice was calm. 'Back
off,' he said quietly.
    For a few seconds it looked as if Albie was going
to leap at Danny. But he didn't. His eyes flicked
back to Storm, then he wrenched open the door,
went out and slammed it shut behind him, and they
heard him clatter down the stairway.
    Danny looked at Storm and raised his eyebrows.
'Nice guy.'
    Storm's lovely face was much paler than usual.
Her mouth trembled momentarily then she took a
deep breath and smiled gratefully at Danny.
    'He's a creep,' she said. 'And I don't think he's
better at all. If anything he's worse than ever. The
twins say he's useful but . . . ' She paused, came over
and gave Danny a kiss on the cheek.
    'My hero,' she said warmly. 'Thank you.'
    Danny shrugged his shoulders and smiled. 'No
problem.' Maybe his chat-up technique wasn't
perfect, but Danny reckoned he'd made some
progress.
    Fergus and Siddie had concluded their business.
    It was a simple and straightforward deal. In
exchange for providing the 'cast-iron' information
that the Headingham twins were the makers and
suppliers of Meltdown, 'Frankie' was walking away
with five thousand pounds in used twenty-pound
notes as a down payment. Once Siddie and his boys
had moved in and taken over the operation, Frankie
was to receive another fifty grand. Cash. Frankie
had given Siddie a mobile number, which he would
call when everything was sorted.
    That was it. Business done. Frankie had supplied
everything Siddie needed to know: a description of
the twins, the address of their apartment and details
of their regular comings and goings. He couldn't
tell him where the drug was being made because he
didn't know, but Siddie was more than confident
that he could discover that information for himself.
He would simply make the twins an offer they
couldn't refuse.
    The gang boss had listened in silence as Frankie
told him in detail about Teddy and Will
Headingham, and when he'd finished, Siddie shook
his head in disgust. 'Who'd have thought, eh? These
privileged kids, they've got everything. Expensive
education, university, the lot. And what do they do
with it?'
    He reached into a drawer of the desk and pulled
out a wad of notes held together by a thick elastic
band. 'They turn to crime, that's what they do. It's
not right. Just shows you the way the world is
going, eh, Frankie. It's definitely not right.'
    Fergus didn't count the cash that Siddie handed
over to him. He knew there was no need.
    They walked back to the front door and Siddie
held out his hand; this time, when they shook,
Siddie didn't let go at once.
    'I'm sure you've heard about the way I do
business,' he said quietly, staring into Fergus's eyes.
This looks like a very lucrative deal for us both.
But' – he