Meltdown by Andy McNab Read Free Book Online Page A

and
barrel-chested, with hardly any neck and a square
shaved head. A puckered scar from an old battle ran
from just above his right eyebrow down to the
bottom of his right ear.
    Siddie wasn't going to win any beauty contests,
and when he spoke, the high-pitched voice didn't fit
the look.
    'Mr Wilson,' he said, extending his right hand.
    'Frank, please,' answered Fergus as the thick,
podgy fingers clasped his own, firmly.
    'Call me Siddie. We'll go into my study.'
    Fergus followed Siddie along a highly polished
parquet floor, past garish reproduction furniture
that Siddie usually described as 'Louis the
something'.
    Standing to one side of the open doorway to the
kitchen was a huge guy who looked as though he
weighed in at about eighteen stone, most of it
muscle. Then, behind him, an even bigger guy
appeared: by contrast, this one was pure blubber
and he filled the whole doorway. Neither gave
any sign that they had noticed Fergus as he sized
them up.
    'All right, boss?' said Mr Muscles as Siddie
passed them.
    'Yeah, I'm in a meeting. No interruptions.'
    The gang boss led Fergus into a room with floor-to-ceiling
bookshelves on two of the walls. They
were crammed with neatly arranged red leatherbound
books.
    Siddie lowered himself into a leather chair behind
a large oak desk and gestured for Fergus to sit on
the smaller chair in front of him.
    'You must be quite a reader,' said Fergus as he
settled into the chair.
    'Never opened one of 'em,' said Siddie, his small
eyes weighing up his visitor. 'My Dawn bought 'em
from some place where they fit books to the colour
scheme. She reckons it gives the place a bit of class,
but she don't read either.' He glanced over at a
small round table where bottles and full crystal
decanters huddled together. 'Drink?'
    Fergus shook his head.
    'Good,' said Siddie. 'So let's get down to
business.'
    What Siddie Richards lacked in good looks, Storm
Karlsson possessed in bucketloads. She was beautiful.
Five feet six, lithe, ash-blonde, shoulder-length
hair, blue eyes and high cheekbones.
    Storm was a nineteen-year-old stunner, and she
knew it. And like Danny said, she was 'nice'.
Pleasant. Sunny. The twins had brought her into
the travel business because she was good to have
around: she could make even middle-aged,
paunchy businessmen believe that they were the
answer to every beautiful girl's dream.
    When Storm wasn't meeting and greeting for the
twins, she spent her working time flitting between
their apartment and the office at the coach yard,
occasionally answering the phone but mainly, as far
as Danny could see, moving sheets of paper from
one filing cabinet to another.
    Danny was sitting at the office desk, supposedly
checking through phone records. He watched
Storm slide another sheet of paper into a filing
cabinet, looking extremely pleased with herself for
successfully completing the operation.
    She was wearing a black jacket and skirt, which
ended just above the knees. She looked great –
maybe a little too smart for the scruffy, untidy office,
but Storm was in her PA role so she'd gone for the
PA look.
    Danny took a deep breath, thinking again about
his grandfather's order to 'chat her up a bit'.
    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