Silence Breaking (Storm and Silence 4)

The shelf made a sudden jolt forward and began to tip, threatening to squash me - then suddenly stopped. Glancing up, I saw Mr Ambrose standing beside me, his hand tightly gripping the shelf. I expected him to make a remark about how weak and helpless we little women were - but he didn’t. Instead, all he did was nod at me. Our eyes met.

‘Together?’

All right. Maybe I wasn’t going to strangle him after all.

I nodded back. ‘Together.’

It didn’t take long until we had a solid wall of desks, shelves, and several sacks full of coal piled up against the door. But even so, the wood of the door groaned under the repeated onslaught, and our barrier slowly shifted. From outside, I heard shouts of encouragement mixed with the noise of fighting.

‘So,’ I panted, leaning with all my weight against the end of the barrier and for the first time glad about my generous behind, ‘is this an average day in the life of a coal mine manager?’

‘Not quite.’ Somehow, Mr Ambrose’s voice was still as calm and collected as ever. He wasn’t even out of breath. ‘This is somewhat extreme.’

Another strike hit the door, nearly toppling the shelf and squashing me. ‘I’ll say!’

Another strike. And another. Again, the shelf wobbled dangerously. I pressed myself against it with all my strength.

‘Mr Linton, get away from there!’

‘Don’t worry, I’ve got this. I-’

Grabbing my wrist, Mr Ambrose yanked me back, just as another hit smashed into the door, and the shelf toppled over. For a moment, I was wrapped in Mr Ambrose’s arms as dust, wood splinters and stray pieces of paper whirled around us in a cloud of debris. For a moment, I felt safe. Then, the door gave a tortured groan, and a crack appeared down the middle.

‘Upstairs!’ Mr Ambrose commanded. ‘Now!’

And for once, I didn’t argue.

We dashed up the stairs to the upper floor. It was built above only half of the house, with a big landing, almost a platform at the top of the stairs - probably for speaking to miners at meetings. Well - there certainly would be lots of miners in here, soon. But they probably wouldn’t be in the mood to listen.

Tearing open the door, I rushed inside and slammed it shut behind me. The glass pane in the door clattered.

‘Really?’ I panted, glaring at Mr Ambrose. ‘A glass door?’

‘It is very useful to keep an eye on your employees, Mr Linton.’

‘Not so useful to survive a siege, though, Mr Ambrose!’

‘Mr Linton?’

‘Yes, Sir?’

‘Silence!’

Promptly, a stone smashed through the glass door, and shouting flooded in from outside. Apparently, the dear miners didn’t care much for Ambrosian commands. They were coming up the stairs, their footfalls making the whole building tremble. But then shots suddenly rang out, and the footfalls ceased.

‘The reinforcements!’ Karim shouted. ‘They’re here!’

The door shuddered under an onslaught of blows. Fists slammed through the glass.

‘I don’t think that’s going to make much difference!’ Backing away, I glanced around for a weapon, a way out, anything! But there was nothing.

‘There’s only one thing to do.’ Mr Ambrose’s voice was cool and firm.

‘What?’

‘Speak to them. They know my men are coming. They can’t hope to win this. Any logical human being will be forced to concede defeat.’

And he stepped towards the door before I could point out that people who punch through glass with their bare hands weren’t my idea of logical human beings.