Meltdown by Andy McNab Read Free Book Online Page B

conversation going, he seized on this. 'You're
not from round here then?'
    Another gem from the book of all-time worst
chat-up lines, but it didn't seem to bother Storm.
    'I'm not from anywhere, really. My mother was
Swedish – she died when I was quite young. My
father has always worked abroad – he's always on
the move, so I hardly ever see him. Anyway, he sent
me to be properly educated at boarding school here
in the UK.'
    'So are you going to go to university?' Danny
asked.
    Storm laughed.
    'No. I did Textiles and Media Studies at A level.
My father would have liked me to have taken
more academic subjects and then go to uni.
But it's not my thing, and to be honest, I wasn't
bright enough.' She smiled. 'Academic stuff is so
boring!'
    Danny nodded as he thought back to his own
schooldays. He'd done OK at GCSEs but life on the
run with Fergus meant he'd never got as far as
taking A levels.
    'I came to Manchester about a year ago,' Storm
continued. Danny was in luck: she obviously
preferred chatting to shifting paper.
    'Why Manchester?'
    'A job. It was supposed to be in fashion. You know
– buying.' She shrugged her shoulders. 'Actually I
was little more than a glorified sales assistant.'
    Danny was on a roll, ready with his next question.
'So how did you get this job? I can't see you
queuing down the Job Centre.'
    Storm smiled into his eyes and perched herself
delicately on the corner of the desk.
    'No, I met the twins at a nightclub. We got talking
and then I . . . well, I started seeing them?'
    'Them?' said Danny, raising his eyebrows.
    'Mmmm,' said Storm thoughtfully as she gazed
out of the window at the city skyline. 'The twins do
everything together.'
    She looked back at Danny, whose eyes were
bulging.
    'Oh, no,' she said quickly. 'Not that. Well . . . I
wouldn't know about that. The three of us are just
friends.'
    'Oh,' said Danny. 'But I thought you and—'
    'Everyone does. And I did at first. I thought I was
sort of going out with Teddy, because he was the
one I first spoke to. Then I thought maybe I'd got it
wrong and it was Will who fancied me.'
    'And didn't he?'
    'I don't know. The thing is, I'm not sure if the
twins have . . .' She paused for a moment.
'The thing is, they're really possessive about me.
They hate it if we're in a club and someone comes
on to me.'
    'And you don't mind? Them being so
possessive?'
    'Not really. They're like two big brothers. And I
like them, I really like them. And I love this job. I get
well paid and I don't have to work hard. And I go
to all sorts of interesting places.'
    She edged a little closer along the desktop
towards Danny. Close enough for him to smell the
expensive perfume she was wearing. She was
looking at him more closely now; differently, as if
she were weighing him up, seeing him for the first
time.
    'What about you?' she said softly. 'Will told me
that your granddad is some sort of hero and that
you've done really brave things as well.'
    Danny shrugged. 'It was just stuff we had to do.
I'm not meant to talk about it.'
    Storm smiled another of her dazzling smiles.
'You're modest. I like that. The twins show off a lot
– it's not nice. And they've got some real morons
working for them.'
    'Yeah, I've noticed.'
    'But you seem—'
    Heavy footsteps sounded on the exterior metal
stairway that led up to the office, and Storm quickly
slid off the desk and moved back to the filing
cabinet.
    The door swung open and a young guy of around
twenty walked in. He was thickset and cropheaded.
His face was puffy and pale, with
dark rings around the eyes, which took on a
staring, almost manic look as they settled on
Danny.
    'Oh,' said Storm, acknowledging the newcomer,
'you're back at last. Well, you still don't look too
good.'
    The young man had obviously been expecting to
find Storm alone. He stared at Danny. 'Who's he?
What's he doing here?'
    'This is Danny,' said Storm, concentrating a little
too hard on the filing to be completely convincing.
'He's working here.'
    'Yeah? Well, no