Rick looked to Ben, who nodded, so he dumped the phone in Vance’s hand.
Vance dialled and put the call on speakerphone. “Tariq,” he said. “It’s me. Could you tell us where you are?”
He rhymed off an address, this statement followed by a wicked chuckle. “I’m enjoying myself. She’s taken a shower and is wandering about in just a pink dressing gown in her bedroom without drawing the curtains. Fucking gorgeous tits.”
“I’ll kill you, you bastard,” roared Ben, for the first time losing his cool.
“Who the fuck is that?” said Tariq’s voice.
“Her husband,” replied Vance.
There was another chuckle. “I’ll bet she’s ready for a real man.”
When Ben started to yell again, face turning purple, Vance ended the call. “I can call my other friends if you need more confirmation?”
“That’s enough,” hissed Ben, eyes wild.
“Now I suggest you let us all go,” said Vance, pocketing the phone. “Before our friends lose their patience and get to work.”
Faith couldn’t help but smile. Vance had played a blinder.
“We should still kill them,” said Amanda. “Then we can deal with their friends and get back here and finish the plan.”
“I don’t know if it’s worth the risk,” replied Ben.
“We’re so close,” she barked, dark eyes flashing. “If we let them walk out of here this will never be over. Don’t you want it all to end?”
“What about your brother?”
“How do we know their friends are really where they say they are? Let’s just kill them. Ten minutes is enough time, your house is only five minutes from here. Think about it,” she pressed when he appeared uncertain. “All your money troubles gone. We have never not completed a job yet. Let’s not start now.”
Resolution filled Ben’s eyes and the gun, which had been hanging limply by his side, was raised again.
“We were afraid you’d make that decision,” said Vance.
There was an enormous bang that sent them all staggering, not just from the force of the blast but because the explosion shook the already damaged building. Vance pulled Faith down to the floor while their siblings likewise took cover.
Startled, random shots filled the air as the panicking firefighters let off a few bullets but none hit their mark, mainly because they couldn’t see. The explosion had emanated from the small device hidden inside one of the parcels in the coffin. It had burst the few genuine cocaine bricks and the powder now hung in the air.
A brick sailed through the window behind them, smashing it and three small round devices were thrown through the gap.
“Close your eyes,” Vance told Faith. The two of them were still laid on the floor and he was shielding her body with his own.
There was a blinding flash and the firefighters cried out with surprise.
Caleb wrenched the panel off the back of the coffin that they’d cut into it and pulled out three guns, sliding two across the floor to Vance and Faith, who snatched them up. He kept the third one for himself. As they’d only been able to fit three guns in the compartment, he pulled out two knives and slid one towards Kevin and the other to Vance so he could cut Faith’s bonds.
“Go for the window with Kev and Jason,” Vance told Faith. “Me and Caleb will hold them off. We need to get out of here before we all get high. I’ll cover you.”
“I’m not going without you,” she told him.
“Go Faith,” he said, firing at one of the firefighters when they ran for the shelter of the office.
“No,” she retorted, firing too.
“You’re one stubborn woman.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Kev, Jason, go.”
While the three of them fired at the firefighters to keep them back, Jason ran for the shattered window first and flung himself out of it. Kevin followed, wincing at the sound of gunfire, expecting to be hit but he dropped to the ground outside, unscathed.
“Are you okay?” said Abi, rushing up to them. “Did you get everything I threw inside?”
“We did but the others are stuck,” replied Kevin. “The firefighters have got guns.”
“Oh my God.”
All three of them looked back at the furniture warehouse.
“What do we do?” said Jason.
His brother and sister didn’t reply. They had no idea.
CHAPTER 19
Fortunately the cocaine floating in the air had settled, although Faith did feel a little light-headed. Whether that was from the drugs or the shock of the situation, she wasn’t sure. Ben and Amanda had retreated to the back room and were shooting at them from around the door while Eddie and Rick had taken refuge behind a large solid wardrobe to let off random shots.
“Can you smell that?” Caleb yelled to his siblings over the noise of gunfire.
Faith sniffed the air. “It’s petrol.”
Looking around she saw Rick and Eddie tipping over barrels of the stuff and it went pouring across the floor. They were careful to splash it up the walls too.
“This place will go up like a roman candle with that lot,” exclaimed Vance.
“Caleb, go,” Faith called over her shoulder. “We’ve got you covered.”
“No chance,” he said. “You’ll be too outnumbered.”
“Find us a way out,” she told him. “You’re good at that.”
“All right,” he nodded, pumping a few shots in the direction of the back room before making a run for the window. When a number of furious shots struck the wall in front of him, he was forced to throw himself to the floor, covering his head with his hands.
“We’re stuck,” said Faith.
Faith and Vance looked at each other when there was an alarming crack. A horrified Caleb watched as his brother and sister vanished, plummeting downwards as the section of floor they were lying on gave way.
“No,” he
