Disclaimer: Not mine. Only in my dreams at night do I own Roper.
Rating: R – None of it gratuitous. The subject matter is either dictated by the established storyline or by the nature of the life in the Royal Army.
Notes: Well, the Burns' girls have their series 3, far be it for the Hipsters not to have theirs!
Realization Hohenbruck Army Base, GermanyDay 1
07:15 hrs, Monday
Jo paid attention to her suit, making sure that nothing appeared out of place. She checked the mirror as she pulled her hair back. She could do nothing about the dark circles under her eyes. She would not even have Bruce to run interference at the office. He and Angie were off to Cypress. All she had to look forward to was a tense day stuck between Burns and Roper with Frost thrown in for luck. All she could do was look as if nothing were wrong and get through it. She frowned, straightening her jacket.
A knocked sounded at her door.
"Its open." She called.
She spun around. Burns stood in the door. He held a paper in his hand. He just stood there. Jo stood her ground.
"What is it?" Jo snapped. Burns looked around, as if checking to see if she was alone. He stepped in, closing the door behind him. Jo watched him.
"There's been a request to send a replacement to Iraq. Another red cap has been wounded." Anger coursed through her.
"And you want me to go? Your idea of solving all your problems, is it, sir?" Burns looked pained.
"It's not like that."
"Really."
"You're the only one with frontline experience. You can be a soldier again, not just a policeman. That's what you want, isn't it?" Burns used his gentle, fatherly voice. Jo felt like slapping him. "You'd still be in SIB."
"And your life would be much simpler." Jo concluded for him. Burns looked around her room again.
"Jo, it isn't like that. This is a genuine posting. Howard thought you might be interested." He held out the paper to her. She had been in this position before. His personal motives only made this more insidious. She refused to take the paper. Burns growled, exasperated. "Listen, I won't say that the timing of this doesn't look bad but this isn't me trying to get rid of you. You don't have to take it if you don't want."
"And I can stay here?" He leaned back against the wall, surveying her.
"Have you really thought this through?" He asked. Jo kept her expression neutral. "Have you really? Have you thought about the consequences?" She frowned.
"What are you talking about?" Burns rubbed his forehead, looking back over at her.
"I told you my request for commission has been approved. I'll be leaving soon. Roper's in line to take over. Howard won't stand for you two to be on the same team if you're involved, personally, if Roper takes over. It wouldn't be appropriate." He paused. Jo remembered back to him saying something about a commission that night but the words had been overshadowed by his other announcement. The implication sank in. "Haven't quite thought this out, have you?" He parroted her own words back at her. "You can't stay or Roper can't take over." He seemed to wait for her response. Jo remained silent. "Do you think he'll turn down a promotion for you?" Jo did not want to admit that she did not know, or, worse, that she did know. "And if Roper doesn't take it, that leaves Harriet Frost. Do you want to work under her? What about the rest of the team?" Jo remained silent.
"So this is my fault, too?" Burns bestowed her with a benevolent smile.
"It really doesn't matter whose fault it is, does it? Those are your options." He leaned back, crossing his own arms over his chest. They stood there, watching each other. "You don't have to give me an answer right now. Think about it. I suggest you think hard."
Burns placed the paper on the desk, watching her as he did. Jo did not move. He gave her one last long look before leaving, closing the door behind him.
Jo stood, not moving, staring at the white piece of paper. Burns was right about one thing. She had not thought that far ahead. She rubbed her head, feeling a headache coming on. The day that started bleak had all ready grown darker. It was not even eight o'clock yet.
The office stood subdued as she entered. Without Angie at the desk with her ready smile and Bruce fumbling around pretending not to be flirting, the place seemed dim. Only Frost occupied the incident room.
"Jo?" Frost was on her in a second. Jo pasted a smile on her face as she approached. "Another stolen car. Burns asked that you look into it." She held out a piece of paper.
