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

Caleb rolled behind the coffin when Rick stepped out from behind the wardrobe and fired a few shots at him. He cringed as the bullets slammed into the wood of the coffin next to his head. Thank God it was lead lined or they might have gone through it and into him. Peering around the coffin, he saw Rick and Eddie holding lit matches.

“Oh shit,” he yelled as they dropped them into the petrol soaking the floor. It went up like a bonfire, the fire following the trail of petrol, which had trickled in his direction.

Picking up the lid of the coffin and holding it like a shield, he ran for the window, grimacing as bullets struck the lid, which fortunately stopped at the lead lining it. He leapt through the window and hit the ground hard, shoving the lid aside and scrambling to his feet, ducking down behind the wall.

“Jesus,” he cried when a hand clamped down on his arm. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was Abi flanked by Kevin and Jason.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Fine but Faith and Vance are still inside. The floor caved in and they fell. I don’t know if they’re okay and the room is on fire.”

“We need to distract the firefighters,” said Abi. “We still have some of these,” she added, holding out Raven’s flash devices, which Jules had sent to Jason as the present she’d promised him, knowing they’d probably need them.

“All right,” said Caleb. “Let’s skirt the exterior of the building, see if we can find another way in. If we walk through the front door they’ll just shoot us.” He ejected the spent clip in the gun and slammed in a full one, being careful to pocket the empty. “Let’s go and stay behind me.”

All the air was knocked out of Faith’s body as she hit the floor of the level beneath and for a few frightening seconds she couldn’t breathe, until the shock of the fall wore off and she managed to drag in a breath. She’d landed facedown on the wooden floor, debris scattered around her.

“Vance,” she gasped. “Vance.”

He shifted beside her and groaned.

“Are you okay?” she rasped.

He coughed and raised his head, blood trickling from his lower lip. “I think so.”

They flopped onto their backs and stared up at the hole they’d fallen through a few feet above them.

“The building’s on fire,” said Faith flatly. “How marvellous.”

“Let’s get out of here before we get roasted to death or shot.”

“Good idea.”

They pushed themselves up to a sitting position, aching and grimacing before dragging themselves to their feet.

“Christ I’m sore,” groaned Vance.

They looked around the room they were in, which appeared to be a cellar, odds and ends of furniture left hanging around. Both thought themselves lucky they hadn’t landed on any of it. They managed to find their guns thanks to the glow of the fire lighting up the room.

“There’s a door,” said Faith.

“That will take us back up to the ground floor and the fire and bullets,” replied Vance. “But it’s the only way out. There aren’t any windows down here.”

“Then we’ve no choice,” she sighed.

Vance shoved her in the chest, knocking her back against the wall.

“What the hell?” she gasped, recoiling when bullets smashed into the wooden floor where she’d just been standing.

Looking up, she saw Amanda firing down at them through the hole they’d fallen through.

“I’m sick of that bitch,” said Faith, taking aim and firing back, forcing her to duck out of sight.

“Let’s go for the stairs,” said Vance.

They ran up the stairs to the door at the top.

“It’s locked,” said Vance. “Stand back,” he told her, taking aim at the lock.

He fired and there was a clang as the lock snapped. Cautiously he opened it an inch and peered out, the heat of the fire raging around the room making his skin tingle. “I can’t see anyone. Hopefully they’ve got out because of the fire.”

There was a crack and a section of the roof caved in.

“Get back,” he told Faith, slamming the door shut.

There was an alarming rumble on the other side of the door as the masonry hit the floor. When the rumble ceased, he tried to push the door open but it wouldn’t shift.

“Shit,” he yelled. “We’re trapped.”

“Caleb and the others are still out there,” she said. “They’ll get us out.”

They retreated back downstairs, the cellar now thick with choking smoke, huddling together, helpless as the fire ate its way towards them.

“What the hell are we going to do?” cried Abi, tears in her eyes as they watched the flames engulf the warehouse.

“We need to call the fire brigade,” said Jason.

“They’re already in there, you prick,” Kevin yelled at him.

“Someone’s coming out,” said Caleb. “Get back.”

They pressed themselves against the wall as they watched Ben and Amanda stagger out of the rear of the warehouse wearing breathing apparatus.

“Are you going to shoot them?” whispered Kevin as Caleb took aim.

“I’m not a good enough shot from this distance,” he whispered back. “And they still have their guns.”

“It’s all gone to fuck,” screamed a furious Amanda, tearing off her mask.

“Shut up and get in the van,” Ben told her, dragging her towards the white transit van parked a distance from the rear of the building. They’d been careful to leave it out of reach of the flames that they knew would destroy the warehouse.

Rick and Eddie followed, likewise wearing their breathing apparatus. They paused to shut and lock the back door of the warehouse behind them.

“Get in,” Ben yelled at them as he and Amanda jumped into the front seat. He started the engine, flooding the car park with light.

Both men ran for the van’s rear doors, pulled