“I can’t fit,” he grimaced as his back jammed against the top of the window.
“Pull harder,” Caleb told Jason.
“Jesus, stop,” yelled Vance as pain erupted in his back and chest. “I can’t fit. Let me go.”
“Not a fucking chance,” retorted Caleb, refusing to relinquish his brother’s arm. He looked up at the building, every part of which was now ablaze.
“Get yourselves back,” Vance yelled at them.
“Where are the car keys?” Faith said between coughs.
“I’ve got them,” replied Vance.
“Give them to me. I’ve got an idea.”
Caleb and Jason released him and he dropped back into the cellar, glancing back over his shoulder at the flames licking across the walls and floor. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and tossed them out of the window.
“Stand well back all of you,” Faith told her siblings before sprinting towards the people carrier.
She jumped inside, pulled on the seatbelt, started the engine and switched on the lights before steering the car to the far end of the car park. Once she reached the far wall, she turned the vehicle around and stomped on the accelerator.
“Christ,” yelled Vance when he saw the people carrier bearing down on him.
He ducked down into the corner of the room, crouching down behind the wardrobe he’d shifted, coughing uncontrollably, barely able to see because the smoke was so thick.
There was a deafening crash and the front end of the vehicle burst through the window.
Faith slammed the car into reverse and it rolled backwards with an agonised groan. The window had gone, leaving a considerably wider gap. Caleb and Jason ducked back through, extending their arms out to Vance.
“Get out before the whole lot collapses,” yelled Caleb.
Vance grabbed their hands and they dragged him out onto the tarmac.
“Keep moving,” said Caleb.
He and Jason hauled Vance to his feet and together they staggered away from the building as it finally collapsed in on itself, the rumble deafening, the heat from the fire scorching their backs.
Faith slid into the passenger seat. “Kev, you drive,” she told him. “My eyes are stinging too badly from the smoke.”
He nodded and leapt in while the others got in the back. Abi followed in her own car, which she’d driven to the warehouse, using the tracking device they’d put on the people carrier as a guide.
“Go left,” Faith told Kevin when they heard the wail of sirens from the right.
“Let’s hope the car makes it,” he said as it shuddered its way down the road.
“Just as long as it gets us away from the scene it’ll be all right,” she said before coughing again. She turned to look at Vance, who was sprawled in the back, the others regarding him with worried frowns. “Is he okay?”
“He’s wheezing pretty badly,” said Caleb.
“Kev, get us to the hospital.”
“No, can’t,” rasped Vance before coughing. “They might find out we were here.”
“If they do we’ll handle it. Your health is more important, you were stuck in that building longer than any of us,” she told him before coughing violently.
“You could use a doctor too,” Kevin told her.
“Here’s some water,” said Caleb, pulling a bottle out from under a seat, unscrewing the lid and holding it to Vance’s lips, who drank greedily.
The bottle was then passed to Faith, who glugged it down but the ache in her lungs and throat didn’t ease. She worried about the effects of the smoke cannisters and the chloroform followed by the fire. She glanced at Vance, whose wheezing filled the van. She had bigger concerns than her own health.
“We’ve already told Tariq and his friends to get out of there,” said Caleb. “We didn’t want Ben and the others coming along and shooting them.”
Vance just nodded, coughing.
“What the hell are we going to tell the hospital?” said Kevin.
“That we were in the fire at our apartment block,” replied Faith.
“But that was a few hours ago. They’ll ask why you didn’t turn up sooner.”
“We’ll say we thought we were okay but we started to feel ill, so we decided to get hospital treatment.”
“We all stink of smoke and you and Vance are covered in smuts.”
“We just stick to the story, no matter what they ask. Just drop us off and the rest of you go back to the safehouse. The fewer of us there are to question the better.”
“We can’t just leave you there,” said Caleb. “What if Ben and the others turn up?”
“They won’t do anything to us in the middle of a hospital and they probably think me and Vance died in the fire. We’ll call you when we’re ready to be picked up.”
“I think it’s the only thing we can do,” said Jason. “You two really need a hospital.”
Kevin pulled up outside A&E. Faith practically slid out of the passenger seat and walked around the van to help Vance out of the back. He staggered out, his arm going around her to keep himself upright, nearly sending them both crashing to the ground.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” said Caleb, worry in his eyes.
“We’ll be fine,” said Faith, voice hoarse. “We’ll call you.”
He nodded and pulled the door shut. The car set off, Abi still following in her own vehicle. Faith and Vance limped inside, the receptionist’s eyebrows rising higher the closer they got to her desk. She recoiled from the strong stench of smoke emanating from them.
Faith cleared her throat before speaking, wincing at the pain. “Me and my brother were in a fire earlier and we’re having trouble breathing.”
Vance released a gasp and collapsed to the floor.
“Vance,” cried Faith, kneeling beside him, ignoring the curious stares of the people sat in the waiting area.
She held his hand while the receptionist called for help.
Faith lay in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask over her face. The ache in her chest had eased and the coughing had stopped. She was exhausted but refused to fall asleep until she knew how Vance was. She hadn’t seen him since he’d been whisked away after he’d collapsed.
