LONDON'S BURNING

Blackwall World Cup

"Football?" George grinned. "Yeah I'll be up for that," he volunteered without any hesitation.

"How come you're organising this anyway?" Hi-Ho wondered as Adam scribbled the names down on a piece of paper.

"Cos he fancies that girl at Shadbrook!" Hyper put in helpfully.

Adam went a slight shade of pink. "No I don't! I just thought it was a good idea that's all! It is for charity."

"Yeah, yeah," Hyper grinned. "I'll go and see if Sally wants to be involved," he offered standing up.

"Who's gonna referee?" Hi-Ho asked suddenly.

"Um…" Adam paused. "I'm not too sure actually!"

"You can't let Shadbrook sort that out!" Recall urged. "They'll get someone biased towards them!"

"He's got a point," George joined in.

"Yeah, yeah, all right. I'll find someone neutral!" Adam promised.

"You all right Sal?" Hyper found Sally in the Watch Room looking a little preoccupied as she gazed out of the window on to the busy road outside.

"Yeah…" she replied lazily.

"Only you don't seem to be your usual self," he noted.

She turned to glare at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hyper faltered at the outburst. "I just thought…"

"I would be all right if people just left me alone!"

"Oh, ok… I was just wondering if you were up for this 5 aside thing Adam's got going with Shadbrook," Hyper explained his presence in the Watch Room. "You know, getting into the spirit of the World Cup and that…"

"No," she cut him off. "I've got more important things to worry about at the moment than a stupid football game," she stormed out of the room.

"Sal?" Hyper called after her, confused.

He wondered what was going on, as she wouldn't discuss it with him, which he thought was unusual.

"Everything all right?" Adam asked as Sally brushed past him on the stairs.

"If one more person asks me that…" her voice trailed off as she disappeared onto the first floor landing.

Adam shrugged. "What's up with her?" he asked as Hyper approached.

"Dunno, I'm worried about her…" Hyper expressed deep concern for his friend.

"You don't think it's just… you know, women's trouble!" Adam tried to offer.

"Shut up Adam," Hyper decided to follow Sally.

Adam just shrugged and pulled out the reason he had come downstairs, his mobile phone. It didn't seem to be picked up a signal upstairs. He went out into the yard to try it, still clutching his list of the Blackwall football team.

Hyper saw Sally disappear into the women's loos, he wondered if he should follow her. He then thought that she probably wanted to be alone. He decided not to go after her as Pearce entered the corridor.

"Have you seen Firefighter Fields?" Pearce was looking very annoyed.

"Um… she went to the loo," Hyper explained. "Anything I can help with?" he offered.

"No thanks Rob. Could you just tell her that I would like a word in my office?" Pearce was striding off before he had even finished asking the question.

"Yes Geoff," Hyper called after him.

Sally emerged at that moment.

"Has he gone?" she asked, her face a ghostly shade of white.

"Yeah," Hyper replied. "I think you'd better tell me what's going on, don't you?"

She paused.

Blue Watch descended into the appliance bay on Pearce's orders. He reckoned the appliances were looking a bit "shabby" and ordered them to be cleaned until both machines were "spotless". He seemed to be in a foul mood, which for Pearce wasn't anything unusual, but something really seemed to be bugging him today.

"Someone got out of bed the wrong side this morning!" Hi-Ho commented.

"Yeah, but who's bed!" George joked.

"What? Pearce? An affair? Nah!" Hi-Ho was the only one to take the comment seriously.

"You never know," Recall started, trying to wind Hi-Ho up.

"What are you three waiting for?" Pearce came over to them.

"Um… nothing, Geoff…" Recall started.

"Well get on with it then," Pearce barked.

The three of them did as they were told.

"But I don't want him for a referee!" Adam was arguing into his mobile phone as he stood in the back yard. "He's gonna favour you!"

Pearce had seen him. "Firefighter Benjamin!" he roared.

Adam looked up. "Uh… gotta go," he told the caller before hanging up.

