Maddie sat, shaking against the cold metal. They had her. Whoever had killed McCullough had her. She tried to fumble for her phone but realised she must have left it back at the warehouse. She tried to squeeze her hands free of the zip ties but the plastic just dug further into her wrists.
She snarled kicking out and someone kicked back at her. She knew then that she wasn’t alone. That someone was right there, in the back of the transit and the thought didn’t give her any comfort.
They drove for what felt like ages, twisting and turning and she half felt they were doing it on purpose to disorientate her. When they stopped suddenly and the doors opened she knew they were there, wherever they were taking her.
They hauled her out and she stumbled, still fighting them and still swearing at them all. She could hear her voice echoing down what she guessed was the corridor and then she heard the door open and she was chucked inside. She paused, sensing she wasn’t alone and trying to get her bearings. The sack was still on her head and her hands were still tied but she felt like there were eyes on her.
She could hear her breathing echoing in her ears and she could see the light through the tiny holes in the fabric. She licked her lip and tasted the blood from where it had split.
Someone walked up and yanked the sack off her and she looked around quickly, trying to assess how fucked she was.
There were two men, both now sat at a metal desk. The room was stark, like an interrogation room, with thick white plaster walls all around and just the metal door behind her.
She looked up and to the side she saw the glass, like a giant viewing gallery. She saw the suits too. The men all in there watching her. Curtis was there, Holden too and a few others she recognised. She looked at each of them and then finally she looked at him, at Cole Black.
He was staring right back at her, just like every time they’d met before. He took in the split lip, the graze across her face from where she’d fought his agents. But the look on his face, it was harder, as though he was fighting to control the anger in him and she swallowed.
“What the fuck is this?” She asked looking back from him to the two men seated and watching her.
“Sit down.” The man on the right said and she decided to aim all her questions at him.
“Undo the ties first.” She snapped. She’d be damned if they were going to treat her like a criminal and damned if she was just going to accept it.
“Answer our questions and we’ll consider it.” The man on the left replied and she rolled her eyes. It was a tag team. A flat version of good cop bad cop.
She sat down on the floor, pulling her tied wrists from behind her back under her knees and over her feet before standing back up and rolling her shoulders. At least now her arms were free to use, she thought, even if her wrists were still bound together.
They watched her as if half amused and she glared at them before sitting down on the metal, screwed down chair.
“Go on then, ask away.” She said before she could stop herself. Damn Maddie, she thought, that mouth is gonna get you in real trouble one day.
The man on the right smirked before clicking on a recorder and opening his file in a dramatic fashion.
“Interview starting at 23.39 with one Maddison Cooper. Agents Carter and Brookes from BlackWater.” He paused for a second as if he expected her to feel impressed or intimidated or maybe both. “What were you doing at Lankeit Holdings today?”
“Where?” She replied confused.
“The warehouse.” The man on the right said.
“I got a call from my team member McCullough. He was following a lead. He said he was in trouble.” She stated.
“So you called back up then?”
Shit, she thought, why hadn’t she just called backup? “I told Burke. He knew I was there. I called the office too and put them on notice.” She said.
“But Homewell protocols state if an agent is under threat you should instigate the Red Alert System.” He stated.
She gritted her teeth. “I know that. But it was complicated.”
“Explain it.”
“McCullough is a new agent, he’s green, inexperienced, and apparently has poor decision making processes. He wasn’t even meant to be on shift. He called me because he thought there might be something.” She said.
“But you just said he called saying he was in trouble.”
She clenched her fists under the table trying to keep her voice calm. “I made a judgement call. He was following a suspect, a non-violent, non-threatening suspect.”
“And how did you come by that assessment?” He asked.
“Seriously?” She snapped. “What is this? Who the fuck even are you?” She looked back up at the gallery then, up at Curtis and Holden. Where the hell was she, because one thing was sure she wasn’t at any Homewell building
“Answer the questions Cooper.” Curtis barked through the speaker and she couldn’t help it she glared at him then.
“It’s in the file. The Anderson File.” She stated looking back at the two men in front of her.
The two men exchanged a look she couldn’t read and she moved her hands then onto the metal table top.