Free Fourth Day by Zoe Sharp

deliberate stare. A sudden apprehension riffled the hairs on my arms, the back of my neck.
    ‘We’ll know, soon enough,’ Epps said and, withoutshifting his gaze, louder over his shoulder, ‘All right. Let’s move this along.’
    The two men from the Econoline stepped in and grabbed Witney’s arms, one on either side. They were big men and he was not, and there was nothing gentle about the way they handled him.
    ‘What do you want with him?’ I demanded. ‘What’s he done?’
    Epps shifted his icy focus onto me. I refused to flinch, despite the eerie sensation that you could look right through those bottomless eyes of his, all the way down into hell. Sean and Parker closed in on either side, as though that alone would stop Epps crushing me like an annoying fly if he felt the urge.
    ‘As far as we are aware, Mr Witney is not personally responsible for any wrongdoing, but the information he is withholding is another matter,’ Epps said, his voice chillingly neutral. ‘At this time, we are taking a particular interest in the Fourth Day organisation, and we believe Mr Witney is… intimate with its command structure.’
    ‘You’re after Bane,’ Sean said. ‘Why?’
    Epps shifted his gaze. ‘I don’t believe, Mr Meyer, that I am required to explain my actions to you.’
    Witney, who’d faltered at the turn of events, now began actively to resist. The two men made what seemed to be only a fractional alteration in their stance, but their grip went from assistance to control in an instant. When the schoolteacher still twisted against them, they took him professionally to his knees and held him there long enough to zip PlastiCuffs onto his wrists behind him. It was interesting how much trouble he caused them for such a simple manoeuvre.
    Almost as one, Sean and I stepped forwards. Two of Epps’s people mirrored our actions, blocking our path. When we sidestepped, so did they. I thought of the gun on my hip, knew I’d probably be dead before I had it drawn.
    ‘Please don’t be foolish, Charlie,’ Epps said, and his unexpected use of my first name was a threat all by itself. A whole collection of them. I know you , it said. I know everything there is to know about you and the people closest to you, and I will use it – all of it – against you if I have to .
    To my onward shame, I stopped.
    The two men manhandling Witney, meanwhile, reached the Econoline, opened the rear doors and threw him inside like a side of meat. Unable to break his fall, he landed face down, the air slamming out of him.
    One of Epps’s men rolled him onto his side so his feet cleared the door and I caught a glimpse of Witney’s face. Not terrified, as I would have expected, but pale with boiling anger. The closing door cut short my view.
    The men climbed into the front seats, cranked the engine, and headed for the exit ramp leading back down into the bowels of the building. The old Econoline sounded a lot sweeter than it looked.
    I swung back to Parker, would have let rip had I not caught the hint of stress in his tight-lipped face.
    ‘You will, of course, give us twenty minutes to clear the area before you move your team out,’ Epps said to him, as though nothing of the struggle we’d just witnessed had ever happened. Officially, I don’t suppose it had. ‘We want to keep this low-key.’
    For a long moment, I thought Parker would argue. Iwasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed when, at last, he gave a short nod and let his gaze drop away.
    Epps dealt the barest glimmer of a smile, as if he knew precisely what such capitulation had cost. Knew, and didn’t care. He cast a brief dismissive eye across the rest of us, then turned his back with an almost lazy disregard. His broad shoulder blades beneath the pale raincoat made a very tempting target.
    We watched him walk away.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ Sean asked the quiet question.
    ‘About Epps?’ Parker said, giving us both a tired smile. ‘Why? What