Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favourited, and added to story alerts! I have to work a 12 hour tomorrow, so I'm posting a day early, but I'll get back to my normal schedule next week. A huge thank you to 5A7AH, who wrote the new summary for the fic, and also for the long convos full of the most brilliant ideas ever, and renewing my love for series 1. (I love the villains in that series)

Chapter 3: Ticking

"Okay. When this guy rings again, I want us to be prepared. Bolly has no doubt that he's going to do it again," said Gene, looking at the clock on the wall. Alex was only five minutes later than normal. She'd rush through the door any minute now, muttering her apologies, and he would give her a bollocking after addressing the team. That's how it always worked.

However, Gene could not shake the feeling of dread in his stomach. It had continued to grow ever since he got out of bed, and since Alex didn't show up at her normal time, the dread was starting to change to fear.

Gene started listing what sections he wanted the men to look at. They were not going to lose the person this time. Jennifer Waters had haunted him all week. Bolly had helped him, but he could see that she was just as disappointed as he.

He finished giving assignments, and looked at the clock worriedly. Fifteen minutes past the time she'd come in. Gene decided to ring her. If she didn't answer, he'd go to the flat and see if she was there. If she wasn't... Gene didn't want to think about that.

Before ringing her, Gene had an idea. "Granger," he said sternly. "C'mere."

Shaz, looking nervous, stepped into his office, quietly closing the door behind her.

"Have you heard anything from Drake yet this morning?"

Shaz shook her head no. "No, Guv. Do you want me to try ringing her?"

Gene shook his head. "I'll do it. I just wanted to make sure. Thanks Shaz."

Shaz nodded and walked out of his office. He picked up the phone, dialling Alex's number.

As the phone on the other end rung, he looked out into CID. None of them seemed to have noticed anything wrong. They were all still working on the case, but some were getting distracted by their need for coffee or tea.

The phone on the other end continued to ring, and he knew by now Alex would have answered. He hung it up, calling to Shaz.

She came back into his office, starting to look worried.

"I'm going over to the flat. She's not answering. If she's on her way, I'll see her. If the bastard rings while I'm away, I want to know immediately.

Shaz nodded, and Gene swooped out of the office. He strode purposefully down the corridors, parting all the crowds in his path. He moved down the stairs and onto the street, trying to keep himself from running to her flat.

Gene tried to block the worry that was ever increasing when he did not see Alex on the street. He ran across the street, nearly getting run over by a dark green transit van. It honked loudly at him, but he paid it no mind as he reached the outside steps that tenants could use to get to their flats.

She just overslept, Gene, he told himself. You'll go in and she'll be lying in bed.

He continued this mantra all the way up the stairs, taking out the key and letting himself into her flat.

"Alex?" he called. There was no answer. He wandered all over her flat, trying to quench the panic which was now rising. She was nowhere to be seen. He could tell she had gotten ready for work this morning. Things of hers had been moved around, and her pyjamas had been moved from where she had shed them the night before to the heap of dirty clothes in the corner.

Gene lost no time in running back to the station. He flung the doors open to CID, and the entire group, turned to look at him, questions written all over their faces.

"Bolly's missing," he said. She was gone. There was nothing they could do now but wait.

~(*)~

She was drifting, floating through a fog. It was dense, she could not even see her hand in front of her face. Although, Alex wasn't even sure she had hands at the moment. She seemed just to be a conscious, floating through the endless grey.

Alex wasn't sure what happened. She was on her way to work, and now she was here. Had she passed out? Was Gene trying to wake her up now?

The fog lifted a little. Slowly, memories snaked their way in, letting her remember what had happened.

She had left her flat, running almost fifteen minutes later than usual. Alex knew she was going to get a bollocking from Gene, but it didn't matter. There was never any menace in his threats. She didn't notice the dark green transit van in the alley between Luigi's and the building next to it, or the man standing next to the building, waiting for her.

The next thing she knew, an arm had been wrapped around her throat. Then it all went black.

Alex realised that she must have been put in a chokehold. It would have cut off the blood supply to her brain, making her pass out almost instantaneously.

What she couldn't understand though, was why she was having so much trouble waking up. With a chokehold like that, she should have woken up in about a minute or so. Something else must have been given to her to keep her unconscious.

As the fog slowly lifted, she was able to feel again. Alex realised that her hands and legs were tied to the arms and legs of a chair, respectively. A strip of duct tape was over her mouth. She was also freezing.

