Takedown

by Heather Atkinson

  “One night Matthew. You promised you’d give me one night.”

  “It’s not work, I promise but it is an emergency.”

  “What’s happened?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “This is ridiculous. After the promise you made you expect me not to be upset when you run out on me again and you won’t even tell me why.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s because I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…it’s dangerous.”

  “Why?”

  “I really can’t tell you. I’m sorry Alice.”

  She picked up her handbag and got to her feet. “So am I.”

  “Why don’t I drop you off at home and I’ll join you later? It might not take long.”

  “Yes Matthew,” she muttered. “You can drop me off at home.”

  “Great,” he smiled. “I’ll settle up and then we can go.”

  As he bustled up to the counter to pay, he missed the sadness in her eyes.

  CHAPTER 18

  After dropping Alice off at home, Matthew drove to the address Caleb had given him. He pulled up outside a small lock-up and rapped on the shutter, which was rolled open by the man himself, who was obviously on guard duty.

  “Thanks for coming,” said a sombre Caleb.

  “No problem,” he replied, stepping inside, Caleb pulling the shutter closed. Vance and Abi were also there. “Have you had any word yet?”

  “No,” said Vance grimly. “I don’t know why they’re taking so long.”

  “To wind you up, agitate you. I know it’s hard but you need to stay calm. Where are Jason and Kevin?”

  “Running an errand.”

  “What sort of errand?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Matthew had always got the impression that Vance didn’t like him, although he wasn’t sure why. “If I’m going to help I need to know everything.”

  “I don’t know if it’ll come off yet. If it does then I’ll tell you.”

  Matthew frowned at an object sitting on the floor. “Is that a coffin?”

  “Yes. It’s the one the product was in when we recovered it. It’s going to help us.”

  “How?”

  “Before I tell you anything, I need to know how much you’re willing to help.”

  “I’ll do whatever I can to help you get Faith back safely.”

  “You do know we aren’t going to do this the legal way?”

  “Course I do. The Maguires set me to work with you for a reason and that reason is that I have no problem breaking the rules when I need to but in order to help I have to know the plan. Have you told Jules about this?”

  “No. She’ll only want us to handle it ourselves anyway.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “We can deal with a bunch of fucking firefighters.” When his phone burst into life, he answered it on the first ring. “Yes Kev?” His lips curled into a smile. “Excellent. No, leave it to Tariq and his men and get your arses back here. They’ll expect all of us to go.”

  “What’s Tariq going to do?” said Matthew as Vance hung up.

  “That’s a part of the plan you don’t need to know about.”

  “For God’s sake, I’m not the enemy here.”

  “Then let me rephrase – you don’t want to know. Now, you’ve done some digging into Ben and his men, gone into their backgrounds. Can you think of anywhere they might take Faith?”

  “Well, none of them own properties outside of their own homes and they certainly wouldn’t risk taking her back to the fire station.”

  “Do either of them have second jobs?” said Caleb.

  “No. They’re all full-time firefighters.”

  “Well that was very useful,” said Vance sarcastically when he went silent.

  “I know you’re anxious Vance but don’t take it out on me. I’m doing my best here.”

  Vance just glowered at him and once again Matthew wondered what he’d done to earn such hostility. Perhaps he was just opposed to all police officers after what Marlow and his men had done to him.

  “They would have had to go back to the fire station first,” said Caleb. “Going around in the fire engine would make them stand out.”

  “Where they might have had a car waiting to take Faith away,” said Matthew, eyes lighting up. “There are CCTV cameras on that street. I’ll get the footage and I might be able to track the car through the town.”

  “Great idea,” smiled Caleb.

  Matthew smiled back, glad that at least one of the Chambers brothers liked him. “I’ll be in touch the second I find anything.”

  “Thanks, appreciate it,” said Caleb, rolling the shutter open for him.

  “You’re too hard on him,” Abi told Vance when Matthew had gone.

  “He’s an arsehole.”

  “No he’s not, he’s nice. He’s always there when we need help and he’s a good friend to Faith. You should be nicer to him.”

  “Right now we’ve more important things to consider than his feelings. So, are you willing to go through with what we discussed?”

  She nodded. “For Faith.”

  Vance smiled, pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head.

  Jason and Kevin returned to the lock-up twenty minutes later.

  “Tariq turned up,” said Jason. “So he’s keeping watch.”

  “Good,” said Vance. “Now we need to decide what weapons to take with us.”

  “The fucking lot,” snarled Kevin.

  “They’ll search us when we go in and if we’re carrying anything it won’t go well for Faith. Remember, she’s a hostage.”

  “This is really fucking shit,” said Abi. “After what Marlow did to her and now this. It’s not fair.”

  “I know,” said Caleb, wrapping his arm around her. “But we’ll get her back. Faith is probably giving them hell already.”

  Faith groaned at the pain in her head. Her throat ached and she was desperate for a drink of water.

  Around her she heard voices talking but they sounded muffled and vague.

  Faith forced her eyes open, blinking against the light, which made her head ache even more.

  “Hello, can you hear me?”

