The Formidable

23

A soft murmur disturbed Jase from his sleep on the sofa. His eyes opened, finding Mia invading his personal space, forcing him to breathe her air. Jase grumbled and forced himself to sit up, palming his eyes.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice deep and sleepy. It was still dark outside, the night sky just visible on the edge of the blind. Mia climbed up.

"I sleep out here," she declared, leaving no room to argue as she climbed onto Jase, nudging him a little aggressively to lay back down. He smiled, letting the toddler make her demands as she got comfortable, putting his hand on her hair as she lay on his chest. Madison didn't come out of the bedroom until the morning when she could hear Jase and Mia playing.

"Ready? One, two, three! Clever girl," Jase cooed. Madison's heart skipped. She pulled on a hoodie from Jase's wardrobe and a pair of leggings from her bag, joining them in the living room. "Good morning," Jase said as Madison sat with them, she smiled and Mia leaped into her arms for a cuddle, her little body already bursting with so much energy it was barely containable.

"Hello, my little angel. Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"She came out in the middle of the night and stayed with me on the sofa. When did you go to bed?" Jase asked, recalling Madison falling asleep on the sofa next to him.

"I thought I heard her moving around so I went in at about half-eleven," she said. "Has she eaten today?" Jase recounted her banana and toast breakfast and the morning's events of watching kids' programmes and playing peekaboo. Madison smiled away, revelling in the normality of the situation, knowing it wouldn't last long and wanting to squeeze out every last drop.

"What's your plan today?" she asked.

Jase rolled his shoulders. "I want to make sure no one goes to the house in search of you. Then we'll take the next step and find out where Greg lives."

"I can get you Greg's address," Madison offered. Jase lifted Mia into his lap when she'd raised her arms at him.

"How?" he questioned.

"Stay here with her, I'll go to my work. My boss will have an address for him," she said, but Jase shook his head.

"Not on your own." Madison rolled her eyes.

"Get Sam to come with me then. But he'll have to stay in the car," she said.

"Are you going to have to break into his office? Or will he give it to you willingly?"

Madison grinned, "A lock's never stopped me before."

Sam picked her up and they were outside the bar within the hour. It was open during the day but always dead and it was unlikely that her boss would be in. She hadn't thought of a story to spin if he was.

Sam remained in the car whilst Madison went in, behaving as if she were supposed to be there, not that any of the day staff would bat an eye. Formally, she'd quit but it wasn't unheard of for old staff to stop by now and then to cover the odd shift or socialise. She made her way upstairs to the office, pressing her ear to the door. When she concluded it was unoccupied, she took the picking kit from her inner jacket pocket. Bobby pins were so three years ago.

It didn't take long before she was in and looking over the staff files. The office was disorganised and cluttered, luckily, there were only eight members on the team and Greg was third in the pile. Greg Monterey, 9 Halliday Avenue, North East London. That wasn't far from Jase's. Not far enough, at least. After taking a picture of the address, she closed the drawer and crept out of the office, into the hallway. John, her boss, stood at the other end, his brows furrowed.

"'Madison, I thought you'd quit?" he said as he approached her. She shrugged.

"I just stopped by to thank you for helping me out in my situation and just generally being such a good boss," she lied, though only partially. He had been decent to her and accommodating when it came to Madison being a single parent. He smiled brightly, none the wiser to what she was really up to.

"How sweet of you." She relaxed. He'd bought it, now to make her getaway.

"Anyway, I'm glad I get to thank you in person, I was considering leaving a note on your desk," she said, hoping it would explain away her coming out of the office. Her stomach cinched when his brows came down.

"I could have sworn I locked that," he mumbled. Madison just shrugged and shook her head and John rolled his eyes, "It's my old age getting to me," he joked, even though he was barely scraping fifty. Madison laughed, willing the interaction to end.

"Don't be silly John, you don't look a day over thirty." He chuckled at her kindness, waving her off. She seized the opportunity to make a quick exit. "It was nice to see you. And thank you again, now I have to get back to Mia. She's not feeling very well."

John pouted and tilted his head sympathetically.

"Oh bless, I hope she gets better soon, I send my love. And remember, you're welcome to stop by anytime." They said goodbye and Madison made her way back to the car, feeling slightly guilty about lying to someone that had been so good to her.

Back in the office, John watched Sam drive away with Madison on the CCTV, the phone ringing in his ear, waiting to be picked up.

"Hello?" the receiver crackled out.

"Madison was here today, in my office. I don't know what she was after but nothing's gone. Keep an eye on Greg, I think they may have found out," John replied, studying the camera. It was the other BMW. The one that had distracted them during the chase. He smiled, they were clever, he'd give them that.