Alex slowly opened her eyes, suddenly understanding why she was so cold. She had been stripped of her jacket, her blouse and her jeans, leaving her naked except her bra and knickers. She saw her clothes lying in a heap in the corner, and started trying to work her way out of the ropes tethering her to the chair. Eventually, however, she gave up, the rope burn on her arms and legs hurting and throbbing in unison with her head, which was aching from whatever sedative her attacker had used on her.

"You're awake," a voice said quietly. "Good."

Alex tried to turn, but the ropes prevented her from being able to look.

"Don't bother turning," the voice said. "I'll be around in a few moments anyway. I need to get some things together so you can ring that boss of yours."

Alex realised with a sinking stomach who the man was. He was the same man who had killed Jennifer, Rory and Trevor. She was the second female that she had predicted him to get.

And, right after she rung Gene, she would only have sixty minutes to live.

~(*)~

Gene nearly jumped on the phone as soon as it rang. "Hello?" he snapped.

There was a big intake of breath on the other end. "My name is Alex Drake," her voice said quietly. "I am thirty-three years old. If you don't find me in the next sixty minutes, I will die."

"Bolly," Gene said down the phone, feeling already like he had let her down.

"Hunt," came the man's voice.

"What have you done with her you bastard?" he bellowed down the phone.

"You have sixty minutes to find her Hunt, as soon as I hang up this phone. Here's your clue. Ezra, 10,31."

The other end hung up.

"Quick! Someone grab a Bible!" Gene yelled at CID, which was sitting silently and fearfully.

Shaz jumped into motion immediately, pulling open her desk drawer and opening her bible.

"What passage, Guv?"

"Ezra, 10:31."

Shaz flipped several pages before exclaiming in excitement. However, her face quickly fell and she read the verse aloud.

"From the descendants of Harim: Eliezer, Ishijah, Malkijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he raged.

"Maybe the verse is insignificant," Chris suggested. "Maybe that's the address."

Everyone stopped a moment, staring at Chris as though he had sprouted three more heads.

"What?" he asked sheepishly. "It was just an idea."

"A brilliant one," Ray said. "And there lies the problem."

The rest of CID snickered. Gene, however, looked nervously up at the clock. Fifty-five minutes left.

"Right, you lot. Start looking for an Ezra Street or road or whatever. If you find it, you get a drink on me at Luigi's after this mess is over."

CID silenced, all studying their assigned portions of the maps they'd been given. Gene sat at Alex's desk, staring at the map, but not really seeing it. All he could imagine was the torture she was currently going through, and what she had yet to go through.

She wouldn't go through all of that, however. He was going to stop the man, beat seven shades of shit out of him, and then toss him in jail for the rest of his life.

"Guv!" Ray yelled as Gene's phone rang. Gene jumped up, running to his office and grabbing the phone. He put it up to his ear. "Hello?" he said, staring at Ray who was jumping up and down mouthing 'I found it' and pointing to a map.

"Guv," came Alex's voice. It was laced clearly with intense pain. "Please."

"Alex, what's he done to you?"

"I wouldn't be worried about that Hunt. I'd be worried about the forty-four minutes you have left."

He heard Alex moan in pain in the background as the phone on the other end hung up.

"Right, Ray, where is Ezra Street?"

~(*)~

Alex tugged her arms uselessly against the rope as the man burnt her yet again. She looked at the clock on the wall. Thirty-two minutes left until she would die. She hoped Gene would get here soon. The second hand on the clock reached the twelve and the man stood over her, a pair of pliers in his hand. She tried to push herself away. He had only held pliers twice before, and both times it was to rip a nail off. However, this time he didn't move for a hand or a foot. He opened her mouth, putting something in it so she could not bite down.

She realised in horror that he was going to remove one of her teeth, just like he had done for the other three. As the pliers entered her mouth, she desperately tried to concentrate on something besides the taste of metal and the look of intense concentration on the man's face.

Alex noticed that a radio was hanging from his pocket, which was right next to her hand. This must be what he used to contact Gene. Hoping desperately, she stretched her fingers as long as they would go, trying to press down the little button on the radio.

She got it down at the same moment he yanked on her tooth. Pain flooded her jaw, making her dizzy and blackening her vision.

The first thing she was aware of hearing was Gene's voice. "Bolly! Bolly! Talk to me Bolly!"