"The ALP needs cleaning," Pearce repeated the orders he had just given. "When you're ready."

With that he stormed off.

Adam joined the others. "What's got into everyone today!"

None of them knew, and decided to get on with backing the vehicles out into the yard ready for washing.

"When did this happen?" Hyper was demanding as Sally told him the story behind her strange behaviour.

"A couple of days ago."

"And why didn't you tell me!"

"I am telling you."

"When it's too late to do anything about it!"

"What could you have done anyway?"

"Well I don't know…" Hyper paused. "He's not gonna get away with this…"

"He already has. Just leave it Rob," Sally begged.

"This doesn't just affect you Sally," he began. "It affects us all!"

"Yeah, but I'm the one being transferred, not you!" she pointed out.

"I didn't mean it like that…"

But she refused to hear what exactly he has meant by the comment.

"First Coleman and now me," she started. "You'd better watch your back," she warned.

"This won't be Blue Watch, it'll be the LFB's answer to Eton! Only the select few from the Griggs' School of fast-track promotion!" Hyper muttered. "Is that what Pearce wants to talk to you about?"

"Probably."

"You can't avoid him forever."

"Wanna bet!"

"You can refuse to do it can't you?"

"Not really," she sighed.

They were interrupted as the bells went down.

Blue Watch were called out to a disused block of flats. It was a place to which they were frequent visitors. They had put out countless rubbish fires, which had now claimed most of the roof of the three-storey block. But this time, for a change, there was no sign of fire.

The pump crew, who had been sent to investigate the fire call, weren't too happy as they clambered out of the appliance in front of the decaying Deane House.

Pearce, in particular, looked as if he was about to explode.

"Hi-Ho, Sally, check those flats," he ordered pointing towards one side of the building. "Recall, Adam, check the other side."

Hi-Ho took an axe from the pump so they could break down the fresh wooden board, which the council had decided to put up after the Fire Brigade's last attempt to break in (and the attempts of anyone else who wanted to break in).

It wasn't exactly the most difficult job, knocking away the flimsy boarding. Sally and Hi-Ho stepped inside the dark, damp, unwelcoming building. The place smelled of plenty of other undesirable things as well as the dampness.

"Watch yourself," Sally warned as she stepped over the remains of someone's drug habit.

"I don't smell any smoke," Hi-Ho tried stating the obvious.

"No," Sally agreed.

"What's in here?" Hi-Ho had found a door that led off the main landing where they were carefully navigating around the discarded rubbish.

She followed him cautiously. "There's no fire in here…" she started.

"I'll just check," Hi-Ho ventured into the room, which was once part of a flat.

Sally looked around the room. Wallpaper, which hadn't been torn off, had started to peel off the walls. The windows had been smashed long since, they had now been replaced with the council's boarding, making the room dark and cold. Suddenly, she heard Hi-Ho yell from the other room. She ran to investigate.

Adam and Recall had been checking the second and third floors for any signs of anything that shouldn't be there, when they heard someone cry out below them.

"What was that?" Adam stopped.

"What?" Recall listening, having missed it the first time.

"Sounded like Hi-Ho!" Adam listened again.

They heard someone swearing from one of the rooms below.

"Do you think he's all right!" Recall wondered.

"Come on, let's take a look."

Adam led the way down to the ground floor where they found Hi-Ho half buried in the floorboards.

"What are you doing down there?" Recall asked, trying not to laugh at his colleague's predicament.

"Just get me out!" Hi-Ho wasn't happy.

"What's going on?" Pearce asked as he entered the room, closely followed by Sally who had gone to fetch him.

"The floorboards are rotten Geoff," Sally explained as Recall and Adam helped Hi-Ho out of the hole.

"I know I said you had to be in goal, but you didn't have to take it out on the floorboards!" Adam was grinning.

"Yeah," Recall joined in. "You had to put your foot in it, didn't you!"

"Shut up, I'm in agony here!" Hi-Ho scrambled free of the broken wooden boards. "I think I've knackered my ankle!" he told Pearce, who kneeled down to examine in.

