Finally my new story is here. I hope you enjoy it.

"Who is she?" Senior Constable Charlotte 'Charlie' Buckton asked the Sergeant standing next to her. They were both looking through a window at a young woman sitting alone in a room.

"Her name is Josephine Collins," Sgt Nick Parish answered. "And she is our most important guest."

Considering the morning news had been plastered wall to wall with coverage of the overnight murder of former Mayor, Harvey Ryan, Charlie eyed their newest VIP with renewed interest. Usually her instincts let her read witnesses with just one look and that look would tell her if the person was an innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time or a not so innocent who got caught red handed and was willing to squeal on others to avoid a lengthy sentence. Their latest guest was hard to read though. The woman was sitting at the table in the room, looking relaxed and not in the least bit perturbed or angry at being stuck in a hot and stuffy room for hours or at the dangerous situation she now found herself in. Charlie estimated the woman's age to be early to mid-twenties and she had that girl-next-door-appearance, with long dark hair tied in a loose ponytail and kind brown eyes that were looking right at her, even though she knew the woman couldn't see her behind the one-way window.

Joey continued to stare at the glass. She knew they were there, even if she couldn't see them. She'd seen the movies. The cops would put the witness or accused into a room and leave them waiting while they watched from a one-way window. They were probably discussing and dissecting her as if she was some exhibit on display.

She wondered what they thought of her. She knew that on the outside she probably looked relaxed, because she'd learnt at such a young age to not let her inside emotions reflect on her outward appearances. Call it self-preservation on her part, but she was most definitely frustrated and pissed at being in here, even if she didn't look so to those eyeballing her. She was also worried. Joey knew all about the people involved in this. You could hardly avoid it when their business dealings and the unfortunate consequences that befell people like her, were always there in the bold headlines of many a news story, as was the Police Force's inability to arrest them and make the charges stick. One brave journo had even accused the police of corruption, that some of them were on the take, which was why evidence and witnesses had a nasty habit of disappearing. Permanently. Just as the journo who'd broken the story had disappeared.

If she was going to disappear, Joey was going to make sure it was on her own terms. She wasn't about to trust the cops, that was for sure.

"What do we have on her?" Charlie asked Nick. She knew the first thing they would have done once they had Collins in protective custody, was to run as thorough a background check on her as they could in the short time available to them.

"Not a whole lot," admitted Nick. "Grew up in foster care," he said. "Bounced from home to home but managed to avoid the pitfalls that some like her fall into."

"No record then?"

"Not even a parking ticket."

"That has me worried."

"What, that she doesn't have a parking ticket?"

Charlie nodded with a grin. "Everyone is in a hurry these days, so they park wherever they can, legally or not."

"We're talking about her, not you," he joked and Charlie's smile grew wider. It was a running joke that at the rate she acquired parking tickets, her car would soon be flattened under the weight. "Anyway, back to our witness. She's 23, no close family within the foster system that we're aware of," he said. "Her work history is varied because she flitters from job to job, though most of it is odd jobs around boats and the docks."

"Any connection to our suspects?"

He shook his head. "None that has been found. We'll run a deeper check when we can, but for the moment, she just appears to have had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the right time." He stared in at their witness.

"What exactly did she see?"

"A squad car picked her up fleeing the scene and she wasn't too keen on saying anything at first, in fact she tried to claim that she saw and heard nothing," he told her. "Snr Const. Nash said at the time of them stopping her, she was twitchy and hesitant, wanting out of there as fast as she could."

Charlie knew of Nash and how he operated. "Let me guess, Joel pointed out to her that if the gunman suspected she'd seen anything, then letting her live under any circumstances was too risky."

"Pretty much," he said. "According to Collins, the shot was fired just as she rounded the corner, but she got a good look at the man standing over the body with a gun in his hand and the description she gave matches a known associate of the Braxtons; Penn Graham."

Charlie had definitely heard that name before. Penn Tiberius Graham. He was a suspected gun for hire who plied his trade to the highest bidder, which was why his name was often linked to the Braxtons. Not that any of this could actually be proven, even with a taskforce formed for just that. Day and night they toiled away, but these people were careful to cover their tracks and in Penn Graham's case, they had no clue to where he even came from. He just seemed to drift into town as necessary, then disappear just as quickly.

"She can also place Heath Braxton, Kyle Braxton and Brodie Upton in the vicinity," Nick said.

"Then why haven't they been arrested?" She hadn't heard anything to suggest that they had been.

