Andy McNab - Meltdown

'No, Watts!' said Teddy. He glared at Will. 'We'll tell you what you need to know.'

Will glared back but said nothing. Teddy was still in charge.

Fergus took another quick look around the lounge. It was virtually empty now; no one was close by. He sat down again and lowered his voice.

'OK. Let's do this right. First, this man you deal with – who is he?'

Teddy's face was shuttered for a moment. Then he sighed and leaned forward.

His voice fell even quieter, little more than a whisper now. 'We can't tell you his name. But you don't need that.'

'OK. How well do you know him?'

'Hardly at all. We've only ever met him once. He stays in the background, we just deal with his people.'

'So how did you find him?'

'We didn't – he found us, soon after we started. Less than a year ago. We never discovered exactly how he found us, but he was impressed with our set-up, he had a European market ready and waiting and he was prepared to invest some of his own cash from the outset. He got that back long ago. He helped us with some security matters too – and gave us some tips on staying clear of the law.'

Fergus raised his eyebrows, knowing that he had to tread carefully. 'And you've never worried that you know nothing about him, when somehow he just found you?'

Teddy shrugged. 'We do know that he's a Bosnian Muslim and he fought in the war against the Serbs. He's a self-made millionaire with business interests all over Europe. Not really our sort' – Teddy looked at Will and smiled – 'but he knows his stuff.'

Fergus could hear the note of admiration in Teddy's voice. 'And how do you know all this?' he asked.

'He told us, of course, when we met him.'

I bet he did, Fergus thought to himself. The twins' naivety was astounding. Clever enough to conceive an almost fool-proof way of concealing a DMP from the expert security services but dumb enough to fall like ripe plums into the hands of someone who was probably a major player on the international drugs scene. They were way, way out of their league.

'And you think you can trust him?' Fergus asked.

Will appeared to have decided that now that his brother had given away some of their secrets, there was no harm in emphasizing exactly how clever they were. 'We've been making a fortune, for us and for him,' he said confidently. 'He needs us more than we need him. We control the manufacture and supply. Why should we worry?'

Fergus decided not to push the questioning any further, and soon after, the twins went below to sleep. Fergus settled down on stag in a lounge chair close to the gangway leading down to the twins' cabin. He hated boats of any shape or size. To take his mind off the pitching and rolling, he used the time to plan what he and Danny were going to need to cover in Barcelona. He'd got some info out of the twins but it wasn't enough. He was going to have to get closer to the European operation of the twins' mysterious millionaire. Danny was looking for Storm. He knew she wouldn't have gone to her cabin while some of the customers were still up and about, so she had to be around somewhere.

If the sea hadn't been so rough, he would have guessed she'd gone out to get some air or even to be sick. But passengers had been warned that it was too dangerous, and there were crew members watching all the external doors to prevent lunatics from taking the risk.

Danny had been hanging around for hours, hoping to have a word with her, but they hadn't been alone together for more than a few minutes as they swapped coaches. He wanted to talk to her again after their high-speed departure from the club, check that she was OK. He didn't even know if she'd been told that Albie was dead.

As Danny wandered around the ferry, he realized that most of the twins' customers had retreated to the safety of their cabins to ride out the storm. Only three men remained in the bar, clinging to their brandy glasses and their chairs as they tried to prove to each other that they were real sailors. But none of them was saying much, and as the minutes passed, they were all turning a more vivid shade of green.

Throughout the ship, passengers unfortunate enough not to have cabins sprawled on seats, many vowing that they'd never travel by boat again.

But not everyone was trying to sleep.

As he rounded a corner by the ferry's shuttered cafe, Danny spotted Storm by the port window, staring out into the storm-lashed night. She had her back to him, but as he moved eagerly towards her, he realized that she was talking earnestly on her mobile phone. She hadn't seen him and he got close enough to hear her say something fast and emphatic in a foreign language before she turned slightly and caught sight of him approaching. Her eyes widened, but a moment later the sweet smile he was beginning to know so well returned. She quickly finished the call in Spanish and flipped the phone shut.

'Danny,' she said, coming close to him. 'I've been looking for you. I've got most of them sorted out and sleeping. It's just those last three in the bar – then we can sit and chat, if you like.'

'You'll be lucky! I think they've settled in for the night,' Danny said. 'Who were you talking to?'

Storm looked puzzled by the question.

'On the phone,' Danny explained.

Her frown cleared. 'Oh, that?' she said, laughing. 'Just some arrangements with the hotel in Barcelona. One of the clients with a special request he'd forgotten to mention before we set off. Normal stuff.' She smiled. 'Now let's go and see if we can get the Brothers Grimm to go to bed.'

Danny laughed as they walked back to the bar, but inside his thoughts were racing. Danny was no linguist, but he and Fergus had lived long enough in Spain for him to recognize the language when he heard it. Storm had certainly finished the call in Spanish, but before that she'd been talking in a completely different language.

They reached the bar and saw that the three men were still clinging onto their chairs. Storm turned to Danny, sighed and then raised her eyebrows. Danny smiled back at her, thinking that maybe she'd been talking in Swedish to a member of her family. Maybe, but that would mean she'd lied to him and that worried Danny. A lot.

Fergus and Danny were sitting on a circular wooden bench that dominated the centre of the reception area in the luxury Hotel Casa Fuster, where the twins and their clients were staying during their visit to Barcelona. They watched Storm glide like a catwalk model across the highly polished, dark marble floor. Only when she had stepped into the lift and the doors had closed did Fergus turn to Danny. 'You have to hand it to her, she looks the part.'

Danny agreed. 'But what part is she playing?' He didn't feel good about the way he somehow mistrusted Storm despite liking her a lot. But there was a job to do and he had keep his personal feelings out of it. He had to prove to Fergus that he could stay professional and focused.

They watched Teddy push open one of the huge glass doors into the empty hotel bar. He made his way to a table in a corner of the room and sat down to await the expected phone call, waving away the barman when he approached.

Will was still in the reception area. He strolled over to Fergus and Danny and took a seat.

'Our friend doesn't usually keep us waiting for long,' he told them. 'He seems to know exactly when we arrive.'

Almost immediately Fergus saw Teddy put his mobile to his ear and answer a call, making notes on a pad. He spoke for no more than a couple of minutes, then he got up and left the bar.

He looked anxious as he came across to talk to Will. He drew him and Fergus to one side and started on an urgent explanation. Danny pretended to be absorbed in a magazine, but listened carefully.

'He's here!' said Teddy, his eyes darting from Will to Fergus and back again. 'In Barcelona. And he wants to meet me and Will tonight.'