The curtain around her bed was pulled aside by a young doctor.
“Hello Faith,” he smiled, very chirpy for the time of night. “How are you feeling?”
“Rough,” she mumbled. “How’s my brother?”
“Resting in bed with an oxygen mask, just like you. We’ve done a blood count on you both to make sure there are enough red blood cells to carry oxygen around your body and both were a little low, more so Vance’s than your own. But it showed you didn’t inhale anything toxic, which is very good news. Neither of you are showing any mental confusion or distress, so I anticipate a night in here to keep an eye on you both and if you have a good night you can leave tomorrow.”
“Can’t stay,” she murmured. “Want to go.”
“I’m sorry Faith but that would be reckless. You both have quite low blood pressure and your oxygen saturation levels aren’t back up to normal. Leaving our care too soon could be very bad for you both.”
Faith knew he was right. “All right, I’ll stay. Can I see my brother?”
“He’s already been taken up to the ward. You’ll be going up in a few minutes.”
“The same ward?”
He nodded. “Ward Seven.”
“I need to call my family…let them know…” She started coughing again, talking agitating her chest. She gestured to the cabinet by her bed in which was her jacket. “My phone…”
At her direction he found the phone and handed it to her.
“Try not to talk for long,” he told her.
“I won’t,” she replied.
“A porter will be along in a few minutes to take you up to the ward.”
“Thank you.”
When he’d gone, she pulled the mask off her face and dialled Caleb’s number.
“Faith, tha
nk God,” he said. “How are you?”
“We’ll both be okay but they’re keeping us in overnight. Ward Seven.”
“We’ll come there right now.”
“It’s too late. Come in the morning. We’ll both need clothes.” She paused to cough. It was a loud, hacking cough that made her sound like she smoked thirty a day. “What did you do with the car?”
“Took it to my friend’s scrapyard. It’s being crushed. He wasn’t impressed about being dragged out in the middle of the night but the cash I gave him shut him up.”
“Good. Is everyone okay?”
“Fine. Just worried about you and Vance.”
“We’ll be all right and we’re safe in the hospital. Be careful, Ben and the others will be desperate to end this.” She paused to wince at the ache in her throat.
“Faith, are you there?”
“Sorry, throat sore. Need to go. Call Matthew, tell him…”
“I already have and you don’t need to worry about the firefighters bothering us again tonight. They got called out to deal with a fire at a warehouse on Division Lane. Funny eh?” he said, a grin in his voice.
“Hilarious,” she said flatly.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything. We’ll be there as soon as visiting starts.”
“Get some rest. See you tomorrow and thanks for everything you did for me today.”
“Anytime sis.”
She smiled weakly as she hung up, shoved the phone back into the cabinet and settled into the pillows, finally allowing sleep to overtake her.
CHAPTER 20
From his car, Matthew watched the transit van speed towards the small fire damaged industrial unit on the edge of town. He’d parked on the car park of the neighbouring unit, giving him a clear view. Although it was dark, the area was well lit.
Who he recognised to be Amanda got out of the front of the van, unlocked the main shutter of the unit and rolled it up. Matthew got out of his own car and quietly closed the door. Sticking to the shadows, he raced across the car park and crouched behind a large container.
The van disappeared inside. Amanda followed and pulled the shutter back down. Matthew ran to the rear of the unit to peer through one of the windows. He watched the firefighters get out of the van and stomp around, arguing and looking pissed off. He’d tracked the van here by watching the CCTV footage of it leaving the fire station. He guessed they’d taken Faith back to the station in the fire engine and then transferred her to the van, which had driven back here before setting out again for their meeting with the rest of the Chambers family. Caleb had already called to let him know that they were all safe but it had been a close run thing and both Faith and Vance were in hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. He’d tried to track the van when it had left this unit, hoping he’d be able to warn the Chambers in advance where they were taking Faith but he’d lost them when they’d driven down a road not covered by any CCTV.
While they were gone, he’d managed to pick the lock on the back door, snuck inside and planted a listening device. He stuffed the earpiece in his ear to listen.
“I can’t believe that went so fucking wrong,” raged Amanda. “We had the lot of them at our mercy and we still didn’t manage to kill a single one of them. We found no bodies in the warehouse. At least all the evidence got burned up. That’s the only good thing that came out of this catastrophe.”
“The others must have got Faith and Vance out,” said Ben, dragging his hands down his weary face.
“What if they take it out on our families?” said Rick.
“They won’t,” replied Ben. “That was an idle threat. It would bring the police’s attention to what’s been going on and they’ll want to keep it quiet.”
“Maybe they were right and we are out of our league?” said a miserable Eddie. “Everything we’ve tried has failed.”
“The raid on the vault didn’t fail,” snapped Amanda. “That went really fucking well.”
“And look what happened,” he exclaimed. “They took the drugs back and then they were burnt up in the fire.”
