The SIU Team

Chapter two

Throughout the ride to SIU head quarters, Maddie had barely spoken, not trusting herself in case she broke down in tears. She kept her eyes forward hugging the photograph to her chest. Agent Gregg had provided her with a coat to keep her warmer as the weather was starting to turn colder. In the car she was placed in, there was only Agent Gregg and Agent Davis, both muttering quietly to each other and Agent Gregg-who was driving- kept looking at her through the mirror. Maddie would then hug the photo closer to her body and try to focus her mind on other things such as thinking what the SIU head quarters looked like. Well let's just say she didn't expect what she saw.

The SIU head quarter was a towering building in London. It was one of the tallest in London as Agent Davis had said. But it was also quite wide. They said main projects were done underground and then planes had there own runway. To be honest, Maddie thought most of the place looked like a military building due to the runway and hangers. As they approached the building, Maddie noticed that Agent Davis had began typing something on his state-of-the-art phone while Agent Gregg was speaking to nothing but Maddie could see the ear piece. They drove into a tunnel, heading towards elevators. Maddie was expecting to get out but to her surprise, the drove into the elevator.

"It's a lift for cars. It scans the Agent's badge to see what level they need to be parked on." Agent Davis told her as Agent Gregg scanned his badge.

"So what does SIU stand for?" Maddie asked for the first time. 

"It stands for Secret Investigation Unit. An organization not many know about." Agent Gregg said. Maddie nodded again. She expected the lift to jerk upwards, but the lift glided upwards smoothly until they reached level 21. Agent Gregg drove out of the lift and into a parking space. As the three of them stepped out of the car, Agent Gregg nodded to Agent Davis and said to Maddie "follow Steve." before turning to walk off towards glass sliding doors. Before Maddie could even ask Agent Davis who Steve was, he said "come on." and began walking in the opposite direction in which Agent Gregg went. Maddie quickly followed. 

"We figured that you might want to freshen up before you meet the director, so our own scientist, Dani, has offered use to use her room here at head quarters," he said as they walked through a bridge that connected the main building to a building of apartments. Maddie nodded, looking around in awe of the buildings around her. He didn't say much else whilst they walked to Dani's room which Maddie was grateful for. She wasn't very talkative to people she didn't know well. Or people she didn't trust. Steve finally stopped outside a door and knocked the same three knocks. A couple of moments later, the door was opened by a young girl, again not much older than Maddie, with strawberry blonde hair. She smiled a warm and friendly smile at both of them before gesturing them to enter. Agent Davis held up his hands.

"Sorry, can't come in, got to report to back to the plane." He said. Dani nodded in understanding.

"We'll see you there then." She replied as he turned away. "Hi, I'm Dani." 

"Maddie," she replied as she stepped inside.

"You don't talk much do you?" Dani asked as she showed Maddie to the bathroom who just shook her head in response. "Well I hope they put you on our team. It'll be better for you as you would know three of the people... So this is the bathroom. Here is the shower gel and here is the shampoo and conditioner. What size are you? I'd say a size 10? Yea a size 10 should do it. I'll just go and get you some clothes." And with that, Dani was away leaving Maddie for a moment. Within a few minutes she had returned carrying some clothes. "Here you go. Take your time. Once you've finished we will go and see Director Ryder." This time Dani left and closed the door, leaving Maddie on her own. She set her photograph down and looked in the mirror. She looked like she imagined. She took her hair out of her ponytail, brushed it, took off her clothes and stepped into the shower. 

She spent close to 40 minutes in the shower, trying to get the muck out of her hair and the dirt off her body but she got there eventually. She stepped out of the warm shower to put on the clothes that Dani had gotten her. A loose, oversized jumper and black leggings. She gave a sigh of relieve at the warm clothes and quickly slid them on along with her worn-out converse. She put her hair in a loose plait before leaving the bathroom. 

"Ready?" Dani asked when she saw her.

"Yup," Maddie replied. With that, the pair left the apartment and walked towards the Directors office. They walked across the bridge and into an elevator which took them to the top floor which held the Directors office. They exited the elevator and walked down a (very) long corridor with doors leading off to other corridors.

"This is where all head agents have their offices. Even Lewis has his here," Dani said as they reached the Directors door. From the outside, they could hear the laughing and inaudible jokes. Dani raised her fist and knock three times. Must be a normal thing, Maddie thought to herself as the door was opened by Agent Gregg.

"There you two are, I started to think you were lost," he said as he stepped to the side allowing them to enter.

"The main thing is that we are here now," Dani replied with a smile as she went to sit on one of the chairs in front of a desk. 

"Do you feel better?" he asked Maddie.

"Yes, thank you," she responded.

"Ah, come in Madison," spoke a voice from behind the desk . Maddie shifted her gaze from the floor to the man. He was obviously the Director. Dani had told her about him. He looked exactly as she described him. He had short hair which was gelled up and his brown eyes studied her from his chair. The bottom part of his face was covered with a little stubble. His straight face soon turned into a kind and relaxed smile as he stood up. 

"I'm Director Ryder and it's a pleasure to have you here," He spoke with such tenderness in his voice that it shocked Maddie for a second before she realized he had his hand held out. She walked over and shook his hand.

"Thank you for having me here," She replied with much timidity.

"You're not very confident are you?" He asked as he gestured her to sit down.

"Well, when you've lost you whole family while they're trying to protect you, you're not gonna come out of that very strong," she answered.

"But they weren't your real family were they?"

"No." Director Ryder nodded slowly, as if taking in this answer. For a girl who's very quiet and reserved, she being quite straight-forward and willing, he thought. "Now Madison, you're protection is quite important at the moment so myself and Agent Gregg have come to the conclusion that you will join his team. They will provide you a place to stay, food and company. I wish you good luck for the future Miss Madison."

"Thank you Director Ryder," Maddie spoke as softly as she could as she got up to leave.

"We'll be in touch Henry," Agent Gregg said as he stood up.

"I know you will Lewis," Director Ryder, now named Henry, said as Lewis, Dani and Maddie left his office.Dani was talking with much excitement in her voice about not being the only girl on the plane anymore to Agent Gregg and Maddie, but she wasn't paying much attention. Maddie had other things on her mind. By being with these people, she was putting their life at risk. And could she really trust them?

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A/N okay so I know nothing really happened in this chapter but I needed to fill the gap between being collected and meeting the team so this is what happened. I hope it's fine and I promise more excitement in later chapters. Thank you for reading :):):)

Lauren xx(butterfly-dreamer)