"So
we've got three armed bastards against one", the tall DCI summed
up as he looked on at the situation before him, "not bad odds at
all".
The team - Gene, Alex, Chris and Ray had just arrived
in the Quattro after answering a call from Viv at the station.
A
suspect in a spate of armed robberies had been persued to a derelict
house in an area awaiting demolition. Plods had sealed off the area
and called for back up.
Just moments earlier the red Quattro of
DCI Gene Hunt had roared into the street and ripped through the
police cordon tape as if it were nothing but thin air.
Then, as
was it's trademark, it had swung its rear end round and skidded to a
halt, smoke spewing from the tyres.
"Actually there's four of
us", D.I Drake interupted Hunt's train of thought.
Leaning
against the Quattro, Gene blinked from the house, to his D.I and then
back at the house again.
"Sorry", he said with a sharp
wit to his voice, "I obviously meant to say - three armed
bastards and one posh bird. There, four, happy now Drake?".
.
Alex rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly as she shut the
passenger side door with a little more force than was actually
required.
"Do we know where in the building this bastard is
Guv?", piped up DS Ray Carling.
"Plods say the
building's boarded up at the back", said a 'trying to sound
usefull' DC Chris Skelton as he chewed on some gum, "So he's
deffo still in there".
"Okay gentlemen", Gene blew
a frustrated sigh, "Lets get this dick 'eads attention and get
him outta there be it on foot or in a box"
"Right Guv",
agreed Ray reaching for his gun.
Gene too reached into his large
black overcoat and produced his emaculately kept gun.
The sound of
three lethal weapons being armed became apparent and Gene stepped
forward, towards the building, followed by Chris and Ray.
"Now
hold on, just wait a minute", Alex stepped infront of the three
of them, her bright blue top blowing slightly in the light sunny
breeze despite her white jacket.
"There are other ways",
Alex said, holding her hands up as if ordering her colleagues to halt
in thier tracks, "Have you never heard of negotiation? No, of
course you haven't, you just send in Task Force Hunt".
Gene
lowered his gun in frustration with his D.I.
"Oh for gods
bloody sake Bolly!", he began, "That's a blagger in there
you know, not the bleedin' Pope! He's not going to come out with his
hands up if you offer him a cuppa and a flash of yer tits!".
"Maybe
for a flash of her tits he will", Ray thought out loud.
A few
moments of silence followed as both Gene and Alex stared at
Ray.
"What?" he said and raised his shoulders in a big
shrug, "I was just thinking out loud".
"Anyway",
Alex continued, "has there been any attempt to establish contact
with the suspect?".
Everyone looked at Gene.
Gene, in
turn, eyed the surroundings.
Plod had the area taped off and were
stood as if keeping a perimiter guard. Some were shoo-ing back
curious members of the passing public, asking them to "Move
along now".
"No I very much doubt the Plods have
discussed the finer points of Shakes-bloody-spear with 'im",
Gene said pointing to his uniformed colleagues with thier black domed
helmets.
"Right", Alex nodded, ignoring the usual
sarcasm that was now a part of daily life.
She turned towards the
building.
The windows on the lower level were boarded up. The door
had been too until the suspect had kicked it in.
The upstairs
windows were not boarded up but had been smashed to bits, most likely
by local stone throwing thugs in the months the house had been
derelict.
Graffiti was also present with several 'tags' sprayed on
the walls.
And rubbish. Rubbish was strewn everywhere. Old car
tyres around the wall of the house, crushed beer cans, broken glass
etc.
It was clearly a rough area which had seen better
days.
"Lets, much as it may pain you Guv", Alex began in
a confident tone of voice, "try a more mature and modern
approach".
"Is she calling us immature?", Ray
complained.
"Dunno", Chris shrugged.
"Look I'm
not calling anyone anything", Alex attempted to reasure them.
This was getting silly.
"I just think it's pointless rushing
in like this is a game of Cowboys and Indians".
"Indians?
He's not a Paki is he?", Ray asked, "I thought Viv said the
suspect was a white male?".
"I mean...", Alex gave
up and threw her hands up in the air in defeat, "...forget it
Ray, it was a figure of speech".
Ray and Chris simply looked
to each other and shrugged once again.
"Was there actually a
point to any of this Bolly or do you just get a kick out of confusing
these two lemons?", Gene asked, his gloved trigger finger
tapping the gun impatiently.
"I'm going to try and talk him
out", Alex stated.
"No you are bloody not" Gene
refused, squaring up alongside Alex as if to block her path towards
the house.
However, it hadn't been a request. It had been a
statement of fact. A statement of Alex fact.
"I am going to
establish communication, find a way to gain his trust, and offer him
a way out alive", Alex stated in full confidence of her
abilities. After all, she had done this so many times in the future
that it was second nature to her.
