Andy McNab - Meltdown

He edged carefully into the corridor. To his left was a door that must give access to the front of the building: the sounds of automatic fire clearly came from that direction. To his right, the corridor stretched away with a number of rooms on each side, their doors open.

As he moved slowly down the long corridor, he saw movement to his right, in one of the rooms. He turned, finger on the trigger, taking first pressure, ready to fire at the centre of the mass that was moving towards him.

It was Deveraux; her own weapon was raised in exactly the same way as Danny's.

Their eyes locked onto each other, and then Deveraux's head flicked to one side, telling Danny wordlessly to continue checking the other rooms. It appeared that finally, after all their conflicts, she was prepared to work with the boy soldier rather than against him in order to bring her mission to a successful conclusion.

Danny moved forward, checking out the rooms to his left. Deveraux was behind him, looking right, but Danny was totally focused on what he was doing. The fire fight was just metres away on the other side of the building, but it was like something separate, another battle, or even a dream. The gunfire was strangely muffled in Danny's head, even though he could smell the cordite that was slowly creeping into every part of the building.

Danny was in automatic mode; the training was paying off. Train hard; fight easy. Train easy, fight hard – and die.

He was approaching the end of the corridor. One door remained, directly ahead. It was shut. Something – instinct, training, intuition, he didn't know what – was telling him that Kubara and the twins were hiding behind that closed door.

He wanted to go in first. He had to take them out. He had to see this through.

Deveraux was still a little way behind him, emerging from the last room on the right. Danny knew that once she reached him, she would insist on going in first.

Suddenly the door at the far end of the corridor burst open. Deveraux turned to see who was approaching and immediately started putting down rounds from her Sig. It was one of Kubara's men. He ducked back behind the door and Deveraux backed into the room on the right, ready to fire again if he showed his head.

Danny knew he had to make his move through the closed door. Now.

Danny gripped the door handle, turned it and pushed the door open with his shoulder. He saw the twins first, their petrified faces staring back at him from a few metres away.

But then he saw movement behind them and to one side. A weapon was coming up into the aim. It was all Danny needed to know. His eyes fixed on a bald head and wide eyes on top of black leather as the target brought an AK up to his shoulder. Danny's brain took in the information his eyes were receiving in a split second. The twins were not a threat, he realized, but the moving head Danny was focused on could have been one of the many red balloons he'd double tapped during training.

It all happened in an instant, but for Danny it was almost like it was taking place in slow motion. He stood in the doorway, feet solid on the floor, shoulder-width apart to give the weapon a stable firing platform, left hand gripped around the right and the pistol grip. Danny's Sig was racing the AK into a firing position.

The foresight on the Sig came into focus, the bald head blurred, and Danny squeezed the trigger and double tapped the target. Both rounds entered the target's head before he had time to fire his own weapon. And this time it wasn't red chalk-dust flying through the air; it was blood.

As the target fell back, the AK clattered to the floor and skidded towards Danny.

Danny stared, knowing what he had done but not thinking about it. He was masked from the left side of the room by the open door, but the twins' horrified expressions as their eyes flicked to their right told him that someone else was there. It had to be Kubara. But why wasn't he firing?

Danny kicked the door back and turned, pistol still in the aim. Kubara was standing there, his own pistol raised.

And then Danny caught sight of Storm.

His mouth gaped open. And he hesitated.

It was enough. Kubara started to squeeze the trigger of his Makarov.

Storm screamed, 'No!'

There was a click. A stoppage. Kubara stared at the pistol and Danny realized that he still had a chance. But before he could fire, Storm leaped in front of Kubara.

'No, Danny! No! He's my father!'

'What?!'

'It's true! I swear it! I couldn't tell you! Please! Please don't shoot him!'

Danny's mind was reeling. He heard the weapon fire from other parts of the building, but it was Storm's words that were ringing loudest in his head. It was too much to take in. Her father? It wasn't possible. It didn't make sense.

Teddy and Will were backing further into the room, away from Danny and Kubara.

'It's true!' yelled Teddy. 'Kill him!'

'Kill the bastard!' screamed Will. 'Kill him!'

Danny heard movement behind him – footsteps coming into the room – and then, before he had a chance to turn and take aim, rounds were being fired.

The twins had spoken their last words. They took rounds into the head and chest, and Deveraux kept firing until their jerking bodies hit the wall and she was almost level with Danny.

She ignored him completely; her head turned and she focused on Kubara. Danny saw that Storm was still standing in front of him, and he knew instantly that Deveraux would not ask questions; she would take them both out.

Kubara pushed his daughter away, still struggling with the mechanism of his weapon. Suddenly he gave up and lunged towards Deveraux. Instinctively, Danny flung out his right arm to slap Deveraux's pistol away and put her off her aim, but as he did so, he lost his grip on his Sig and it fell to the ground.

Deveraux was momentarily off balance. Danny dived for the AK the bodyguard had carried. He focused on the forward stock and the pistol grip and rolled over on his right shoulder, gripping the weapon with both hands.

He heard the double tap as Deveraux dropped Kubara, followed by Storm's scream, and as he came up onto his knees, he saw Deveraux taking aim on her final target. Storm.

Danny fired a burst – there was no time to take aim – and Deveraux was thrown forward as the rounds entered her body.

A second later there was an explosion from the other side of the building. The door charges had been detonated: the team, or what remained of the team, was in. The automatic fire continued, but there was less of it now. It sounded as if the battle was almost won.

Danny got to his feet and dragged Storm away from the body of her father.

'You've got to go!' he yelled. 'Get out now! Back door! Quick!'

'I… I can't. My father…'

'He's dead! Go now, or they'll kill you too!'

Storm's eyes flicked back to the body of Kubara, motionless on the floor. Then she looked at Danny again for just a moment.

And then she was gone.

Danny heard her footsteps fading away along the corridor as he turned to look at Deveraux. He stood over her, sweat dripping from his face down onto hers. She had taken the rounds in her legs and back. Her stomach was heaving up and down as her blood slowly oozed out, flowing onto the cold concrete floor and mingling with the dead guard's and Kubara's so that it looked as though all three were floating on a sea of red.

Deveraux remained conscious as her life slowly ebbed away, but Danny still had words he needed her to hear.

'This wasn't how I wanted it. I wanted you to suffer before I killed you. For Elena, for what you did to her, and for what you put her through, even before she died.'

Deveraux coughed, and blood appeared at one corner of her mouth. She forced herself to speak. 'Get on with it, Danny. You've won.'