Andy McNab - Meltdown

He hadn't realized that this was going to be part of the job. Acting. Playing a part. Fergus was doing it with Siddie Richards; now it was up to him to be equally convincing. But then Siddie Richards was an ugly great thug and Storm was a beautiful young woman. Danny took another deep breath and told himself that this was work and to just get on with it.

'You worked here long?'

It wasn't the most original or convincing of chat-up lines but Storm turned from the filing cabinet and flashed him a dazzling smile. She seemed to need to consider the question for a moment before answering. 'About eight months. I think. Time goes so quickly, doesn't it?'

Storm spoke with an accent that was pure Home Counties. And as Danny desperately wondered what gambit he could come up with next to keep the conversation going, he seized on this. 'You're not from round here then?'

Another gem from the book of all-time worst chat-up lines, but it didn't seem to bother Storm.

'I'm not from anywhere, really. My mother was Swedish – she died when I was quite young. My father has always worked abroad – he's always on the move, so I hardly ever see him. Anyway, he sent me to be properly educated at boarding school here in the UK.'

'So are you going to go to university?' Danny asked.

Storm laughed.

'No. I did Textiles and Media Studies at A level. My father would have liked me to have taken more academic subjects and then go to uni. But it's not my thing, and to be honest, I wasn't bright enough.' She smiled. 'Academic stuff is so boring!'

Danny nodded as he thought back to his own schooldays. He'd done OK at GCSEs but life on the run with Fergus meant he'd never got as far as taking A levels.

'I came to Manchester about a year ago,' Storm continued. Danny was in luck: she obviously preferred chatting to shifting paper.

'Why Manchester?'

'A job. It was supposed to be in fashion. You know – buying.' She shrugged her shoulders. 'Actually I was little more than a glorified sales assistant.'

Danny was on a roll, ready with his next question. 'So how did you get this job? I can't see you queuing down the Job Centre.'

Storm smiled into his eyes and perched herself delicately on the corner of the desk.

'No, I met the twins at a nightclub. We got talking and then I… well, I started seeing them?'

'Them?' said Danny, raising his eyebrows.

'Mmmm,' said Storm thoughtfully as she gazed out of the window at the city skyline. 'The twins do everything together.'

She looked back at Danny, whose eyes were bulging.

'Oh, no,' she said quickly. 'Not that. Well… I wouldn't know about that. The three of us are just friends.'

'Oh,' said Danny. 'But I thought you and-'

'Everyone does. And I did at first. I thought I was sort of going out with Teddy, because he was the one I first spoke to. Then I thought maybe I'd got it wrong and it was Will who fancied me.'

'And didn't he?'

'I don't know. The thing is, I'm not sure if the twins have…' She paused for a moment. 'The thing is, they're really possessive about me. They hate it if we're in a club and someone comes on to me.'

'And you don't mind? Them being so possessive?'

'Not really. They're like two big brothers. And I like them, I really like them. And I love this job. I get well paid and I don't have to work hard. And I go to all sorts of interesting places.'

She edged a little closer along the desktop towards Danny. Close enough for him to smell the expensive perfume she was wearing. She was looking at him more closely now; differently, as if she were weighing him up, seeing him for the first time.

'What about you?' she said softly. 'Will told me that your granddad is some sort of hero and that you've done really brave things as well.'

Danny shrugged. 'It was just stuff we had to do. I'm not meant to talk about it.'

Storm smiled another of her dazzling smiles. 'You're modest. I like that. The twins show off a lot – it's not nice. And they've got some real morons working for them.'

'Yeah, I've noticed.'

'But you seem-'

Heavy footsteps sounded on the exterior metal stairway that led up to the office, and Storm quickly slid off the desk and moved back to the filing cabinet.

The door swung open and a young guy of around twenty walked in. He was thickset and cropheaded. His face was puffy and pale, with dark rings around the eyes, which took on a staring, almost manic look as they settled on Danny.

'Oh,' said Storm, acknowledging the newcomer, 'you're back at last. Well, you still don't look too good.'

The young man had obviously been expecting to find Storm alone. He stared at Danny. 'Who's he? What's he doing here?'

'This is Danny,' said Storm, concentrating a little too hard on the filing to be completely convincing. 'He's working here.'

'Yeah? Well, no 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.