  She stared up at the face floating above her, which swam in and out of focus.

  “Ben,” she grunted.

  When she tried to put a hand to her head, she found she couldn’t move. The panic that flooded her body sharpened her senses and she realised she was tied down to what appeared to be a camp bed, flat on her back.

  “Where am I?” she demanded, struggling against her bonds but it was futile. Her voice came out weak and raspy and talking hurt her throat.

  The four firefighters were gathered around her, back in their civilian clothes. She smiled grimly at their bruised faces. “You lot look as bad as I feel. My brothers obviously kicked the hell out of you.”

  “I’m still doubtful that one of them is just a brother to you,” commented Ben. “But right now that’s the least of our concerns.”

  “I take it this is a hostage situation?” she said, looking around the room. It was impossible to tell where she was because her surroundings were so non-descript – a bare room with a laminated floor. No ornamentation or furnishings, just the camp bed she was lying on, a couple of portable heaters and a table and four chairs. She noticed there were scorch marks up the walls. “What is this place?”

  “An old furniture showroom that got ruined by fire. Faulty wiring.”

  “I see. Can I have a drink of water?”

  Ben nodded at Amanda, who produced a plastic bottle and stuck a straw in it. When Faith struggled to lift her head, Amanda grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head up.

  “Take it easy Amanda,” Ben told her.

  “This bitch bust my nose,” she scowled at him.

  “It was a fair fight.”

  Faith ignored the conversation, she was too busy gulping down the water, which eased her parched thro
at. When she’d drunk her fill she sank back into the bed, wanting to conserve her energy.

  “The best thing about this place,” continued Ben. “Is that it’s been condemned. It’s too damaged to sell. A developer’s going to level it and build a house. It means there are no close neighbours, no one to overhear our business transaction.”

  “What happens now?” said Faith.

  “Hopefully your brothers will bring back the drugs.”

  “And then what?”

  “We’ll see.”

  Faith knew they intended to kill her, they had to if they wanted to keep those drugs. The question was, did they intend to kill her entire family too? She thought perhaps they’d take out Vance and Caleb but they might let the rest live.

  She forced down the rising panic. Vance would know what to do. She smiled at the thought of him. This lot had no idea what was coming.

  Ben held up his phone, rather dramatically Faith thought.

  “Now it’s time to call your brothers,” he said. “I need Vance’s number Faith.”

  To their surprise, she rhymed it off without objection. Amanda, who had hoped to coax it out of her, was disappointed.

  “You gave that up easily enough,” said Ben before he pressed the call button.

  “Because I want this over with. And I want my brothers to come here, cut me out of these ropes and then kill the lot of you.”

  Ben smiled. “We’ll see about that.”

  The brothers all looked at each other when Vance’s phone started to ring.

  “Number withheld,” he said, looking at the screen.

  “It’s them,” said Abi.

  Vance put the phone to his ear. “Hello.” He rolled his eyes. “No, I haven’t been in an accident you fucking retard. Get off the phone.” He hung up and looked to his siblings. “Spam call.”

  Immediately the phone started to ring again. “If that’s them calling back I’m going to hunt them down and pull out their tongues. What?” he snapped into the phone.

  “That’s not a very pleasant greeting,” replied the voice on the other end.

  “Ben,” he growled. “I do apologise,” he continued, icily polite. “I just had a spam phone call and I thought it was them ringing back.”

  “Did they ask if you’ve been in a car accident?”

  “Yes,” he said, grinding his teeth together with rage.

  “Oh, the irony.”

  “I want to talk to Faith.”

  “Of course.”

  “Vance,” said her voice.

  “Faith,” he breathed with relief. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. They’ve got me tied to a bed in a …”

  Whatever she was about to say was cut off by Ben taking the phone from her. “I’m going to send you some directions. Follow them exactly. Any deviation from my instructions and I will cut off your sister’s left hand. A second deviation and I’ll take her right hand. After that, well, you get the picture.”

  “You fucking bastard,” he yelled but Ben had hung up.

  “What did he say?” said Caleb.

  “He’s sending us instructions. If we deviate from them they’ll cut off her hands.”

  “The sick twats,” yelled Kevin.

  “I’m going to stab them in the fucking eyes,” cried Abi, flicking out her talons, her own eyes shiny with tears.

  Vance’s phone beeped and he opened the message.

  “They’ve sent a photo of Faith.”

  They all gathered round to look at the image of Faith tied to a camp bed, her eyes flashing defiance.

  “She looks unharmed,” said Caleb. “That’s something.”

  “Let’s ensure she stays that way,” said Vance, feeling sick to his stomach.

  The responsibility to set her free was weighing him down and he prayed he didn’t fail her. If anything happened to her because of his mistake he didn’t know how he’d live with himself. Vance crushed those thoughts. He would have the future he wanted with the woman he loved. Those arseholes were not going to take that from him.

  His phone beeped again, indicating another message had arrived.

  “Okay,” he said, clearing his throat to dispel the lump that had formed. “He’s sent me an address on Division Lane.”