"She only saw Penn standing over the body, while the others were just in the vicinity and we both know any half decent lawyer would get that thrown out in an instant," said Nick. "We need to get the shooter first, make him talk, then we move on the Braxtons. Until then, we don't want anyone to know that we have a witness to Ryan's murder." He sighed softly as he studied their prized guest. "Witnesses against the Braxtons are hard to come by because people are scared of them, and justifiably so since a few of them have been permanently disappeared by them," he said. "And last night was just another demonstration by them of their reach and viciousness, so we're playing it safe this time. No one else outside our little group is to know about her until we can be certain of her safety, have the shooter in our custody and we have enough evidence to tie the Braxtons to the murder. We want murder charges on all, especially Daryl Braxton. He might not have been there, but his brothers don't take a shit unless he gives the order, so he was behind this hit."

"Forensics?" asked Charlie.

"The usual."

"In other words, nothing."

"That's why they hire professionals like Penn Graham to deal with problems like Ryan."

"What was Ryan doing there?" Charlie asked. "Was he meeting with them?"

"He managed to evade the surveillance team, so we're assuming it was to meet up with the Braxtons," replied Nick.

"Ryan had to know how stupid that was."

Harvey Ryan had been a big time businessman who only last year, had also been the mayor of the city, until one too many questions over planning rights he'd signed off on and some questionable associations had seen him facing corruption charges and stripped of his mayoral title. Rumours had long linked him to the Braxtons, a family of four brothers that had begun as a surfy gang called the River Boys, before graduating upward to what now amounted to a drug cartel. A taskforce had been formed with the sole purpose of bringing the cartel down and so when whispers had begun circulating about a falling out between Harvey Ryan and the Braxtons, Ryan had been placed under surveillance. The leader of the taskforce, a Robert Robertson, had since been exerting pressure on Ryan, trying to get him to talk. Ryan was a lot of things, but being dumb usually wasn't one of them, so he'd kept his mouth shut, which had forced Robertson to try another tactic. He'd let the implication get out to the right ears, that Ryan had been talking to the cops, which had effectively guaranteed a target was placed on Ryan's back.

"I'm not sure Ryan had any choice last night," Nick said to her. "His daughter went missing hours before he was murdered."

"Shit," muttered Charlie. Ryan might have been a corrupt bastard, but he was well known for being a devoted father to his daughter, even more so after the tragic death of his son in a boating accident. Lottie would have been the perfect pawn to use against him.

"It's ok, the girl was found safe and well first thing this morning. Claims she was with a boyfriend and just lost track of time, but she was obviously lying," he said.

"They used her to draw Ryan right to them."

Nick nodded in agreement. "Even knowing he'd likely be walking to his death, there was no way he'd refuse to meet them once they had her."

"How long can these bastards keep getting away with this," she muttered angrily.

"Keep our witness alive and we may have our best shot ever in bringing all of them down," Parish told her.

"You really think Graham will talk?" she asked. "'Cos I don't and the chances of Penn Graham even being found are remote to say the least, so I could be stuck babysitting for a very long time."

"This isn't our only avenue to bringing them down," Nick said. "Word has come through of a big drug deal going down in the near future and we know the Braxtons like to keep their protection close at hand in those times. We find out the when and where of the deal, that will get us closer to Graham and with a bit of luck, we use Collins' testimony to make him talk or we're lucky enough to actually catch the Braxtons in the midst of a drug deal as well."

"There are a lot of ifs and buts with all of this."

"That's the nature of the game."

"It's a fucking deadly game to play." Charlie turned her back on their witness. There was another concern for her. "How true are the rumours of the Braxtons having people on the inside here?"

"I'd like to say no truth at all," he replied. "But there have been too many coincidences to outright dismiss the rumours, which is why we're keeping our witness so tightly under wraps," Nick told her. "And only me, you and your new partner will be aware of the location of the safe house."

Charlie frowned. "New partner? What happened to Jack?" Const. Jack Holden was her regular partner and while she wouldn't exactly call him a friend, she'd grown used to having him on these type of details.

"A few concerns have recently been raised regarding Jack."

"Surely you're not implying he's one of the inside men?"

"Of course not," Nick assured her. "It's more about his recent behaviour."

"He's got a few issues at home, that's all."

"It may only be a few, but they're major issues," said Nick. "His pregnant wife has left him, he has no idea if he's the father of her baby, his step-mother whom he was extremely close to, recently died in a car accident and he's been drowning his sorrows with booze," he said. "Jack is distracted and not up to an assignment of this gravity and importance."

"A job like this could be the perfect way to get him back in shape."

"Do you really want to trust him when he can barely turn up to work without knocking back a few beers on the way?"

Charlie sighed and reluctantly shook her head. "No," she said. "Who's my new partner then?"

"Constable Georgina Watson. She might be a bit green in some areas, but her record to date speaks for itself." He gave a knowing grin to her. "In fact, a lot of comparisons are being made between her and a certain young, up and coming Constable from a few years back."