"Oh I'll order the red
carpet and the limousine now then shall I?", Gene retorted, "Or
should I just hand him my car keys and say 'on yer way now
son'?"
"Don't be so childish", Alex cursed. She was
going to prove her point to him on this matter.
She would prove
that there was no need for bloodshed. If it took ten minutes or ten
hours, D.I Alex Drake would have this guy out of that house alive.
Sorting out his offences and charging him could then be dealt
with later at the station...again, alive.
"Okay boys...",
Alex announced, "...bribery!".
"What?", Gene
asked, now totally lost by her. Chris and Ray were in just the same
state.
"If I do this and succesfully extract the suspect from
the house", Alex began with a charm offensive clearly resonating
in her voice, "then all the drinks tonight are on me!".
"Roger
that D.I Drake!", Chris smiled a big huge grin as he
thoughtlessley scratched an itch on his face with the barrel of his
gun, looking like he was about to shoot himself.
"Mine's
doubles", Ray said nodding with enthusiasm, "all
night!".
Alex smiled and nodded, satisfied.
"Suddenly
I feel your faith in my abilities has gone somewhat skyward
gentlemen", she stated, allowing herself a somewhat cocky
smirk.
Gene held Alex's gaze, niether of them willing to break the
stare. It was as if a visual tug of war was taking place.
"You
really think you can do this?", Gene said and paused as his lips
formed his characteristic 'thinking' pout, "talk that twat into
coming out and getting himself nicked?".
"Absolutely",
was Alex's simple response.
Gene took another long pause and
looked at the house again. He needed that bastard and alive would
look so much better now the thoughts of superiors actually counted
for something, and especially so soon after Scarman's less than ideal
visit to the station.
"I must be bloody barking", Gene
began, "But go on, show us what this pschology stuff of yours
can do. Go and hypnotize him or summin'".
Alex nodded in
thanks.
"How long have I got?", she asked, turning her
attention towards the building.
"Until I change my mind",
Gene said, his tone flat.
"Alright", Alex agreed. Fair
enough, after all, this approach was new to Gene, he couldn't be
expected to understand it until he had seen it in action.
"Oh
and Bolly...", Gene called as Alex began to walk towards the
graffiti covered house.
She turned.
Gene was stood tall, his
gloved hands now pointing his gun towards the house, ready to
fire.
"...I've got you covered", he called in a
commanding yet reasuring tone, "Gene Genie'll be watching your
arse like a hawk!"
Alex couldn't help but grin at his
comment.
"I bet he will", she muttered and turned away
to walk towards her target.
Alex walked slowly yet
confidently towards the house.
A cat stopped to look at her but
then scarpered over a fence.
She thought this through some
more.
She didn't know the layout of this house but the suspect was
almost ceratinly upstairs.
As the lower windows were boarded up,
the upstairs would allow him to monitor what was going on outside,
and that would be important to him.
She refused to look back at
her colleagues. If the suspect was watching, he needed to know that
he was dealing with her and her alone, that she wasn't some
lackey.
His world would now consist only of himself and her. The
only way out now was through her.
"Hello!", Alex called
as she stopped a few metres from the house.
She stood in the
middle of the cordoned off road and waited.
No reply.
Perfectly
normal, they never replied first go.
"I'll assume you're
listening then", Alex continued, "My name is D.I Alex Drake
and I'm unarmed".
Still nothing, again, perfectly
normal.
"And wether you want to believe it or not, I am your
only way safely out of here".
Again she waited. She never
ever expected an instant response in any of the similar situations
she'd been called to.
They just listen at first. Take in what you
say and then eventually, they just have to say something back, they
just can't help it.
"I know you're wanted for several
robberies", Alex began, "but it would look better in court
if you didn't turn this into a siege".
He should be mulling
that one over now, thinking of the consequences.
How much longer
would the sentence be if he turned this into a shoot out?
"And
if you come out now", Alex explained, "We can look into
dropping the charge of resisting arrest".
That's it, she
thought. Throw him a line and reel him in.
She'd resolved several
situations like this over the years. Thrown them the line of
salvation and they had emerged saying how events had simply gotten
out of thier control and overcome them.
"If you don't come
out", Alex turned to serious tone, "you may force thier
hand".
Again she waited, allowing him to process the pros and
cons of the words she spoke.
She had to turn her words into
metaphorical breadcrumbs to lure him out with, when the truth was
that these officers were itching for a fatality outco...Alex
stopped herself mid thought, remembering what happened the last time
she used those exact words on a criminal.
'Famous last words',
she thought.
Right, he'd had enough time to process that.
Time
to be his friend again.
"Is there anything you require in
there?", she called, aiming her question at any of the upstairs
windows, "Are you hurt? Is there any medication you need to have
on you?".
Good, she thought, make him feel cared about. Make
him feel there is someone to trust.
