Title: Intimidation
Chapter: 1 - Abduction
Fandom: The Doctor Blake Mysteries
Author: Ceindreadh
Type of Story: Multi-part
Characters: Matthew Lawson
Rating: 15
Spoilers: Set soon after S3
Summary: Lawson finds out the hard way that Munro won't give up without a fight.
Word count: ~ 2,200
Disclaimer. I don't own the characters, I'm only borrowing them, and no copyright infringement is intended.

He was taken late one night.

It had been a long day, a tiring day, and Lawson was weary and distracted as he pulled up in front of his house and got out of the car. He reached in to grab his satchel and had just closed the door when he heard his name being called.

"Chief Inspector Lawson?"

Lawson turned around to see a man approaching him. "Yes, what do you want?"

"My boss would like to have a word with you."

Lawson locked the car door, "Tell him to make an appointment down at the station in the morning. I'm off duty."
"Mister Morgan doesn't really like doing business in police stations. He would much prefer to meet you right now."

Lawson glanced up quickly and saw that the man was now holding a gun on him. "Looks like I don't have much say in the matter." He sighed heavily, "Fine, I'll be right..." He swung the satchel at the gun, knocking it out of the man's hand and then lunged forward, grabbing him by the shirt collar and slamming him back against the car. The man managed to punch Lawson in the ribs, making him lose his grip, but Lawson grabbed his arm and twisted him around, slamming him face first into the bonnet of the car before putting him in an arm lock that made his opponent cry out in pain. Lawson put his face close to the man's ear and growled, "You can tell your boss, wherever he's hiding, that he can go to hell. The only reason I'm not charging you is because I don't want to be filing paperwork all night."

Lawson froze as heard the sound of a pistol being cocked inches from the back of his head. He cursed inwardly as he realised that he should have checked for an accomplice.

"Take a step back and put your hands on your head," a thin reedy voice instructed. Lawson did as he was told, knowing that two men and a gun were not something he was going to be able to argue with.

The first man pushed himself away from the car and straightened his clothing before retrieving his gun from where it had fallen. "You're lucky Mister Morgan told us to bring you in alive."
Lawson relaxed slightly as his captor continued, "But he didn't say anything about you being unmarked." Before Lawson could react, the gun was smashed into his face.

Lawson found himself on his hands and knees on the ground. He felt a stone under his left palm and his hand involuntarily closed on it, even as one of the men grabbed his right arm to pull him upright. As Lawson rose to his feet, he lashed out and hit the man with the stone, knocking him off balance before grabbing him and using him as a shield. Shaking his head to clear it, Lawson saw that he was holding the reedy voiced man. "Drop your gun," he said to the first man, "Or I'll break his neck!" Lawson had his arm across his hostage's windpipe and he squeezed just enough to make the man gasp for breath.

"Go ahead," said the first man, with a shrug. "Choke him all you want. Once he's unconscious or dead, I'll just go ahead and shoot you. And believe me; my aim is good enough that it'll be a non-lethal wound. The only difference it'll make is that I'll have to drag you to my boss and that's going to really annoy me, so I might have to take it out on you. But let him go, and maybe I can persuade my buddy Eddie here not to mark you any further."

It was a stalemate and Lawson knew it. Reluctantly he let Eddie go, only for him to round on Lawson and punch him hard in the stomach. For the second time that night, Lawson slumped to the ground.

"Ah, it would appear that I'm not all that persuasive."
Before Lawson could recover, his hands were tied roughly behind him and a cloth bag was pulled over his head. He was half dragged, half carried to a nearby car and shoved into the boot.

It wasn't a smooth ride. Lawson tried to keep a count of the turns the car took on its journey but there were just too many for him to remember. Just when he had lost all track of time and direction, the car came to a halt and the engine was switched off. Lawson tensed involuntarily as he waited for what was to come. But nothing happened.

It felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes later, when Lawson realised he could hear muffled voices coming from the interior of the car.

"How long until the boss gets here, Scott?" That was Eddie's voice, a little rougher than it had been earlier.
"He said he was leaving immediately," replied Scott. "Shouldn't be more than another hour or so."

"Figures," thought Lawson, grimly. "The likes of Morgan wouldn't be hanging around Ballarat, waiting for his goons to pick me up." They'd have had a long wait. Lawson had stayed late at the station that night, finishing paperwork. "No, he'll have stayed put in Melbourne, maybe working up a nice alibi, just in case." Lawson had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, knowing that men like Morgan weren't likely to want to leave loose ends. "But if he'd wanted me dead, he would have had his men kill me on the spot," Lawson told himself. "Or maybe all that means is that he doesn't want me dead yet." Well, it wasn't like he could do anything about it for the time being.

Lawson pulled at the ropes around his wrists, but Eddie and Scott had done their work well and he couldn't loosen them at all. Finally, he gave up and tried to find the least uncomfortable position to lie in.

The sound of the boot opening woke Lawson from the half sleep he'd fallen into. Hands grabbed at him, pulling him roughly out of the boot. Lawson's legs were stiff from the cramped position he'd been in, and he could barely walk as he was steered across a small patch of ground. He heard a door open and he was shoved forward, bumping into the doorframe before being grabbed again. Lawson stumbled over the uneven flooring as he was guided through the building, before being forced to his knees.

