Free Meltdown by Andy McNab Page A

the fat man another five seconds and
then staggered back against the wall, sucking in air.
He became aware of something in his mouth and
almost gagged as he spat out a piece of Blubber
Man's flesh. He leaned against the wall, gasping,
fighting back the vomit that was rising in his throat.
    Lee grabbed Danny's shoulders and pulled him
upright. He knew exactly what he was going
through; everyone has a first time.
    He stared into Danny's eyes. 'You'll dream about
it for a while but you just have to deal with it. OK?'
    Danny took two deep breaths and then nodded.
'Yeah.'
    'You did good, mate. Well done. Now clean yourself
up.'

13
    Danny nodded at his grandfather as he entered
the apartment, confirming that Siddie's three
thugs had been dealt with successfully. Teddy
had managed to haul himself up onto one of
the bloodstained sofas and was sitting clutching
his damaged ribs with one hand and dabbing his
bloodied nose and mouth with pieces of tissue with
the other.
    Danny's face was still red as the blood pumped
around his body. He thought he'd wiped his face
clean but there was still a little blood on his neck.
    Fergus pointed towards it. 'Yours? You OK?'
    Danny wiped his neck and shook his head.
'Theirs. I'm OK.'
    But Fergus wasn't convinced. 'Bit of a drama
down there?'
    'I'll deal with it,' said Danny firmly.
    Then he caught sight of the prone body of Siddie;
his face had shattered where the bullet entered, and
for an instant Danny had an image of Elena, lying
dead on the ground in Central Park. He forced the
thought away – he couldn't allow himself to dwell
on it; it was too painful. He had to focus on the job;
concentrate; stay professional.
    Instead, he watched his grandfather. Fergus had
his own game plan completely worked out. He'd
given Teddy long enough to take in the enormity of
what had happened in his apartment. Teddy was
deliberately not looking at Siddie's body, which
lay like a beached whale on the carpet, the blood
soaking into the weave. Violence was something he
could ask of others; he couldn't cope with it himself.
    Fergus sat down next to him on the sofa. Now it
was time to get the information he wanted.
    'All right. As I've just saved your life, I think it's
time I knew exactly what's going on, don't you,
Teddy?' He nodded towards the body on the floor.
'And don't give me any crap about him wanting to
take over your coach firm. Blokes like that aren't
interested in executive travel.'
    Teddy hesitated, dabbing at his nose again as he
tried to think what to say. 'I . . . I don't know. I
honestly don't. I can't imagine why someone like
that—'
    'Forget it.' Fergus was on his feet. 'Listen, Teddy,
you're not paying me nearly enough to get involved
in something like this. Consider our contract terminated.
Come on, Danny.'
    They headed for the door.
    'Wait! Please!' Teddy couldn't stop himself from
taking another look at Siddie's body.
    Fergus stopped, looked back and waited for
Teddy to continue.
    'What do I do? About . . . that?'
    Fergus didn't reply immediately. He was playing
a part, appearing to consider whether or not he
would help Teddy. It was all an act, and Danny
knew it. But his grandfather was good at acting;
he knew that too.
    'I'll tell you what I'll do, Teddy,' Fergus said at
last. 'As a gesture of goodwill. I'll get rid of it for
you.'
    'You . . . you can do that? But . . . but how?'
    'You don't need to know. It'll be done, that's all.'
    It would be simple. All Fergus needed to do was
put in a call to Dudley and a team of 'cleaners'
would come in, remove the body and dispose of it
before clearing up the blood in the flat and on the
stairs. By midnight the only sign that there had been
any sort of disturbance in the apartment would be
the smashed-in door. But that didn't matter: it
was the top-floor penthouse so no one was going to
see it.
    'You'd better get yourself down the hospital,' said
Fergus to Teddy. 'Check out that damage to your
ribs. And by the look of it, you've got a busted nose
as