Takedown by Heather Atkinson (latest books to read txt) 📕

“I actually said getting in a stranger would be a security breach,” replied Vance. “One of Mum’s friends owns her own cleaning business. You should hire them.”

“Yeah, I might,” he muttered. “Anyway, we’ve got some information,” he said, gesturing from himself to Kevin and Jason.

“About Ben Cooper?” said Faith.

“No. About Amanda Young. You were tackling Ben, so we thought we’d try her. We looked her up online and she teaches a self-defence class three times a week. She’s won loads of awards for martial arts.”

“So she would have been able to train her colleagues?”

“Exactly and we know where she’ll be every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - at the community centre on Claremont Road.”

“I know it,” said Jason. “I went out with a girl who lived on that street. Really nice lass. You should have seen her tits, they were enormous…”

“If we could stick to the point please,” sighed Faith.

“Oh yeah, sorry. The community centre is surrounded by houses but it’s set in its own green. There’s a playpark on one side and nothing on the other but tennis courts, a park and a football pitch. Behind it is a bowling green.”

“So you’re saying it’s pretty quiet?”

“Not during the day but at night, yeah. The houses are set back a bit from it.”

“What time are her classes?”

“Tuesday and Thursday six thirty until eight thirty and Saturday four till six.”

“So what do we do?” said Kevin. “Catch her when she’s coming out after her class, grab her and make her tell us where the drugs are?”

“That’s one possibility,” said Faith. “But from what I’ve heard of her, she won’t give up the information easily.”

“Then we take her back to the lock-up and persuade her.”

“No Kevin, we don’t. These aren’t some dodgy scumbags we can rough up. Plus the woman is trained in martial arts and none of us are.”

“You and Vance have training,” he countered.

“Yes, I have my army training and Vance has his police training but it might not be enough to take on someone with her skills. Look what they did to Greg and his men.”

“They’re bloody poofs.”

“No, they’re not. I think we’re better off following her.”

“Oh yeah? And how did you get on with following Ben Cooper last night? Did he lead you to the drugs?”

“No but we now know that his wife has a gambling problem and probably a drink problem too. We followed him to a casino on the front and he dragged his wife out of there, who looked half-cut.”

“Is that it?” said Kevin.

“For now, yes.”

“If we carry on fannying about like this we’ll never get the drugs back. They’ve probably already moved them on by now because we’re too afraid to tackle them head on.”

“And, as I’ve already told you,” retorted Faith impatiently. “These aren’t the usual meat heads we’re used to dealing with. We’re tackling this in a different way and if you can’t handle that then you can piss off back to Mum’s and leave it to us.”

Faith yelled this last sentence at him and an awkward silence filled the room. She rarely shouted at her brothers. Kevin turned crimson with embarrassment and frustration, his temper vying with his common sense. Everyone knew that when Faith was angry you didn’t push her.

“Well,” she said, voice hard and icy. “What will it be?”

Kevin took a deep breath as he struggled to rein in his volcanic temper. “I’ll stay.”

“Good. Steaming in will get us nowhere,” she said more gently.

“All right Faith,” he sighed, planting his hands on his hips. “We’ll do it your way but if we don’t get results quickly then we’ll do it my way.”

Faith’s expression was devoid of all emotion. “I give the orders Kevin, not you. If you’ve got a problem with that you can always take it up with Jules Maguire.” Her smile was chilling. “She doesn’t take too kindly to her decisions being criticised.”

The tension started to build up in the room again as the two siblings stared each other out, the others looking on, unsure what to do.

Vance was the one to break the moment. “Faith’s right,” he said. “And Jules herself wants us to do this quietly. We follow Amanda and see where she leads us. Just because these people are firefighters doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be wary of them.”

“Makes sense,” said Caleb, looking from Faith to Kevin, who were still staring at each other. He didn’t think Kevin would ever challenge Faith. He always seemed happy taking orders and doling out beatings. Clearly they’d all underestimated him.

“Amanda will be teaching her class tonight,” said Faith, breaking eye contact with Kevin to address the rest of her siblings. “Me, Vance and Caleb will be there to follow her.” She frowned when Kevin tutted and rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry,” she told him. “You and Jason will have a job too - go to Pulse and keep an eye on things.”

“Because that’s all we’re fit for,” said Kevin. “Guard dogs.”

“Actually no,” said Faith, an amused smile playing on her lips. “Jason’s excellent with tech. He’s very skilled. What are your skills Kev, other than mindless violence?”

“Why are you being such a bitch?”

“At least I’m not being a whiny little tart like you.”

“That’s enough the pair of you,” thundered Vance. “What the hell has got into you both? I’ve never heard you speak to each other like that, not even when you were kids.”

“Ask Kev,” Faith told him. “He suddenly seems to think he’s qualified to give orders.”

“Maybe if I was in charge we wouldn’t have been done over by a bunch of firefighters,” retorted Kevin.

Faith’s eyes were as sharp as knives. “So what would you have done differently? Please do enlighten us. Your many years of experience will no doubt be of