Hey everyone! This is a short beginning chapter, to get you into the Ashes mood. I hope you enjoy it!

Special thanks to XTimeGirlX for encouraging me in my work.

Gene Hunt sat in his office, surveying his kingdom. Chris was sat at his desk, talking on the phone. Ray was stood in the middle of the CID office, talking to Shaz. And then there was Alex, who was quietly flicking through case reports by herself. The lone worker. Swallowing the last mouthful of his whisky, Gene stood up and walked around his desk to the door. Throwing it wide open, he barked orders to his team.

"GRANGER! Dig up any old case files for our suspect! Ray, go bring Daniel Swarill in again! I know he's lying, my gut instinct tells me so! Chris, get off of the bloody phone and look through the case files that DI Drake is hogging! Now get moving!"

The team quickly moved to follow their orders. As the DCI went to go sit back in his office, a tall woman marched up to him with an accusing finger pointing at him.

"I've told you time and time again Gene, you won't get any answers out of him! He's delusional!" Alex Drake shouted at him.

"Yeah? Well I bet you any money that the bastard will be talking by lunchtime!" Gene roared back. The two glared at each other, their eyes slits. After a moment Alex sighed, and turned away to walk back to her desk, defeated. Gene smiled widely for a second before turning and striding into his office. He slammed the door on the way in, causing Shaz to jump as she examined one of the case files.

"Is he in a mood again today Maa'm?" She asked gingerly.

"I'm really not sure Shaz," Alex replied. "As you can see I'm not really focused on the Guv right now, I'm focused on a potential murderer."

"Sorry Maa'm." Shaz apologised. "I won't interrupt you again."

Alex sighed. She was always doing that; brushing people off unintentionally. She looked up at the young PC apologetically.

"Sorry Shaz. I didn't mean to be so cold."

"It's okay, Maa'm." Shaz said. "I know you're busy trying to find who murdered Katie Williams."

"DRAKE! MY OFFICE!"

Alex jumped from her seat as Gene bellowed her name across the room. Shooting him a dirty look, she slid out from behind her desk and walked towards the Manc Lion's office door. As she passed through, she felt again the feel of his eyes on her back. He did this a lot, she knew he did; he was always watching her.

"What could you possibly want now, Gene?" Alex asked impatiently.

"I want to know if we've had a breakthrough yet," Gene said, closing the glass door to his office carefully.

"Does it look like we have?" Alex told him bitterly. "We have nothing so far."

"Oh cheer up Bolls," Gene said bitterly. "We'll catch the bastard."

"I know."

"Unbreakable, Bolly."

"Agreed."

Just at that moment, Ray rapped on the door. He was grinning, which usually meant he had something so say.

"Raymondo!" Gene barked as Ray opened the door. "Is he here?"

"He is," Ray said, chewing his gum.

"Excellent." Gene praised him, clapping his hands together. "Come on then Bolls, we've got an interview to conduct."