"And where am I going to find another goal keeper?" Adam demanded.

"Is that all you think about!" Hi-Ho asked.

"It's important. We can't let Shadbrook win, and we are supposed to be England!" Adam argued, thinking that his team organisation was much more important than the fact that Hi-Ho might have broken his ankle!

"All the more reason Shadbrook will probably win!" Recall muttered.

Hyper had become the hero of the Blackwall World Cup when he roped in a friend of his, who agreed to go in goal, much to Adam's relief. They were now ready to don their England shirts and face the almighty contingent that was Shadbrook, who had wanted to be Argentina!

"All right Dad!"

Recall looked round to see his eldest son Ben was playing for the Shadbrook team.

"Hmmmn," Recall wasn't too sure if he should be pleased to see Ben or not as they were playing the same positions on opposite teams.

"That's our secret weapon," Ben was saying as he pointed to the girl from Shadbrook (the one Adam fancied). "We call her Beckham's heir!"

"Really?" Recall asked. "Well that's our secret weapon," he pointed over to the bloke Hyper had brought along. "We call him Hyper's mate!"

"Who's the ref then?" Adam was asking Clare, the girl from Shadbrook.

"Well, your Watch Commander wanted to do it actually," Clare started. "But I thought he would favour Blackwall."

"Who Pearce! I don't think he favours anybody!"

"Well, yeah, I worked that out."

"So he's gonna be the ref?"

"Um no… he was whatsit…" she searched for a word. "A certain person pulled rank!"

Adam groaned.

It soon became clear to the rest of the team who would be referring the game when DO Griggs marched on to the pitch, a whistle in his hand.

"You have got to be joking!" Hyper sidled up to Adam.

"It's not my fault!" Adam glared at Clare.

"What could I do!" she asked. "I couldn't exactly tell him to bog off could I!"

"I would," Hyper muttered under his breath.

"Is Sally not coming?" Clare asked, changing the subject.

Hyper looked round. "Well she said she'd be here," he couldn't see her in the crowd. "But if he's here," he nodded over to Griggs. "Then I doubt she will turn up."

"Why what's going on?" Adam wanted to know, but Griggs ordered them to get into their positions to start the game.

Sally entered the sports hall after the kick off, just in time to see Shadbrook weren't about to take the Argentinean name in vain. One of their players spectacularly fouled Adam, who started to complain to the referee, who had just had a sudden case of blindness. The referee, to Sally's horror, was none other than DO Griggs, the man who threatened to ruin her life by sending her to Brooks Marsh – wherever that was.

She slid into a seat, hoping none of Blue Watch noticed her. She didn't feel ready to face them yet.

"Hi Sal."

She looked round to see Hi-Ho sitting behind her, looking incredibly annoyed that he wasn't able to play.

"Hi, how's the…"

But she was cut off as Steve from Shadbrook went out of his way to knock Hyper to the ground as he got too close to the goal. Hyper lay there for a couple of seconds in the hope Griggs would notice. Griggs however, decided that play should continue!

"Penalty!" Hi-Ho was yelling frantically from the sidelines as Adam gave Hyper a hand. "Come on ref!"

Griggs remained oblivious to the outraged crowd.

"Where did he learn how to referee a football match?" Hyper muttered.

"Don't ask me," Adam replied, not happy with Griggs' decisions either.

His attention was then diverted back to the game as he watched George try, unsuccessfully, to tackle Clare, who had been making a good run down the wing before sliding the ball past the unsuspecting goal keeper (Hyper's mate).

Shadbrook were cheering, Blackwall however were far from happy.

"Come on," Adam tried to get some competitiveness out of his team. "We can't be beaten by a girl!"

He knew Clare had heard him, but she didn't give him the satisfaction of making a comment.

At half time, Blackwall were still losing one nil. Hyper had noticed Sally in the crowd and went to talk to her as Adam busied himself with discussing tactics with George and Recall.