"What's this? The seventh?" With all the other cases breaking lately, the rash of stolen cars on the base had been overlooked. Jo had been hearing about it though, as angry soldiers had queued up at the desk over the last couple of weeks.
"Actually, the fifteenth. Could you check it out?" Jo looked around the room. "I'm afraid everyone else is all ready out. Burns and Roper got called into town." Frost confided. " And I have to be at a courts martial this morning." When Jo did not immediately take the theft report, Frost prompted her, "With Bruce gone, we're short handed."
"Right." Jo pulled the report from Frost's hand. Burns dramatized his point without even being there. She was not sure how long she could play the lower rank with Frost today.
"Are you all right?" Frost asked after her, suddenly friendly.
"I'm fine." Jo answered, not stopping.
The drive across base to the barracks where the car had been taken from afforded Jo time to think. A posting to Iraq would have had her jumping at any other time. A front line assignment was what she had always wanted. She had not joined the army to sit behind a desk. After Bosnia, the possibility of ever being deployed seemed distant. She wanted the posting on her own merits, though. The reasons behind the offer had nothing to do with her abilities. Every fibre of her being railed against taking the posting just on principle.
She parked in the barracks car park. A rather red faced corporal stood there, looking about ready to explode.
"Nice of you to show up." He barked at her. Jo eyed him, pulling her credentials from her pocket.
"Sgt. McDonagh, SIB. Corporal Brannigan?" He nodded.
"The fifth in my section. Are you lot going to do something about this or what?" Jo ignored his insubordination.
"When was it taken?" She asked.
"Last night." He barked. Jo looked about. The barracks were situated on the edge of the base. To the west, a line of trees covered the running trails.
"Do you have any ideas on the time?"
"It was there when I came back from the NAFTI at ten."
"And what time did you notice it missing this morning?"
"06:30." She nodded, more to herself. Fifteen cars could not just disappear off the base. Either they were driven out or trucked out.
"Did you hear anything last night?" He gave her a look as if she were a complete idiot.
"No, or I would have come out here and beat their bloody brains in. Are you going to do something about this or what?" Jo looked about again. The barracks were away from the rest of the base. A tree lined street led out to them. Several other barracks ran south from these barracks, also somewhat secluded. No CCTV cameras watched the pavement.
"Did anyone else hear or see anything?"
"Did you want me to do your whole job?"
"Then that's a no?"
Brannigan rolled his eyes at her.
"You say you're the fifth in the section? And yours was a BMW?"
"Yeah, 3 series, all the trimmings." Jo nodded.
"Nice car."
"Yeah, and I'd like it back."
"What were the other cars that were taken?"
"Why don't you read the reports? You lot are great at taking reports. Ever read any of them?" Jo eyed him. She was more than ready to deal with some officer dressing her down for a missing car. A corporal was not a commissioned officer.
"Yeah, and I can go back to the office and dig the reports out or you can just tell me." She slapped him down. He looked sheepish.
"An Audi, three other BMWs and a SAAB, I think."
"Not bad. All sports models?"
"Yes."
"You must like your cars." Those were all rather high-end cars for regular infantry.
"We have a club." Brannigan sniped. Jo stared him down. He caved. "Sorry. Everything I've got is sunk in her. We really do have a club." Jo regarded him a moment, softening. She shook her head, trying to keep the smile from her face.
"We have fifteen cars reported stolen. Are all of the boys in this club?" He nodded. "What is it with boys and their cars?" He gave her a rather boyish smile.
"Can't get a girl like you without a flash car, Sarge." Jo could only laugh. Brannigan had to be about twenty-one.
"Corporal, it takes more than a flash car to get a sergeant."
Jo settled down at her desk in the quiet of the now deserted incident room to through the stack of theft reports. All the cars taken were high-end sports cars. She started noticing a pattern straight off. All of the cars had been stolen from the barracks on the west side of the base. The seclusion of the barracks lent itself to why the thieves were stealing from those car parks. Stealing the cars was the easy part. They still had to get off the base. Hiding cars on the base would be noticed sooner or later. The thieves could not hide fifteen cars and not expect someone to notice them piling up in a warehouse.
