Thanks v much to PS4EVA, emma4will, XxSamanthaNixonxX, vikki, becca996, sam-qwen-nixon, XxPrettyBlueEyesxX, S-Nixon, amy, gemz, I-LUV-WILL-TURNER, becki and SamandPhilforever for reviewing :D as many of you guessed, they do indeed have Phil lol.
This is the penultimate chapter. Please review.
Even before he'd made the call, Phil knew with a sinking heart that Sam would come. How could she not, when he was on a case involving her only daughter? He'd felt relieved when she'd offered to send him some uniform instead, but the man standing behind him, with a gun to his head didn't seem satisfied with that and he'd been forced to press the matter.
So Sam was coming, to meet the man she'd been so convinced existed when he couldn't bring himself to believe her. He didn't want her to get hurt, and he knew that if she did, he would never be able to forgive himself, for putting her safety behind his own.
That was, of course assuming that he got out of this alive.
He'd been remarkably stupid, acting like a probationer; he'd followed the obvious leads without any thought of radioing in his findings. He'd found a witness and agreed to meet him in a deserted place, without thinking that maybe this bystander could have been much more. Like the attacker, for instance. He'd just been so desperate to get a result. Too scared of letting Sam down again. He had to get out of this; he had to fix this before Sam arrived.
But how to do it? Clearly, he was an idiot, so how could he ever hope to think of anything? He was wasting time. Precious seconds were ticking away, and Sam had promised she'd be there in ten minutes. Knowing her driving, it would be five. A flash of inspiration hit him. Why not try to think like Sam? At least until the real thing got there.
"So what's your fixation with Sam?"
"You don't remember me, DS Hunter?" Phil took a closer look at his captor, but his expressionless face was still ringing no bells. Phil shook his head
"Well maybe you'd remember Mark Livingston. You worked on his case, with your beloved Samantha Nixon a few months ago."
"I remember him. Arson, wasn't it?"
"He didn't do it!"
"That's not what the jury said."
"I know he didn't do it! Mark was a good kid!" Suddenly, Phil remembered the man before him
"You're Paul Livingston"
"Yeah. I stood up on the stand, and I told everyone that Mark couldn't have done it. But they didn't listen. And now my big brother's gone to jail for a crime he didn't commit!"
"None of this is my fault. Or Sam's for that matter."
"If she had arrested the right bloke, then she wouldn't be in this mess." Phil sighed, and knew now that there would be no talking to him. It wouldn't matter how many people told him Mark was guilty, or even if he confessed. He idolised him too much to care.
Sam parked her car on the 4th story of the deserted car-park, before getting out and wondering where the hell Phil had got to, and why he couldn't just have come to her, rather than the other way around. She was DI! Didn't that count for anything?
She heard him long before she saw him. He was deep in conversation with a masculine voice that seemed familiar to Sam. She walked towards the sound, climbing a set of stairs as she went. Phil's voice faded away as she walked, and she shouted out,
"Phil? You here?" when she didn't receive a response, her pace quickened, and she pushed open the door at the next level, and slid through it, only to walk straight into the barrel of a pistol.
"On your knees. Now!" the man she'd heard conversing with Phil growled and Sam instantly dropped down, knowing from his tone that he wouldn't hesitate to shoot
"Where's Phil?" she asked
"Here" she heard him reply from somewhere ahead of her, but she didn't dare raise her head to search for him, "I'm sorry Sam"
"Shut up!" her captor shouted, grabbing Sam's arm roughly and hauling across the room, throwing her loosely in front of Phil. She felt his hands slide over her waist, searching for her handcuffs, and when at last he found them, he chained her hands behind her back with them, much like Phil.
For the next half hour, they just sat in silence, waiting for him to decide on what he was to do with her. Sam didn't recognise him, and was unable to ask Phil, as any attempt she made to speak was instantly cut short by a threat. Phil seemed unable to sit still, and he spent his time fidgeting with the handcuffs, as if he could break out from them. Their guard knew this to be as futile as Sam did, and just left him too it while he paced.
Eventually the man's phone rang, and he went into the control person's room to answer it. Sam instantly turned to Phil,
"So what's going on?"
"He blames you for his brother getting sent down." Phil grunted, tugging at the handcuffs again
"What are you doing?"
"He didn't put these on right. I think I can get them off." Sam stared in disbelief. How difficult could it be to clip on a pair of handcuffs?
"Well hurry up then!" a few moments later, now that he could work unheeded, he was free from them, and rubbed his wrists sighing. Seconds later, he'd gotten Sam's key out, and unlocked hers as well.
"Now come on" he pulled her up, and led her in the opposite direction to their entrance. Inevitably, their disappearing backs were spotted through the glass windows, and Paul Livingston shouted at them to stop. When it became obvious they had no intention of doing that, several shots were fired in their direction.
Sam felt the urge to look back, but knew to do so would be fatal, so she forced herself onwards, allowing Phil to half drag her to safety. They ran down one floor, and then another. A final shot was fired, and she felt rather than saw Phil stumble in front of her. She stopped instantly, knowing it was probably suicide, but unable to go on without him.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking back worriedly
"Yeah, it's just a graze."
"Well come on then" she said, taking his hand, and helping him up with it. Spotting a stairwell, she helped him towards it, just as Livingston came to their level. Sam knew that with two floors to go, he would catch them before they were in public again, so she made a split second choice, and led Phil upwards, to their original floor, where her car was, and where their captor wouldn't suspect they would risk travelling to.
After what felt like hundreds of steps, Sam heard a door open below them, and the pants of Livingston filled the narrow staircase. She and Phil paused, remaining in their places silently, hoping he would expect them to go down instead of up. Luckily, he did just that, and Sam heaved a sigh as she heard him open the door at another level and disappear out of it. She stood to go again, but Phil held out a hand to stop her
"Can we just wait for a second, 'til I get my breath back?" she looked at him puzzled that he would choose this moment to become unfit.
"We're nearly there."
"Just a minute" he muttered, and there was something in the weariness of his tone, and the way he clutched at the so called 'graze' on his shoulder that made Sam suspicious.
"Phil, let me see your shoulder." She asked gently. He made no reply, to the affirmative or otherwise, so she took his hand and prized it from the site of the wound momentarily to view the damage. Blood was oozing from a gaping hole freely, and Sam felt ill at the sight of it.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's nothing" he said firmly, forcing himself to his feet again, "I'm fine"
"You're not fine, Phil!" she snapped, with more anger than she'd intended, "You're going to stay here, and I'll bring the car down to you."
"I'm not going to let you go out there, by yourself."
"What could you do anyway?" she asked, and he didn't answer, knowing that she was right. She turned to go, and he called after her,
"Hey, if you can't save my life this time, will you at least kiss me?" Despite the circumstances, she couldn't help but smirk at his comment.
"When we get out of this, I'll kiss you" she promised, only half meaning it.
"Hurry up then" was the last thing she heard him say before she ran up the remaining stairs, towards her car.
I was toying with the idea of killing Phil, but I assure you, he will be fine :D Aslong as you review, that is lol