"You ok Sal?"

"Yeah, I didn't know he'd be here," she was glaring in Griggs' direction.

"Yeah, well neither did I!" Hyper replied. "Did you speak to Pearce?"

"He wasn't happy with Griggs getting to referee the game," Sally explained. "I dunno why, it is only a game!"

"It's the World Cup!"

"Oh yeah right," she couldn't find the same enthusiasm for it.

"Is there anything he can do for you?"

"Well he said he'd try, but…" she trailed off. "Maybe it's for the best."

"Griggs can't go around giving people transfers they don't want!" Hyper pointed out. "You've got to stand up to him Sal."

"I don't think I can be bothered anymore, Rob."

"You were really good out there," Hi-Ho was complementing Clare on her game.

"Thanks," she smiled.

Their conversation was short lived as Adam interrupted.

"You never told me you could play football!" he moaned to Clare.

"No, you just assumed I couldn't," she corrected him. "Maybe you should play two up front, you and Recall, then leave George and Hyper in midfield," she suggested.

"Oh what, so you can score more goals!"

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Hi-Ho put in.

Adam glared at him.

"What happened to you anyway?" Clare had turned her attention back to Hi-Ho.

"He fell down a hole!" Adam put in.

"Really? Are you all right?" Clare asked, concerned.

"Broken ankle," Hi-Ho explained.

"Oh dear."

Adam couldn't believe what he was hearing. Hi-Ho was getting all the female attention because he was going for the sympathy vote as he hopped around the sidelines on his crutches.

"You do know he's still a virgin!" he commented to Clare as they made their way back onto the pitch.

"Is he?" Clare glanced back at Hi-Ho. "Cute."

"Cute!" Adam almost choked.

"You're not jealous are you?" she smiled.

"Me, jealous of Hi-Ho!"

Clare shrugged. "Perhaps I'll go and sign his cast later!"

The second half of the game got underway. Hi-Ho didn't notice as Sally slipped out. He was too busy watching Clare, after getting the impression she had been giving him the come on.

Adam had rearranged his team, but only so he personally got to make sure that Clare didn't get another goal. He decided that if Shadbrook were allowed to get away with playing dirty, then so should he. However Griggs did not agree as Clare tripped over Adam's purposely placed foot. She glared at him.

Griggs blew his whistle loudly and offered Shadbrook a free kick. Adam grinned as he offered Clare his hand.

"I was just seeing if I could get away with it!"

She didn't take his hand and continued to sit on the floor.

"Oh come on," he offered his hand again. "It was only a joke."

Clare, however, failed to see the funny side and stood up without his help. "You can be a real idiot sometimes, Adam."

The score was then made 1 – 1 as Recall managed to slip the ball into Shadbrook's net. Hyper then got a second, which was disallowed by Griggs for no reason whatsoever.

"What do you mean offside!" Hyper yelled at Griggs.

"No goal," Griggs repeated.

"What would you do if I said you were a prat?" Hyper asked.

"Send you off," Griggs replied.

"Ok then, what would you do if I thought you were a prat?"

"I can't send you off for what you think, as much as I would like to."

"Ok then, I think you're a prat."

"Right," Griggs showed Hyper the red card. "Off."

"But…" Hyper tried to argue. "Are you gonna be putting me on your transfer list next as well!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You can't even admit it."

"Do you want to forfeit this game?" Griggs questioned.

"Rob, leave it," Adam had joined them in an attempt to find out what was going on.

"He's got Sally transferred!" Hyper blurted out.

"What!" Adam asked.

"Perhaps we should discuss this later…" Griggs tried as everyone else came over to demand to know why the game had been stopped. "I've sent him off for giving back chat to the ref…" Griggs started to explain. "Then he comes out with these ludicrous suggestions…"

If it hadn't have been for Adam holding him back, Hyper felt he would have thumped Griggs there and then. Instead he pulled free from Adam's grip and stormed off the pitch. Play resumed as Clare managed to score another goal, despite Adam's attempts to foul her again.