Jo looked up from the reports for a moment. She got up, crossing the floor to the map of the base hanging on the way. Using her finger to pinpoint the area where the cars were disappearing from, she looked over the west border of the base. The barracks were situated about a half kilometre from the actual perimeter. Between the barracks and the border, a thick forest ran the entire length of the base. Jo ran the path there a couple of nights a week. The terrain there did not immediately lend itself to moving cars through but there were places where the trees were spread far enough to get a car through in theory.
"What are you doing?" Jo almost jumped. Burns stood behind her. Howard stood behind him.
"Another car reported stolen this morning. Frost sent me to check on it." She kept her voice and expression as neutral as possible.
"What are you looking at here?" He nodded at the map. Nothing in his countenance gave away the confrontation that morning. Jo hesitated at first.
"All the cars reported are being taken from the west side of the base. These barracks." She pointed.
"Yes?" He prompted her.
"I checked the gates and they haven't seen any of the cars but they have to be getting off the base."
"And you think they're taking them out through the forest?" Burns' tone told her exactly what he thought of her idea. "Isn't it more likely that they're being shipped out in trucks?" Jo kept herself calm.
"The gates are checking the trucks." She had checked with the base guard on the way back to the office.
"And, with all the in and out around here, it is possible that they've missed a truck here or there?"
"They would have had to miss fifteen, sir." She pointed out. Burns regarded her for a moment.
"Right. Carry on." He turned away. Howard stayed as Burns made his way into his office.
"Has the Sgt. Major talked to you?" Howard asked. Jo steeled herself.
"Yes, Sir."
"Have you given it any thought?"
"Not yet, Sir." He nodded, grimacing.
"Needless to say, McDonagh, you would be missed if you decided to take it." Jo did not know how to respond to that.
"Do you think I should take it, Sir?" she asked, gauging him. He regarded her.
"I think its a good opportunity for you," he answered simply, checking behind him as Frost walked in. Howard nodded to Jo, taking his leave. Jo stood there a moment digesting his response.
"What was that all about?" Frost asked, walking up to her. Jo shook her head, looking back at the base map. "What did you find out about the car?" Jo could out of the corner of her eye see the survey that Frost gave her even as she changed the subject.
"Nothing really new. Another sports car. No one at the gates saw it leave."
"Well, they're getting them off the base somehow." Frost told her. Jo resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Having Frost in charge of the section would be a study in discipline, something that Jo was well aware that she lacked. Bruce would never forgive her if it came down to that. "Do you know what was happening in town today?"
"Burns didn't say." Jo kept her eyes focused on the map, trying to get back to the case. If she could figure out where the cars were going, today would not be a total waste.
"Right, well, the courts martial has only broken for lunch. I have to be back after." Frost spoke as if implying something important, jingling her keys in her hand.
Jo left her standing there, going back to her desk, shuffling through the reports. There had not been any glass on the pavement of the car park. The reports noted that all of the victims detailed their keys were also missing.
The drive to the southerly most barracks on the west side of the base only took a few moments. She parked in the car park and headed into the trees, picking up the trail only a few meters inside the tree line. She looked around as she stretched her legs. Nothing seemed amiss. She started north at a slow jog; scanning the ground as she went, glad to be out of her slacks and jacket.
She should talk to Roper. She almost tripped as the thought came to her. She righted herself, pushing ahead, pushing the thought away, focusing on the ground. The trees here stood too close together to get a car through. She could see the barracks just through the trees. She had only progressed about a half kilometre. Up ahead, the trees thinned out. She pressed on.
Roper had earned the promotion. She shook her head, coming into the area of thinning trees. She slowed down, checking the ground closely. Nothing appeared disturbed except for the trail where some leaves had been kicked aside by a passing runner. She checked east. The barracks sat almost right on the tree line, lined with windows the entire length of the building. There was not room to get a car through behind them without someone seeing. She pushed on.
