The Formidable

24

The sound of children's programmes playing greeted Madison as Jase let her and Sam in.

"Did you get the address?" Jase asked. She nodded and sent him the picture. "Any trouble?"

"My boss saw me coming out of his office. He didn't suspect anything, as far as I could tell," she replied. He pressed his lips together. Someone not suspecting something was more suspicious than Madison creeping out of her boss's office, but he said nothing. There was no point being paranoid over everyone and everything, it would distract them from what mattered - closing in on Greg. "How's she been?" Madison asked, nodding at Mia sat in the living room on the sofa, blanket in hand.

"Yeah, fine. She had a jam sandwich," he replied.

Sam steered them back to the issue at hand. "What's the plan then?"

Madison and Jase looked at each other. She knew what was coming next. Greg's days were numbered.

"We go tonight. Wait it out until he shows, we take him to the garage and see what we can get out of him. Don't tell the others. Right now I want everything we do kept between us," Jase said.

"Does he have any family that he lives with?" Sam asked Madison.

"Never mentions anyone," she said. They would have to take their chances. Jase was as much of a fan of the plan as Sam was, he'd never gone into a plan without doing a bit of background digging on who might come sniffing around if their loved one stopped replying to their texts, but they had to act fast. If Greg caught on, they could lose their only lead.

Sam left after Madison had given them a description of Greg, with instructions to return at ten. They didn't want to hang around outside his house for too long, it put them at risk of being spotted. Jase played with Mia for the remainder of the day, counting her fingers and making her teddy talk, throwing her up in the air playing space rocket making loud, whooshing noises as she giggled her head off. By half nine, she was in bed.

Madison was on the sofa when Jase came out of the bedroom in a black t-shirt and black jeans, clothes he wouldn't miss. He had a bag hanging off one shoulder with a clean change in it. He looked at Madison silently.

In the house, he'd never told her what he went to do when he went on shady business runs. Like the time he shot the punter that had beaten Tia to death and he had to get rid of the body.

But this was different. She knew where he was going, what he would do, and to whom. A darkness rested over her, the same darkness he'd seen in her the night she'd massacred Charlie. Her eerie calmness frosted the air.

"I don't know what time I'll be back," Jase said. She stood up and walked towards him, raising a hand to his cheek and holding his face.

"I'll be awake," she said. The distance between them was so small he could practically feel the heat radiating off her. He wasn't sure what else to say so he said nothing. "Remember, now is not the time to play nice."

"I didn't plan on it." She let her hand slide down his stubbly cheek and looked down at the floor. Jase lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him again. She wanted to kiss him, and he wanted to kiss her. He didn't dare cross the boundary and she was too anxious about what it would inevitably lead to. "Get some sleep, it could be a late one." He knew his order fell on deaf ears but didn't repeat himself as he slipped past her and into the night, returning to what he did best.

Sam was waiting in the car outside. Jase got in and Sam handed him the cloth and chloroform. Items he had no need for since Benny had been around. He could still smell it though. The ether-like odour still burned at his nostrils and stuck in the back of his throat. A sickly feeling stirred in his gut at the mental images of Madison being dragged to Sam's car the night they'd brought her in. Once again, he was left wondering what her life would be like if they never met. Would Mitch have gotten to her eventually? Would she be the person she was? Unlikely. It took a lot to get the mindset and survival instincts Madison had.

"You ready?" Sam asked. Back when they had been running around in the streets, Jase was never this quiet or on edge. It was another day in the office for them but these days the idea of abducting someone seemed so foreign. It was as if they were two different people, adopting the lifestyle of strangers. However, these men were no strangers to the acts they were about to carry out. They were well-versed in the criminal lifestyle, fluent in their methods of torture. Because when push came to shove, Jase and Sam shoved with every muscle they had. It was like riding a bike and as soon as Jase was back on the seat, his body would remember what to do.

"Yeah," he replied with cool confidence, pulling the black bandana from the glove box.