"If you can't cheat properly Adam, then don't cheat at all!"

"I wasn't cheating!"

She didn't believe him.

"What was all that about?" Adam demanded as the match ended with a Shadbrook victory.

"He thinks he's God…"

"He's a DO, don't they all think that?"

"This is people's lives he's messing with. Sally doesn't want to leave Blackwall, he just doesn't like her."

"Shouting at him in the middle of a football match isn't going to do much good is it?" Adam pointed out.

"I suppose not…" Hyper considered, and then noticed that Adam was no longer listening to him.

He had been distracted by the fact that Hi-Ho and Clare seem to have hit it off. Hyper observed them.

"You're jealous aren't you!" he guessed.

"As hell," Adam muttered.

Hyper grinned.

"What was the score then?"

They turned to see Sally behind them, looking much happier than she had been since hearing the news about her unwanted transfer.

"2 – 1 to… them!" Adam replied, finally taking his eyes off Clare.

"Oh. Oh well." Sally smiled, the result couldn't dampen her spirits at the moment.

"You've cheered up," Hyper remarked.

"Yeah, well I've just had some good news."

"You're not leaving Blackwall?"

"Better than that. Well, yeah that as well, but I've also heard a rumour that the new ACO can't stand Griggs and wants rid of him!"

"Ha!" Hyper couldn't hide his relief. "Let's see how he likes it then!"

"Who is the new ACO anyway?" Adam wondered.

Hyper shrugged. "Who cares? So long as he gets rid of Griggs, he's on my Christmas card list!"

"How about a drink to celebrate?" Sally offered. "Perhaps Hi-Ho could bring his new girlfriend!"

Adam wasn't happy about that, but didn't say anything. He decided that Clare obviously didn't look for much in a man!

They all descended on the Oliver Twist to celebrate the news about Griggs, closely followed by Shadbrook who wouldn't miss the chance of a booze up, whatever the occasion.

"How much did you make then?" Elaine was asking Adam.

"About four hundred quid I reckon," he replied, still distracted by Hi-Ho's chat up technique, which seemed to be having an effect on Clare.

"How did you get into all this anyway?" Hi-Ho was asking Clare.

"Oh, it's for the special care baby unit at St Mark's," Clare explained. "Without them I probably wouldn't be here!"

"Oh…" Hi-Ho paused, wondering what he should say to that. "Right."

"Should you be resting that?" she asked, changing the subject to his stricken ankle. "They can be really painful broken ankles."

"Yeah, tell me about it!" somehow, he felt he had already noticed that.

She smiled. "I don't suppose you'd feel much like going for a meal or something at the moment?"

"What… uh no… um yeah, I mean yeah," he added hurriedly. "I'd love to."

"Perhaps I could just bring the meal to you?" she suggested.

"Um… well that might be a bit difficult."

"You're not seeing someone are you?"

"No, no it's not that. I er… well I'm living with my parents at the moment, between places, you know."

"Oh," she smiled. "Where's that?"

"Stepney."

"That's a bit of a trek isn't it? How are you going to manage that?"

"Well..." he paused and then realised he didn't know as he didn't have any transport of his own. "Um…"

She smiled again. "How about my place then? I could give you a lift…"

"Er… yeah, that'd be great."

"Now?"

"What!"

"I'm starving!" she told him.

He hesitated. "Well… yeah ok then."

"Do I have to fall down a hole to get a girl's attention now?" Adam had joined them.

"Yeah, perhaps you should try it Adam," Clare retorted. "But don't bother trying to get out again!"

She left the pub. Hi-Ho limped along behind her, leaving Adam fuming and wondering how, once again, he had lost out to Hi-Ho.

"Adam," Elaine was calling from behind the bar. "Can you change the Guinness…"

"I'll get it," Recall offered and disappeared down to the cellar.

Adam rested his elbow on the bar and his cheek on his hand, trying his best to look completely fed up with loosing at everything, at the moment it didn't take much pretending.