Holding On To You Read Free Page A

damage.'
    'Where is it?' Maddy says, losing her patience with the incompetence of her staff members.
    They all look at each other. Jane looks at Ian. Ian looks at Jessie. Javier looks at the floor. No-one looks at Maddy.
    'Where is it!?' Maddy says again, this time loud enough for almost the whole building to hear.
    Jane opens her drawer and without looking at her, hands Maddy a big cash bag, full to the brim with money. There must be almost a hundred thousand dollars stuffed inside. You could hear a pin drop in the office, until Maddy says,
    'You have got to be fucking kidding me.'
     
    Across town, a battered Ford Transit van carves through the traffic. Inside, Carlos grips the steering wheel tightly, focussing himself on the task ahead. River has the front seat alongside him, with his feet up on the dash, and trademark cigarette hanging from his lips. Alex has been relegated to the rear of the vehicle, and crouches there on the wheel arch opposite Peters, whose bulk makes it difficult for him to ride comfortably with the chairs taken out.
    'Slow the fuck down Carlos', Alex says, as he struggles to hold on, the road surface and the age of the vehicle knocking him about like a pebble in a tin can.
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    Maddy decides to take the money to the bank herself, knowing it's the only way to make sure the job is done properly. She tells Jane that she'll see to her later on that afternoon, and as she storms out of the office, huge money bag stuffed into her own handbag, she's sure that someone, perhaps even Jane herself, says something behind her back. Maddy grits her teeth and continues, keen not to lose any more time. It isn't the first time she's heard her staff members say things about her, but everyone she's caught so far, has paid the ultimate price. She even sacked Alice Cartwright, who had been there for almost forty years, for telling her to her face she had a heart like a lump of coal, when she refused to give her annual leave on the few days of the year her son was back from his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Alice was reinstated briefly by Maddy's father, which made Maddy's blood boil, and then offered a generous redundancy package, which she happily took. If anyone else wanted to risk it, so be it. Maddy would find them eventually.
    The central bank is a short walk from Maddy's office across several busy streets of traffic, the lights of which never seem to work in her favour. It's an impressive building, and one of the oldest in the city, and if she gave herself time to appreciate it, she'd notice how ornate and beautifully carved the façade is, how marvellously the light flows through the domed, stained glass roof once inside, and how unique the twisted three tiered spiral staircase is, that she has to climb to get to the deposit desks. It is in fact one of only two other similar staircases in the whole of the country, hand made over a century ago, by a craftsman from the same city, who happened to be a drinking buddy of Maddy's grandfather, but Maddy doesn't know that, because she's never thought to ask. Maddy would notice these things if she gave herself time to be bothered by them, but instead, as she enters the bank, climbs the staircase, and lets the coloured light fall on her from above, she mutters to herself angrily, thinking about what punishment she can meter out to that dip-shit newbie Jane, who should have been here on Friday instead of her today.
    She's left the girl crying for real, having torn into her like a tiger might do a slice of prime steak, after several weeks without eating, and even for Maddy's standards it was a harsh telling off. It's the incompetence that Maddy just can't cope with though. For her, there's no excuse for not doing something that should have been done. Simply forgetting just doesn't cut it. She's the kind of person that doesn't believe in accidents, thinking that accidents only happen to those people who don't pay close enough attention to what's going on. That,