“Faith,” bellowed Vance, racing across the car park as he watched the rear door of the fire engine open and Ben dump her limp form inside. With a triumphant smile he jumped in and slammed the door shut.
Vance managed to grab hold of the driver’s door and tore it open, surprising the red-headed driver. He grabbed the driver and pulled, causing him to wrench the wheel to the right, sending the fire engine drifting across the car park with a screech of tyres. His intention was to drag the driver out of the truck but he had his seatbelt on, so it didn’t work. The driver righted the steering wheel, preventing the fire engine from crashing into three parked cars and lashed out at Vance with his foot, who gritted his teeth against the pain.
“Faith, wake up, please,” he cried.
When the driver wrenched the steering wheel to one side, Vance lost his grip and fell onto the tarmac. The driver’s door was slammed shut and the fire engine sped off, siren wailing, lights flashing, just missing the pizza delivery man on his scooter.
Vance dragged himself to his feet and chased after the fire engine when it paused at the main doors so the other two firefighters could jump in but it set off again at speed, hit the road and vanished before he’d even made it to the front of the building.
“Shit,” he yelled, doubling over to catch his breath, body aching, lungs burning.
He straightened up at the sound of footsteps behind him, drawing back his fist when he saw what he thought was another firefighter.
“It’s me,” exclaimed Caleb, holding out his hands.
“They took her,” he panted. “They took Faith.”
“Oh Christ,” he yelled, pulling off the breathing apparatus he’d taken from Amanda.
“What about that bitch you were fighting? We could use her as leverage.”
“Sorry, she got away when I was putting that on,” he said, holding up the mask. “I was choking on the smoke.”
“Not your fault,” he said, patting his shoulder. “We need to get to the safehouse and tell the others.”
“What about Faith?”
“They took her as leverage. They’ll be in contact soon and we have to be ready. Have you got your car keys on you?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go.”
Ten minutes later they were banging on the door of the safehouse.
“Who is it?” called Kevin’s voice.
“It’s us,” replied Vance. “Open the bloody door.”
He opened it and recoiled. “Jesus, you stink of smoke. What happened?”
“Let us in and we’ll tell you.”
“Sorry,” he said, opening the door wider. As they walked inside Kevin added, “Where’s Faith?”
All the family were gathered together in the living room, looking anxious.
“Why haven’t you answered Kev’s question?” said Abi, eyes wide and afraid. “Where’s Faith?”
“Ben and the other firefighters attacked our apartment block. They came in wearing all the gear and throwing smoke canisters about. The building evacuated but me and Caleb got trapped in the lift. We got out and tried to stop it but….”
“Stop what?” breathed Rose.
“They took Faith,” he sighed, dragging his hands down his face.
“Fuck,” yelled Kevin, kicking over the bin.
Michael wrapped Abi in his arms, Jason punched the wall and Rose stared at them in shock.
“We’ve got to get her back,” exclaimed Kevin.
“We will,” said Vance. “But we’ve no idea where they’ve taken her.”
“What about the church?”
“They wouldn’t go there, not now we know about it. They’ve taken her to make us give them the product back. We have to wait for them to get in touch.”
“We can’t just sit about and do nothing.”
“Then what do you suggest?” On the surface Vance was cool and calm but inwardly he was frantic. Ben and his crew were going to be pretty pissed off and he hoped they didn’t take it out on Faith. “We don’t know where to start looking.”
“Vance is right,” said Caleb in his reasonable tone. “We need to stay calm and wait for them to contact us and we need to decide how we’ll handle it when they do call.”
“You have to tell the police,” said Rose.
“We can’t do that Mum,” said Jason. “They’ll ask how this all started. We’ll have to tell them about the drugs and they’ll arrest us all.”
“There’s always Young,” said Caleb.
“What can one police officer do?” muttered Vance.
“I don’t know but he might be able to help. It’s worth a try,” he pressed when Vance appeared uncertain.
“All right, we’ll call him but first let’s come up with a plan. We need to get the product ready to move.”
“We can’t just hand it back to them,” said Kevin.
“That’s what we’ll allow them to think.”
“Why are you staring at me?” frowned Kevin.
“You’re the right size.”
“For what?” Kevin swallowed hard, not liking the look in his brother’s eyes. He had the feeling he wouldn’t like whatever plan was brewing in his mind.
“We could hide someone in it.”
“I am not getting in a coffin,” he retorted. “I’m claustrophobic.”
“Vance, you can’t do that to your brother,” said Rose. “It would be incredibly dangerous.”
“Maybe you’re right,” he replied
Kevin breathed a sigh of relief.
“Caleb, call Young,” said Vance.
He nodded, took out his phone and retreated into the corner of the room to talk.
“They messed with our family,” Vance told them. “So now we’re going to return the favour. We’ll take a leaf out of Ben’s book.”
“What do you mean by that?” said Rose, the darkness in Vance’s eyes making her uneasy. She could see how much pain he was in, his worry for Faith was tearing him apart. He would do anything to get her back and he wouldn’t care who he had to hurt. His entire life Faith had been his mainstay, his