"If she's anything like I was, then she's going to be a know it all pain in the arse," quipped Charlie, remembering exactly what she'd been like when she had first graduated. Lucky for her, she'd had an understanding and rather easy going Snr Constable overseeing her rookie days and he had tempered her arrogance and enthusiasm, while at the same time, guided and helped to shape her into the successful officer she was now, and without the man standing beside her, she'd probably have burnt out or put so many noses out of joint, that she wouldn't have been welcome if she'd stayed the same person back then.

"You can relax Charlie," he told her. "In that area, she's nothing like you," he said. "The comparisons being made are merely about her skills and potential."

"How did you ever survive working with me?"

"Believe me, you weren't the worst I'd ever worked with and I saw something in you that made me want to work with you," he told her. "And you've repaid my faith in you by becoming the fine officer you are now."

"When does the greenie get here?"

"She'll be here at 8.30, then you can both acquaint yourself with the witness and get the hell out of here." Nick started to walk away, then stopped. "Oh and Charlie, she's a lesbian, so be careful."

Charlie stared at him, a little affronted he'd even feel the need to say that. "Nick, you know I'd never get involved with a protectee."

"I was talking about your new partner," he explained with a grin. "I have no idea as to what Miss Collins' sexual orientation is, but even if she is gay, I have every confidence you wouldn't be that dumb as to overstep that line."

"Oh." She was blushing. She should have known Nick wouldn't be warning her not to break the rules. Sleeping with a colleague on the other hand? Well, she had gained a bit of a rep for charming the pants off her fellow officers, even the straight ones, but never committing to any of them. Her career was her life, so that came first, but that didn't mean she was going to deny her body the simple pleasures of another woman and since she rarely had time to date outside of work, it meant that most of the women she slept with, also wore the uniform. Some however, hadn't been so happy with her love 'em and leave 'em approach. It was hardly her fault. She was always completely up front with them from the start that there would be no relationship outside the bed, so she was hardly to blame if they fell for her.

"Charlie, I have no problem with the way you conduct your life outside of work, but this is the first time you've had a female partner on an assignment where you're basically on the job 24/7."

"I understand," she said. And she did. Seducing someone you were going to be around night and day while living under the same roof, would be a recipe for disaster.

At 8.30am on the dot, a very young looking Constable knocked on the door and then entered the observation room where Charlie was keeping an eye on their witness. A bit green, Nick had said. Jesus, he hadn't been kidding. She barely looked legal. The Constable was a little shorter than herself, though a bit fuller figured. Her pants and shirt were neatly pressed and framed her figure perfectly. Every hair was in place. As she neared, Charlie realised she was older than she looked. It was more her eyes. While bright and enthusiastic, they spoke of intelligence and confidence, with a hint of challenge in them.

"Fuck, she was me a few years back," she mumbled and Nick's gentle reminder started ringing in her ears. Her younger partner was attractive in her own way, a woman she wouldn't say no to under other circumstances, but what was most striking about her, was her swagger. There was a teasing cockiness to her swagger that was kind of a turn on and Charlie suspected that Watson had little trouble with pulling in the ladies. "Oh boy, this was going to be a long assignment," she murmured to herself and she wasn't talking about the many months this was likely to take.

"Snr Const. Buckton?" the Constable asked.

"That's right," Charlie replied. "You must be Const. Watson. It's nice to meet you."

"You too, ma'am." They shook hands and Watson stood right next to her and peered through the window. "Is she why I'm here?"

"What have you been told?"

"Only that I've been detailed to Protective Services."

"You haven't done this before?" Charlie said, slightly horrified, not to mention, annoyed at Nick for not making her aware of that fact. It was one thing to be assigned a new partner, but one who was not only a bit green, but completely inexperienced in this particular field of expertise, was another thing entirely. It was going to be like babysitting two women on this job. Two rather attractive women, she noted, before reminding herself that both women came with a huge 'Do Not Touch' neon light flashing above their heads. Charlie sighed. This could very well end up being the worst kind of hell.

"No ma'am," said Watson. "This will be my first protective assignment."

"Then I hope you're a quick learner and take orders without hesitation, because this is one job where you will need to be on the alert 24/7 and be ready to move at a moment's notice should something go wrong."

"I'm a very quick study ma'am and more than ready to react when necessary."

"Then you can start by dropping the ma'am," Charlie told her. "We're going to be posing as civilians, so it's Charlie from now on and you will be Georgina."

"If it's all the same ma'," she caught herself with a wry smile. "If it's all the same Charlie, I prefer Georgie."

"Georgie it is," said Charlie. "Are you ready to meet our third wheel?"

"Ooh, I love meeting new people," Watson said, her mouth quirking at the edges.