Amanda rolled her eyes. “The drugs weren’t in the coffin you idiot. The top was lined with a few genuine bricks. The rest were fake to make us think it was full of cocaine.”
“Oh,” he replied, looking puzzled.
“I say we go and torch all their fucking houses,” yelled Amanda, kicking one of the van’s tyres.
“Like they’ll be there after we attacked them in the flats,” said Rick. “They’ll be hiding out somewhere we don’t know about.”
“Then we check every single hotel and B&B in town.”
“Have you any idea how many there are in Blackpool?” exclaimed Eddie. “It would take forever.”
“And they could have a safehouse we don’t know about,” said Rick. “In fact, people like that probably do.”
“We’ve no hostages and no drugs,” said Amanda. “In fact we’ve fuck all to show for all our trouble. So what do we do now?”
“Maybe we should bow out gracefully?” said Eddie a little nervously.
Amanda’s eyes narrowed, thick black eyebrows beetling in the centre of her forehead. “What did you say?”
“I don’t think they want to kill us because they know we’ll be missed. If we just let it go they might leave us alone and everything can go back to normal.”
“Is that what you want, normal? Struggling for money despite doing a very dangerous job? Rescuing idiots who fall asleep with a fag in their hand, hoping you make it through the working day. Is that what you want the rest of your life to be?”
“Not really but if we carry on like this then the rest of my life won’t be very long.”
Her lip curled. “You’re a fucking coward.”
“Eddie has a point,” said Rick. “We’re out of our depth. We thought this would be easy but that family are a lot smarter than we gave them credit for.”
“After what we did to Dillon do you think we can back out now?” spat Amanda.
“You mean what you did to Dillon because you lost your temper.”
“He was going to grass to Faith Chambers. I had no choice.”
“You didn’t need to kill him,” he exclaimed. “You’ve got really unstable lately Amanda. I don’t know what the fuck’s going on in your head but I bet it’s like a tornado in there.”
She drew her gun and aimed it at him. “What the fuck did you say?”
“You see what I mean,” he cried. “You’re losing it.”
“Shut up all of you,” yelled Ben, his voice echoing through the barren room. “Arguing amongst ourselves isn’t going to help. Amanda, put the gun away.”
She obeyed, glowering at Rick.
“We need to think calmly and rationally about what we’re going to do,” continued Ben. “We all still need the money, that hasn’t changed and have you forgotten that our contact is getting very restless? We promised them a lot of drugs and so far we haven’t delivered, apart from the sample we gave them. If we continue to delay then it won’t be very healthy for any of us and they’re a lot worse than the Chambers family.”
“Oh yeah,” mumbled Eddie. “I forgot about them.”
“I thought so. They might forgive us for not coming up with the goods if we give them enough money to compensate. The Chambers family will have stashed the rest of the drugs somewhere very secure and they’ll be careful to let no one outside the family know where that is. After what happened I’m reluctant to try another kidnap attempt because they’ll be on their guard. The drugs might have gone but we can still get money out of them.”
“How?” said Amanda.
“We could blackmail Faith and Vance with those photos of them together?” offered Rick.
“That won’t work,” said Ben. “Even their own brother didn’t believe them, so no one else will. Faith will just put it about that they were photoshopped. Everyone might have a good snigger over them but that would be it.”
“Do you think they’re photoshopped
?” said Eddie. “I mean, what if they really are sleeping together?”
“Adam swore they are but he’s desperate for revenge and a bit soft in the head. He could have faked them.”
“We could rob the clubs,” said Amanda. “They’ll keep a lot of cash on the premises.”
“They won’t fall for another false alarm.”
Her eyes gleamed. “What if it wasn’t a false alarm?”
“You mean, set fire to the nightclubs?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” she said darkly. “You’ve been around Eclectic, you’ve seen its strengths and weaknesses. I bet you already know how to do it.”
“Yes,” he said slowly.
“It’s opening night tonight. It would be perfect.”
“You’re on about doing it when the club is full?” said Eddie.
“That would have the most impact and cause the most chaos,” replied Amanda.
“You’ve really lost the plot now. We could end up killing dozens of people and that is not who I am.”
“You already got in deep when we killed Dillon,” she retorted.
“When you killed him. It was nothing to do with me.” He turned pleading eyes on Ben. “You can’t seriously be considering this. It’s insane. We save lives, we don’t take them.”
“Eddie’s right,” said Rick. “This is too far.”
“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it at the furniture warehouse,” Amanda told them. “We left Faith and Vance Chambers to burn alive and you were happily shooting at them all.”
“I wasn’t trying to hit them,” said Eddie. “I just wanted them to back off.”
“What a load of crap,” said Amanda. “You were enjoying yourself, I could see it in your eyes.”
“How could you see anything with all the smoke in there?”
“Stop arguing,” said Ben. “It’s not helping and I’m not sure how effective hitting Eclectic and Pulse will be. We both know all the money is kept in safes that we don’t have the combination for.”
“The Chambers family know the combinations,” said Amanda.
“Kidnapping, again?” groaned Rick. “It was difficult enough the first time. That lot are fucking hard.”
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