The bag was pulled off his head, and Lawson blinked as he looked around, taking in his surroundings. What light there was came from a lantern that had been placed on a box beside him, but it was enough for Lawson to see the stone walls of what looked to be a disused outbuilding. There was something familiar about it, something tugging at the recesses of Lawson's mind and then it hit him. This was where Sid Bartel had been murdered...where Andy Morgan had been executed...kneeling, with hands and wrists bound just like he was now. A flash of panic washed over Lawson and he couldn't stop himself from trying to rise to his feet.
A cuff to the side of his head sent him sprawling on the ground, and was quickly followed by a kick to his ribs. Lawson groaned in pain as he was manhandled back to a kneeling position. He heard the sound of the door opening and looked up as footsteps approached him.

"Inspector Lawson."

Lawson didn't recognize the voice, but even in the dim light there was no mistaking Froggy Morgan whose face Lawson had last seen in that incriminating photo with Munro.

"Sorry about the surroundings, but I needed somewhere out of the way to have a little chat." Morgan pulled up an old crate and sat in front of Lawson.

"I have nothing to say to you, Froggy," growled Lawson. His head was spinning and his ribs felt like they were on fire.

Morgan smiled before calmly backhanding Lawson across the face. "That's Mister Morgan to you." He watched as Lawson spat out some blood before glaring defiantly back at him.

"Now," continued Morgan, "You and I have a mutual acquaintance that's in a spot of trouble and needs some help. Trouble of your making, I might add. And I feel it's only fair that you set things right and make all this trouble go away. All you need to do is retract your original statement and explain just how you made such a terrible mistake in accusing Superintendent Munro."

"Go to hell," said Lawson. "Munro deserves all he gets."

"If you're worried about whether it will affect your own standing in the police force," Morgan continued as if Lawson hadn't said a word. "I can assure you that you won't face any penalties for your mistake. You'll even get to take that early retirement that Munro so generously offered you a few weeks ago."

"Are you deaf as well as stupid?" snapped Lawson. "Hell, even if I *did* retract my statement, there's enough evidence to damn the man." He felt a movement of air beside him and ducked out of the way of Eddie's hand.

"You don't call Mister Morgan, 'stupid'," said Eddie, his hand raised to strike again.

"Easy there, Eddie," said Morgan, "Inspector Lawson here just needs to have a few things explained to him...verbally that is." He waited until Eddie had lowered his hand and taken a step back. "You can rest assured that without your statement, it will be quickly determined that there is no case to answer."

"You've got somebody on the committee in your pocket," said Lawson. It was more of a statement than a question. "So why the hell not just get the charges dismissed? Why bother with all of this?" He shifted uneasily on the cold uncomfortable floor.

"William Munro is not my only friend in the police force," said Morgan with a smile, "But there are procedures to follow and it's a lot easier to have a case dismissed for lack of evidence when the most significant piece of evidence is disproven."

"Yeah, well you can forget about it," said Lawson, "And if you think that keeping me from testifying tomorrow will help his case, you can forget about it. My statement is on record and it'll stay there, even without me." There was a defiant tone to Lawson's voice, which belied the touch of fear he was feeling.

Morgan sighed theatrically, "I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. But I always like to have a plan B. Certain documents have been prepared, documents which prove that you deliberately framed Superintendent Munro. Perhaps they may not carry as much weight as a signed retraction, but when they're found alongside your confession and suicide note. Well, I think that my friend on the committee will have no problem with recommending that all charges be dropped. William might even get a formal apology, possibly even a promotion to show that there's no hard feelings."

"You're bluffing," said Lawson, his heart pounding in his chest.

"It will be a simple story; a corrupt copper was demoted. Bitter and twisted, he sought revenge on the man who was unlucky enough to have been appointed to his former position. When he realised the consequences of his actions, he took the coward's way out, but retained enough integrity to clear his fellow officer of any wrongdoing."

"And how are you going to explain away my pre-mortem injuries?" said Lawson, "Tell people that I beat myself up before topping myself?"

Morgan shrugged, "We can always improvise. Dispose of your body and make it appear that you shot through."

Lawson shook his head, "Nobody will ever believe it," he said hoarsely, trying to convince himself as much as Morgan.

"Who?" asked Morgan, "Davis and Blake? A wet behind the ears copper with a promotion he earned by pointing out your shortcomings? Or a drunkard of a doctor who would have been sacked long ago by any other Superintendent? Davis will toe the official line if he wants to keep his job. And Blake, well, let's just say that accidents have a way of 'happening'. Who will really be surprised if the good doctor has a few too many before sitting behind the wheel of his car and driving it into a tree. They may even think it was a deliberate act done in shame at being party to the downfall of a good man." Morgan moved over to Lawson and patted him on the shoulder. "Think of it Lawson, you won't just be saving *your* life, you'll be saving his as well." His grip tightened painfully on Lawson's shoulder. "What's it going to be?"

"They had him," thought Lawson grimly. "Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea." He knew his own life was most likely forfeit anyway. Morgan wasn't fool enough to take the chance that he would recant the retraction. "No," thought Lawson, "as soon as Munro is safely off the hook, I'm a dead man. But if I refuse, then I'm a dead man *now*." He took a deep shuddering breath and tried to calm himself. Finally, he spoke in a voice barely audible. "Okay. I...I'll do it..."

to be continued