He wanted her but did he want her that much. Jo jogged to a halt, breathing heavy, going in a circle across the trail. It was not a question and Jo knew the answer. She stamped her feet, trying to clear her head. There were a couple of spots still ahead where the trees gave way enough. She took off again.
Even if he did give the promotion up, it would not take long for him to hate her for holding him back. Jo slammed to a stop, holding her head in her hands, rubbing the sweat from her eyes. She did not know where this thing between them was going. She kept moving to keep from cramping up. She was under no illusion that they would wind up married, living happily ever after. If the thought ever crossed her mind, Roper had too many issues with marriage for it to be possible. She understood that. She could live with that. Now was not the time to be going over this. She had a job to do. She set off.
Another half a kilometre in, Jo came upon the next area with sparse trees. She slowed down, checking the ground and tree line. The ground here carpeted with falling leaves stood undisturbed. The barracks stood slightly further away but still too close to the forest to be a good place to get the stolen cars through. She still had a kilometre or so to go before reaching the north most barracks. She considered the thought that maybe she was wrong. The simplest, most reasonable explanation was that the thieves were using trucks to get the cars off base. Fifteen trucks, or less, if they managed to get more than one car in, was not many considering the war in Iraq and the personnel and supplies running through the base every day. Her stubbornness kicked in. She would not know if she did not check her theory out.
Roper had kids; he could use the wage increase. She skidded to a stop, looking around, trying to figure out what had caught her attention. The trail beneath her feet showed no disturbance, hard packed by runners. The trees here stood apart from each other but the undergrowth appeared undisturbed. She looked out to the clearing past the trees. Two barracks stood, facing each other with a spread of pavement between them, set off a bit from the trees. A clear field lay between them and the trees.
Jo paced at a slow jog back and forth up the length of trail, still trying to discern what had stopped her. A car could definitely get through here. No sign of anything like that jumped out at her. The ground to either side of the trail was littered with piles of leaves, dappled with sunlight coming down. Jo looked up. Here the sun bathed the forest floor in light. A breeze snapped at the foliage. Jo kicked a pile of leaves to the side of the trail. The entire pile fluttered about, exposing bare earth. Jo stopped and stooped down. The ground cleared was hard earth just like the trail. She looked up to the tops of the trees again. The closest tree stood a few meters away. She looked down again, pressing her hand into the piles of leaves. There were not enough trees around to explain the amount of leaves piled everywhere. A good wind would blow anything out and onto the field just beyond. She cleared a path in the ground clutter almost all the way to the field. The ground beneath was the hard packed soil as on the trail, too hard packed to give away any tire tracks. She scattered leaves over the earth that she had bared, heading back west to the other side of the trail.
The ground here showed the same signs as the ground on the other side. She glanced back toward the barracks. The land here was level, not creviced and gullied as it was in other places around the base. The ground was almost level as a road. A car could get through here without so much as scraping its undercarriage. She headed deeper in.
Birds twittered overhead at her intrusion, raining down leaves as they hopped on the branches. Jo kept her attention on the ground, searching for anything substantial that would prove a car had been through here. The earth seemed unwilling to give up its secrets so readily. As she progressed, the trees became thicker but still made way for a clearing heading west as large as a two-lane thoroughfare. A few hundred meters in, she leaned down to check what might be a tire tread.
A truck rumbled by somewhere ahead of her. Jo quit the mark in the ground and headed toward the sound. She ran into a wire woven fence. Beyond the fence lay a road. The land to either side of the road was pock marked with dug out holes as if tires had kicked up the dirt. Tracks themselves were evidenced everywhere as if this area were being used as a rest stop. The road was only a narrow country one. Perhaps army trucks used it but they would not pull over here, the gate onto the base being just a few kilometres down the road. She pushed on the fence. The entire length jiggled but did not give. The entire theory went right out if she could not figure out how they were getting through the fence.