"Bloody 'ell",
Gene said synically as he listened in, "She'll propose to 'im
next!"
Gene, Chris and Ray remained where Alex had left them
next to the Quattro.
Chris and Ray held thier guns towards the
house, looking for movement.
Gene however was like a lion ready to
pounce.
He still held his gun firm, his eyes scanning the windows
for the slightest hint of movement, a shadow, anything.
Ocassionally
his eyes fell to Alex in an attempt to convince himself that she
could deal with this and that she was okay, not in over her
head.
"Just bloody get 'im out of there", Gene urged
almost silently under his breath.
"Guv...", Ray called,
holding a radio towards Gene.
His focus had been so engrossed on
Alex and her crackpot plan that he hadn't even heard the call on the
radio.
Gene took the radio, moving his gun away from guarding Alex
momentarily.
"Go ahead Viv", Gene spoke into it.
"Guv,
we've got a positive I.D on the suspect", Viv crackled over the
airwaves, "He's a Lee Philips, aged 34, he's got convictions for
robbery, assault and motor vehicle theft".
Gene tutted, "Oh
a right ray of sunshine then by all accounts".
"Guv...",
Viv butted in, clearly having more to say, "Go carefull, last
year Philips was aquitted of shooting a Police officer in Birmingham
and made a failed suicide attempt a few weeks later!".
Gene's
eyes widened in horror and he tossed the radio back through the
Quattro's open window.
"Drake!!", he bellowed, "Drake,
get back here fast!"
Alex cursed under her
breath.
She knew he'd do something to ruin it, he just couldn't
help himself.
Alex turned back to Gene, ready to launch a verbal
tirade in his direction when she realised how urgently he was now
rushing towards her and gesturing for her to return to the safe
distance of the Quattro.
With sudden alarm Alex looked back
briefly at the house and saw the danger.
A shaven headed 'yob'
appeared at the window with great speed.
With a crazed look and an
unintelligable scream he leant out of the window brandishing a hand
gun.
And that was when the shot rang out, followed closely by a
second from another direction.
Alex niether heard nor felt the
shot in the conventional sense.
There was a sensation in her head,
above her left eye.
It made everything go odd and she felt the
ground hit her.
Everything was blurring and she couldn't think
coherantly.
The shuffling of footsteps was something she could
vaguely make out, as well as the sensation of hands on her. Rolling
her onto her back, lifting her up?
A voice.
Her hearing had
audibly blurred too.
The shuffling stopped and she felt ground
again. Like she had been lifted and carried to safety.
The blurred
voices became slightly clearer.
Gene?
It was Gene!
"Just
a scratch Bolls", Gene's voice huffed with a frantic air to it
that she had never before heard, "Where's that damn
ambulance!?"
Touch was something she could feel. Was someone
holding her?
She squinted to see.
Gene again. Cradling her in
his arms, his fingers touching her face, gently smoothing her
cheek.
Alex tried to touch him but her body wouldn't respond with
any movement.
"Ray got him Bolls", Gene said proudly.
Another sensation...was he squeezing her hand now?
Yes he
was, he must be. And he was squeezing it tightly.
"Don't you
close your eyes on me Bolly!", Gene urged as desperation
encroached on his voice, "Unbreakable Bolly, remember?
Un-bloody-breakable!".
Her vision fading, Alex's thought
process was shutting down.
Images were now going black around the
edges and slowly dimming, as if someone were slowly lowering the
lights.
"Alex...", she heard Gene faulter using
her real name.
"Alex?..."
The very vague initial
sensation of hands pressing down repeatedly on her chest were
noticable but within moments began to fade too...
An extremely
faint image came to Alex's fading mind...
"Molly...",
the thought itself slurring...
Light.
Very blurred
light.
Sensations again.
Very vague sensations.
And
voices.
Confusion.
Something about a response?
Another
sensation. Something on her face.
A moment of low quality clarity
and the vision cleared ever so slightly.
The thought process, off
kilter, took in a few moments visuals.
An oxygen mask on her
face.
And blurred forms around her.
Initial low hums cleared
slightly. Just enough to become voices.
"Serious gunshot
wound to the head!"
"Occured within the last ninety
minutes!"
"Passer by walking a dog found her!"
Almost
certainly voices beloning to more than one person.
"A
Detective Inspector Alexandra Drake"
"Met are contacting
next of kin"
"Had to be resuscitated twice on the way
in!"
"Okay, prep for immediate surgery, we'll do what we
can!"
"I've not lost a patient since the start of 2008
and I don't intend to start now!"
The darkness edged in
again.
2008...
It felt as if the very number, "2008",
was allowing her to relax suddenly.
"Pulse dropping"
The
voices blurred again.
"Get some adrenalin!!"
The
darkness engulfed her now, but a thought prevented the last speck of
light from vanishing...
Molls...
End of Chapter 1
