The Hard Way

opens fire, you do what you need to.”
The sergeant and two more of his team got in the BMW 530d, their Armed Response Vehicle (ARV), which would be their unit’s lead car, while Walker sat in the driver’s seat of their BMW X5 Xdrive 30d. In the top left and right corners of both front windscreens were yellow circular stickers, identifying their vehicle as armed.
As part of his ongoing CPD, Walker had taken additional driving lessons, which taught him emergency manoeuvres, as well as specialist weapons training. There were few weapons he wasn’t qualified to use during deployment. “Here we go!” He pulled out of the garage after the sergeant’s BMW, their lights flashing.
Vodicka leaned in between him and Zuccari. “Man, I love this fucking job.”
“Voddy, you know the rules: strap yourself in.” He chided her playfully, never wanting to take her on physically. Vodicka may be a woman, but she was tough as they came, and could probably take Miller out in a ring. Czech women were notoriously tough, in his experience, and he’d dated two through Vodicka.
After she strapped herself in, Walker drove the car behind the sergeant all the way there, pulling up behind him on a side road, the warehouse just down the street.
Getting out, he checked his weapons.
Walker took his half of the unit to meet the sergeant and the others in front of their BMW. “How do you want to play this, Sarge?”
Their sergeant explained their assault formation. Three groups of two; one left, one right, one central to the rear. They waited for a full ten minutes in position. The sarge had to receive the green light from his superior, some commissioner.
Walker and Vodicka took the left, while Zuccari took charge of the right and the sarge took the rear centre. In his earpiece, Walker heard the sarge’s command and signalled to Zuccari that they were going to breach.

15
Charlotte Edwards lay next to her husband, unable to sleep. It appeared Samuel wasn’t asleep either, judging by his fidgeting. The girls would be asleep at four in the morning, which was where Charlotte would like to be. She sighed. “Stop fidgeting!” Her voice barely a whisper, it failed to register a reaction from the lump next to her.
She couldn’t get Henry or Richard out of her mind. The way her brother had abruptly ended his conversation with Henry made her suspicious. Richard made it sound like he was discussing his work with their younger brother’s husband. But why?
What could Henry, a radio station owner, have to do with Richard’s business? Her brother was an engineer, a brilliant one at that; he was well-respected in the engineering community, according to him anyway. So, why would he discuss business with Henry?
When she’d tried to illicit a response, Richard clammed up. What didn’t he want her to know? These questions ran around her mind all night, and into the early hours.
“You awake?” Samuel’s whisper disturbed her thoughts.
“Yeah, you?” Silly question. Of course he was awake.
“You thinking about Colin?” He turned onto his back and held his arm out for her. “I am. I can’t believe he’s gone.”
Lying next to him, her chin on his chest, leg entwined with his, she stroked his stomach, feeling the ridges of his abs. “Yeah, I can’t believe it either. Poor Colin.”
A silence settled between them.
“It’s not just Colin you’re thinking about, though, is it?” Samuel glanced at her. “Come on, what’s up? Your cogs are turning; I can practically hear them. Unload on me.”
She wondered for a few seconds whether or not to tell him. “It’s Richard. I walked in on him trying to talk to Henry earlier, and he balked when I walked in. He sat back in his armchair and cut the conversation off, just like that.”
“So? So what?” Samuel stared at her. “I don’t mean to sound harsh, honey, but he probably doesn’t want you hearing about his work. What’s wrong with that?”
Charlotte put her cheek on his chest again. “No, I get that, I do. But it was the way he did it. Like he was scared of me listening in, or something. I don’t know, you had to be there, I guess.”
Her husband stroked her back. “What do you want me to say here? Your brother’s a secretive prick? And he is, as well as stuck-up. But I wouldn’t lose sleep over it, Lottie. We’ve got bigger things to worry about right now.”
They did. Knowing Henry, he would need help with planning the funeral, whenever that would be. Her brother’s body wouldn’t be released for a while, as was standard with a murder enquiry. “I know. We need to look after Henry. He’s the one I’m most concerned about.”
When Samuel didn’t answer her, Charlotte lifted her head and looked at him. Samuel had frown marks. “Sam? What is it?” He didn’t answer for a few seconds.
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He took his arm away from her and sat up.
“It’s not nothing, though, is it? I can see it in your face. What is it?”
“Oh, it’s probably nothing.”
“But?”
“But Richard turned up one day, when I went to visit Colin and Henry at the radio station.” Samuel stared up, like he was trying to recall an image. “I remember now because he looked shifty, and when he saw me, he wouldn’t look me in the eye. When I asked Henry what Richard was doing here, he just shrugged and said Richard wanted a word with Colin about something. But his face gave him away. Henry was shifty, too, come to think of it. He ushered me out shortly after Richard arrived.”
“And you’re telling me this now, why?” She sat up and glared at him.
Samuel got up and put on a pair of boxers. “I didn’t think anything of it back then. Why would I? Your brothers are odd at the best of times. It didn’t strike me as all that strange then, but now you mention Richard acting all suspicious.”
“And Henry didn’t give you anything else