She followed the fence down one way, noticing the ground beyond was scratched as though someone had dragged the fence across it. It was not a heavy fence. Loose one end of it and it could be dragged away. She went down about a hundred meters finding no breach. The earth began looking less and less disturbed on the other side. Trees were beginning to grow closer and closer together. She headed back in the opposite direction. She stopped just past the wide trail she had taken here. A fence pole stood in the ground, the fence fastened to it in several spots with what looked like flex ties. Jo crouched down to examine it closer. The metal hooks that had originally held the fence in place looked as though they had given way. She searched the area on her side of the fence, coming up with a cut piece of the flexible plastic being used to hold the fence up. She tugged on the bottom of the fence by the pole. The fence gave way. She ran her eyes up the length of the fence up the pole. It was sheared and then held together by the ties.
Jo stood up, triumphant, dusting off her pants. Finding the thieves would be easy now. All they had to do was stake out this little patch and wait until the thieves tried to get through again. She could check the dates of the thefts to see if there was a pattern to narrow the nights they would need to watch. The gate guards would sleep better knowing that they were vindicated. The base commander would probably not sleep half so well when he found out that they had such a large breach in their security but that could not be helped. Burns could just deal with the fact of yet another one of her theories panning out. Jo smirked to herself at the thought and headed back to the running trail.
By the time she made it back to her car, making sure to cover any disturbance she might have caused along the thieves' path, the sun hung low in the west. She dusted herself off again before she got into the car and then drove to the office, not bothering to stop and shower and change first. If the last car that was stolen was last night, her memory recollected that this was not an every night occurrence. She could just check for a pattern in the nights and then call it a day. It was not half bad of day, considering. She had solved, or almost solved, the case. Corporal Brannigan would maybe get his car back, if it were not all ready across the country.
She pulled up in front of the office, noticing that Roper's car was parked there. The memory of the morning crashed in. She sat for a moment, not getting out. She could not avoid him forever. She could not just not go into the office. She checked herself in the mirror, hating herself even as she did it and got out.
"No messages, your ladyship." The sergeant snapped at her as she went by the desk. She went past without responding, steadying herself as she pushed the doors to the incident room open. Frost and Vicary stood talking by the windows. Roper was not there. Jo almost sighed a breath of relief.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Burns barked at her as soon as she entered. He looked her up and down in her running clothes. "Found your phantom road through the woods?" he needled her. Jo blessed him with her sunniest smile. Not even Roper's scowl could dampen her mood.
"Yes, sir." She answered in her cheekiest tone. She breezed past him, leaving him standing there. She picked up the file of the reports from her desk and went over to the base map. She waited with mock patience as they all came over. Burns moved slowly but she waited for him.
"All of the cars stolen are getting taken from these barracks on the west side of the base. They're taking them through this car park out to the trees. The ground is level here, all the way to the outside fence. They've covered the ground with leaves, too much to come from the trees around there, to a few hundred yards past the running trail. The ground is hard there. I only found one tire track but the outside fence is cut." She held out the plastic tie. "It's being held together to one of the posts with these. I found this one on the ground near there so it looks like they're cutting them and replacing them." She dropped the tie into Burns' hand, giving him another bright smile. Roper coughed to cover his grin. Burns turned his stunned glare on him.
"Now, a road runs past the border here." She pointed to the road on the map. "The ground on the far side of the fence is all torn up, as if large trucks were pulling in and out, but army trucks wouldn't be stopping there considering the base gate is so close." She pointed it out then started flipping through the reports. "It looks like all the cars are getting taken either on Saturday nights, when everyone is sleeping off their night's activities or on paydays, when the boys are at the NAFTI drinking away half their money so we can just watch the spot on the nights they're likely to hit again." She finished, closing the file.
Burns stood there, looking as if she had just reported that peace had been declared in the Middle East. Jo waited, catching that Roper watched him out of the corner of his eyes. Burns looked down at the plastic tie he held then up to the map then at her.
