Page 112 of One Eye Open (The BlackWater)

Maddie stared up at the building in front of her. Here we go, she thought with a sigh. It’d been two weeks, two weeks since Brandon had pulled rank and now she was back, at BlackWater HQ, back on the god damn Omega Project too.

She walked into the building, waving her pass and tossing her bag on the conveyor belt. It felt like Déjà vu. Like her life had suddenly rewound to a year ago when she’d been essentially forced to join BlackWater because a bunch of arseholes had their sights set on killing her. Only it wasn’t all that different was it? She was back on the same case, back at the same office, the only things that were different were there was a much bigger team this time and she was SIC. Second in Command.

“Morning Maddie.” Someone said and she glanced over seeing Sam from the Armed Response Team.

“Morning.” She replied smiling.

“Ooo the assassin’s back.” Someone said behind her and she turned frowning as a few people stared. For fucksake, she thought, it was bad enough when people called her bulletproof but this was just ridiculous.

She got in the lift, ignoring the sideways glances and mentally prayed that Becky was already there. And thank god she was, coffee in hand, smiling as she walked through the doors. Just like old times.

“Welcome back.” Becky said.

“Thanks Becs.” Maddie muttered taking a big swig of her coffee and trying not to cuss at how much it burnt her mouth.

“Brandon wants everyone in the briefing room first thing. He wants to get you up to speed as quickly as possible.”

“Somethings never change huh?” Maddie said and they both laughed.

They walked into the Briefing Room and it took all Maddie’s strength not to roll her eyes at the looks half the team were giving her. They were her team now. She needed to remember it.

“Right first things first, cupcakes.” Doug said laying out boxes across the table.

“Oh how I’ve missed these.” Maddie said feeling like her eyes were literally popping out of her head.

“How come we never get cupcakes?” One of the girls across from her moaned.

“Because you haven’t earnt them.” Doug replied and a few others sniggered.

“Right listen up.” Brandon said walking into the room and Maddie half expected Cole to be following him only he wasn’t. “As of today Maddie is back on the Omega Project. She’s SIC so I expect you all to treat her accordingly. Thomas bring everyone up to speed on where we are.”

Thomas nodded, grabbing the clicker and started going through everything that had happened since she’d left.

“So it was practically radio silence until the AGM?” Maddie asked when he’d finished.

“Yeah pretty much.” Becky said.

“But why now? What are they after?” Maddie replied.

“That’s the point, it doesn’t make any sense. The way the missile system has been changed means the codes are defunct and there’s no way the plans they stole can be turned into anything of use.” Brandon stated.

“And you’re certain nothing else has been stolen? That no one else at Black Tech is involved?” Maddie said.

Brandon shrugged.

“We can’t be a hundred per cent certain but it’s unlikely. We changed our protocols after what happened. No one individual would have access to enough information to pass it on. There would need to be countless people leaking information.”

“And the bomb, what about that?”

“It was a pretty complex incendiary device.” Thomas said. “I have a background in explosives.”

“Military?” Maddie asked.

“Explosive Ordinance Disposal.” He said and she nodded. RLC, the big boys, he wasn’t kidding then.

“So how’s it complex?” She asked.

“The build of it, the way the timer worked and the detonator. This wasn’t just a simple pipebomb or a bit of cemtex. This was serious engineering.”

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