Page 31 of Skin In the Game (The BlackWater)

Maddie woke up knowing two things, one that the BlackWater car would be there at 7 and two that there was no way in hell she was getting in it.

She got up, showered, packed a bag with the homemade mace spray she’d made and a few other items she thought might come in handy and she headed out.

She’d dressed like she was going for a run, just like every other day but this day was different. This day she was going to show Cole Black that he didn’t know a god damn thing about her and he sure as hell shouldn’t be placing bets on her either.

She walked fast, looking like she was stretching, looking like she was warming up and carefully looked around checking to see if and who might be following her.

But there was no one.

She was alone and she breathed a sigh of relief before walking quickly on.

She needed to think, she realised, she needed to plan too. She pulled the cap she had on down, concealing her face more and jumped on the tube. She wanted to be somewhere public, somewhere busy where there’d be too many faces to pick her out.

She headed onto the Piccadilly Line, getting off at Leicester Square, picking it almost at random and then walking into the restaurant right by the station. It was packed already with tourists getting their breakfast and she grabbed a table in the corner, near the back, with her body positioned so that she faced the front, so that if anyone came at her she would see them head on.

She grabbed the notepad, and started writing. Writing everything she remembered about the Anderson file, everything they’d found out, every tiny minuscule, insignificant detail that popped into her head and then she wrote down about McCullough. About everything she knew of him, his family, his hobbies, anything that might make it make sense.

She sighed, looking at it all and realising then that she’d forgotten things, forgotten details here and there but it wasn’t like she could go back to Homewell and ask them.

She pulled her phone and texted Burke, asking if he could have a sneaky look for her and she waited impatiently for his reply. He came back to her five minutes later, agreeing to it and telling her he’d let her know when he had it. She smiled, feeling like at least he was on her side, at least he had her back.

She sat back sipping her coffee and then the thought struck her, that McCullough had sent her the full address, not just the street address but also the name of the warehouse when he’d messaged her, but how the hell had he known that? She frowned. There wasn’t a sign anywhere with it on, she was sure of it but now suddenly she wondered.

She closed her eyes visualising the space, remembering it. The warehouse was derelict, obviously derelict. The heras fencing around it was battered, old in serious need of repair. She remembered the smell now, it must have been used to store chemicals at some point but she couldn’t pin point what. The yard had been concrete, slabs of it and then little paths where they’d dig bits out and refilled. But there hadn’t been a sign. There was just wood. Just the wooden structure.

Maddie got up, stretched, chucked her things in her bag, paid the bill and left. She wanted to be walking, thinking. She’d sat for too long, she needed to be active to get her blood pumping. She walked down the street heading along towards Green Park because it felt like a decent distance to do a loop.

She glanced around taking note of the faces, the people and she wondered then what Cole Black was thinking, what all of them at BlackWater were thinking when she didn’t show. Were they looking for her now? She’d put money on it but they’d have a tough time trying to figure out where she’d gone. Her only other thought was what would happen when she went back to her apartment because there absolutely would be someone there. Would Cole grace her with his presence again she wondered or would he send a minion this time, maybe Brandon would show and call her an idiot again.

Someone bumped into her and she felt her shoulder turn with the impact, she looked meeting the guys eyes and he mumbled an apology but then a sharp stab of something jabbed her right in the back of her neck at the hairline. She flinched, springing around and knew shit was once again hitting the fan.

The man grabbed her and she pushed back but her head spun, her eyes wouldn’t focus and her knees were already collapsing underneath her. He picked her up like she was a good damn child, like she was weightless in his arms and carried her quickly into the alley and the back of the waiting van.

Maddie blinked, trying not to fall asleep, trying to make her body move, to respond. She blinked again but her eyelids were so heavy she could barely open them. Come on Maddie, she thought, you can do this, you’re better than this. The van drove on taking a right, and then a left and then on again and she just lay there, like she was pathetic, like the fight was gone from her.

It stopped and she opened her eyes. Wherever they were she felt like she needed to fight now, to run, to just do anything. Never let them take you to a secondary location, that was one of the rules drilled into her in Blackops and it echoed in her head over and over.

The doors opened and she looked at the two men, both wearing balaclavas and dressed in black, just like BlackWater only somehow she knew these guys weren’t BlackWater, they were someone else entirely.

One grabbed her ankles and dragged her body to the entrance of the van, she kicked but her legs felt so weak. They stood her up and one of them prepared to fireman lift her over his shoulder but she kneed him, badly, misjudged, but at least she’d tried. She stumbled pushing away, trying to get away but the other guy hit her sending her flying down onto the concrete.

He picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder and walked into the building leaving the other man to follow.

Across the road, two men exchanged glances before one picked up the radio.

“We’ve got company.” He said into it. “Requesting urgent backup.”

“Roger that.”

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