She opened her eyes, wishing, hoping, but Gene was nowhere to be seen. The man, however was staring at her furiously.

"You pushed the button on the radio," he stated dangerously before grabbing the box and depressing the button. "Thirty one minutes, Hunt."

The radio. She must have pressed the button for the radio and screamed. That's how Gene had heard her. Alex tasted blood in her mouth, and looked down on the floor, seeing a molar lying in between her bare feet.

"What did that feel like, Alex?" the man asked her. She spat in his face, getting immense pleasure at seeing him wipe her blood off his face.

"Why?" she asked. The man glanced up at the clock. She realised the second hand had passed the twelve again. He lit a match, and burnt her on the small of her back.

"Why?" he asked as she whimpered and tried to move away. "Experimental purposes. What is it like to feel pain?"

"Why don't you try this out on yourself and find out?" Alex raged.

"I have congenital insensitivity to pain. To put it simply, I was born not being able to feel it. So all my life, I have wondered: 'What does it feel like?' I'm finally putting it to the test."

"But if you can't feel pain, then how do you compare it?" Alex said, struggling forming words around the pain in her mouth.

"I have my ways," he said grinning, glancing up at the clock. The second hand was on the nine. "I have my equipment, so I can record my data later."

"So this is all just an...experiment?"

He nodded. "What are the responses to pain by men and women? Two men, two women, just so I could compare. I must say, I never knew you could black out from pain."

"Why did you kill them at the end?"

"They saw my face," he said, burning her on the side of her neck. And it was the condition. Hunt had to find them in 60 minutes."

"Why only 60 minutes?"

"An hour can mean everything. Life or death, winning and losing, being married or divorced. Besides, it's just got a ring to it."

Alex looked desperately at the clock. Twenty eight minutes. Where was Gene?

~(*)~

Gene looked down at his watch. Fifteen minutes. The man would be on the radio soon. Alex was still no closer to being found, and he felt guilty. But the clue had to be false. There was no number 1031 on Ezra Street. There was nothing close. CID had checked every name in the verse as well. There was absolutely nothing.

"Hunt," his radio said suddenly.

"You fed me false clues, you bastard."

"You can't find her?" the man asked innocently. "Such a shame. I mean, you only have twelve minutes anyway."

Gene cringed as he heard Alex whimper. It was his fault. He couldn't find her and she was going to die.

"Tell you what. If you can't find her in the next twelve minutes, I'll tell you where she is."

"Why don't you tell me where she is now?"

The man on the other end tutted. "Because that, Mr. Hunt, would be telling."

"Let me speak to her."

"Alright, but make it quick. She's due to have a toenail removed in forty five seconds."

"Bolly."

"Gene." Her voice was weary, somewhat difficult to understand, and it was easy to hear the pain that she was trying to control.

"I'm going to save you, Alex," he said quietly.

There was silence on the other end for a moment, before she came back on, sounding as though she was holding back tears.

"Josh Burrows," she said quickly. "Experi..."

She was cut off quickly. The man's voice came over the radio, and he heard Alex's muffled screaming in the background. "Ten minutes, Hunt. I do hope you find her. I actually want you to catch me.

Gene radioed the station. "Find me everything you can on a Joshua Burrows. Alex just said his name."

He looked at his watch. Nine minutes. Chris and Ray appeared suddenly, out of breath.

"We talked to everyone, Guv. They all said the same thing. Everyone knows everyone on the street and no one would do anything like this. They all let us look around as well."

Gene put his face in his hands. They were going to lose her, and it was going to be his fault. He had led them on a wild goose chase.

"Five minutes."

Gene let out a roar of rage. What was he supposed to do? "I can't leave her for dead."

"But we have no idea where she is Guv!"

Chris and Ray looked resigned, and at the same time, completely lost. No one knew what they would do without Alex Drake harping at them in CID.

Gene was furious. He should be out there looking for her, finding her! But it was impossible. Without anything clue to find her, it was all in vain.

"One minute," her voice said softly over the radio.

Gene raised the radio to his mouth. "I'm sorry, Bolly," he said quietly, his insides feeling as though they were being ripped apart. He had given up on her. His Alex.

"Goodbye, Gene."

There was a shriek of pain and then the sound of her exhaling followed by silence. Gene fell down on his knees, rage and anguish washing over him in waves. Bolly was dead. Alex was gone. Forever.

to be continued.