  “Millionaire’s road,” said Kevin. “It’s all mansions. They must be in one of them.”

  “Unless they’re going to give us more directions when we get there,” said Caleb.

  “I don’t think so,” said Vance. “They won’t want to drag this out. They’ve got jobs and families, people to notice if they’re gone for any length of time. By the morning this will be over. Jason, call Tariq and tell him to stand by. We’re on.”

  “Will do.”

  Vance looked to Abi. “Are you ready for this?”

  She took a deep breath and nodded.

  The brothers loaded the coffin into the back of the people carrier and set off, Vance driving. None of them spoke, tension filling the confined interior of the car.

  “We’re coming up to the turn off for Division Lane,” said Vance. “Is everyone clear on what they have to do?”

  “Yes,” said Caleb. He felt just as he had the night he and Faith had gone to kill Lenny Paisley. It was the same god-awful sick feeling. Life had never been the same after that night and he knew it was about to change again.

  Vance pulled up at the kerb and sent Ben a message saying they’d arrived. A message was sent back telling them to drive three hundred metres down the road and pull onto the car park on the left. He read the message out loud to his siblings.

  “Why didn’t they just give us the address?” said Kevin.

  “Because they want to see us approach, to make sure we’ve come alone,” said Vance, steering the car back onto the deserted road. They passed large detached homes set back from the road, sheltered by trees, high walls and hedges until they reached a patch of wasteland, beyond which was the car park.

  “Here we are,” said Vance, pulling onto it. They found themselves facing a large one-storey building

  “Looks like it’s had a fire,” said Caleb, studying the building with the assistance of the car’s headlights.

  “Which is why this lot know about it,” said Vance. “The message said to wait in the car.”

  They watched as the front door of the warehouse opened and out walked two men, one bald and one with thick red hair.

  “They’re the two who attacked us in the lift,” said Caleb.

  “Bastards,” spat Kevin.

  “Take it easy Kev,” Vance told him. “You need to keep your cool. Losing it will put Faith in danger.”

  “Get out of the car Vance,” called the bald one. “The rest of you wait inside.”

  Vance got out and held up his hands. He noted both firefighters held a pistol each.

  “Where’s Faith?” he demanded.

  “Inside,” said the bald one. “Don’t worry, she’s safe. You’d better not have brought any weapons. If you have it won’t go very well for her.”

  “I’m clean. We all are.”

  “Throw me the car keys.”

  Vance obeyed, the firefighter catching them mid-air.

  “Turn around and put your hands on the car.”

  He obeyed and was efficiently patted down by the red-headed fireman.

  “Where’s the product?” the bald one asked him.

  “In the car.”

  “Good. Caleb, you’re next.”

  He got out and the process was repeated. Kevin was third and Jason last.

  “Open up the back of the car,” said the red-headed one. “And then stand to one side.”

  Vance opened the boot and the brothers stood together by the side of the car. The two firefighters smiled when they saw the coffin.

  “Right you lot,” he told the brothers. “Bring it inside.”

  The four of them resembled agitated pall-bearers as they hauled the coffin out of the car and carried it through the front door into a large empty ro
om, Kevin’s legs trembling beneath the weight while his brothers bore it easily. A charred stench filled the air.

  Once they were all inside, the bald one closed the door behind them and hit the lights.

  “Be careful,” he told them. “There’s a couple of holes in the floor. We don’t want you going through it, as hilarious as that would be.”

  The brothers carefully picked their way across the floor, which creaked and groaned beneath their weight.

  “How far are we carrying this?” said Vance.

  “Until I tell you to stop.”

  They kept going, the brothers becoming increasingly anxious that they were going to fall through the damaged floor.

  “Put it down there,” they were told, the bald firefighter pointing to the rear right corner of the room, which had been reinforced to take the weight.

  Gently they placed it down on the floor, sighing with relief.

  “Right,” said Vance, straightening up. “We’ve done everything you’ve asked. Where’s Faith?”

  “She’s through there,” he said, pointing to a room at the rear of the building from which a light shone. “Stay where you are,” he added when they moved to walk that way. “She’ll be brought out to you.”

  “If she’s been harmed in any way,” Vance told him. “We’ll rip the lot of you apart.”

  “I’ll give you lot your due,” grinned the bald one. “You’re pretty gutsy.”

  “Stop fannying about you fucking twat and get our sister,” spat Kevin. “And you can stick that right up your arse too,” he added when the ginger firefighter aimed his gun at him.

  “Take it easy Eddie,” the bald one told his friend.

  Eddie grunted and lowered the weapon.

  “Watch them,” the bald one told him before backing up to the door at the rear of the room. “It’s all clear,” he called.

  There was the sound of heavy footsteps on the wooden floor, which creaked alarmingly. The brothers all took a step forward when an armed Ben emerged with Faith, whose hands were tied before her. They were followed by Amanda, who also held a pistol.

  “Relax lads,” Ben told them, pressing the gun against the back of Faith’s head.

  “Stay back,” Vance told his brothers, who obeyed. “Are you okay Faith?”