"Right. Then. Well done." He stood there a moment longer before handing the tie back to her. He looked at each of them in turn and then walked stiffly into his office, slamming the door. Jo could not help her triumphant smile.
"Well done, Jo." Roper congratulated her. "When's the next night?"
"Next Friday." Jo tossed the file on her desk, securing the tie in an evidence bag and placing it with the file. She locked both in her desk. "What was happening in town?" Jo let herself relax, giving him the smallest of smiles.
"There was a shooting in town last night." He sidled over closer. "Drugs has been investigating a club owner in town with the German police."
"Danny Johnson?" Roper looked startled, telling Jo she was right. "They've been investigating him for years. Never been able to pin anything on him. You told me that." She reminded him.
"Well, a soldier was killed in his club last night." Jo just nodded, straightening out her desk.
"Well, I'm going to go shower, get this dirt off me. I'll see you in the morning."
Jo checked herself in the mirror. She tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear. She tried to smile. Her nervousness did not dissipate. She glanced at her mobile lying on the desk.
She took a deep breath, pacing her room a moment to gather her courage.
She picked up the phone, dialling Roper's number.
"Yeah?" Jo's stomach dropped out at Saskia's voice. "Hello?"
"Mum!" The little girl voice, Clare's, ripped at Jo's heart.
"Hello?" Jo clicked her phone closed.
She sat down on the bed, staring at nothing, trying not to cry.
At least the decision was made.
The office was dark. A corporal sat at a desk behind the main one. Jo slammed into the deserted incident room. The only light here was one bar of lights at the far end of the room and a little glimmering through the blinds of Burns' office. She rapped on the door.
"Come in." Burns called. She threw the door open.
"I'll take it." She growled at him. He just stared at her from behind his desk.
"What?"
"The posting. I'll take it." She repeated herself.
"Sgt. McDonagh." She whirled around, standing to attention. Howard stood behind her. "Are you all right?" He looked almost as startled as Burns.
"Yes, Sir. I'm fine. I've made my decision." He watched her closely.
"You don't look 'fine'. Are you sure about this?" He questioned her.
"Yes, Sir. I've given it some thought and I've made my decision. I'll take the posting." He did not look convinced.
"Is there anything else wrong?" He probed. She shook her head.
"Just a little spicy Chinese food for dinner is all." She covered. He looked over her shoulder at Burns. Jo turned back to where Burns had stood up. He looked embarrassed for some reason Jo could not fathom. He looked to Howard.
"Very well, then. You'll have about forty-eight hours before the papers can get pushed through." Howard said behind her.
"That long? I thought they needed someone right away?" It seemed an eternity to stay here.
"This is the army." Burns tried to joke. Jo did not laugh. "You'll need to turn over all your case work. Get any loose ends cleared up. Brief anyone on any cases you have coming up before court." He cleared his throat. "Have you told your family?"
"No, I'm on my way to call them now." She had not thought about that.
"Well, then, I'll start getting the paperwork together." Burns sat back down at his desk. Jo nodded at Howard, who returned her nod, dismissing her. She stopped herself from running out of the office.
Jo left her car at the office, walking back to the barracks. The chilly air on her face was the only thing that kept the tears from coming again. She felt as though her heart had been ripped from her chest. She pulled her jacket tight around her, covering her face with the lapels. She wanted to find some place to hide, a hole to crawl into. The shame of her own feelings made her feel stupid. How she ever thought she could compete with Saskia and his children, how she thought she could ever be anything more than a one night stand seemed to stand a testament to her own stupidity. As always, she was good for a hot, heavy sexual relationship but she was not the one that men went home to. She was the blonde, leggy other woman.
The barracks loomed before her. She broke into a run, bursting through the doors. Starting one of the newer sergeants, she ran down the hall, slamming her door closed behind her. She did not turn the lights on. She did not get changed. She curled up on her bed, pulling her knees up to her chest and covered her face with her hands. The tears came now and they did not stop.