"Lorna. Ziggy." Ryan called across the room to a man and a woman who had just entered. Joe studied the two of them. Lorna was a woman in her mid-thirties, she was dark skinned and had long dark red hair that she had tied back in a ponytail. Ziggy was around the same age as her. He looked very strong and had pale skin and short sandy blond hair.
"The rest of Amethyst." Ryan said turning to Ron and Joe. "Lorna Briggs, one of the finest sketch artists you'll come across. Alfie 'Ziggy' Ederson, best teach guy you'll meet. Both of them, very good officers."
"Cut it, Ryan." Ziggy groaned. "Where's half-bite?"
"Yeah." Lorna interrupted. "You told she was going to be safe here?"
"I know. I know. I'm just as angry as you guys." Ryan sighed rubbing the back of his neck. "Applebee says to ensure Kate's safe return we have to release O'Riley and the rest of the gang from prison."
Lorna and Ziggy looked at each other with similar expressions of confusion and annoyance.
"What do we do?" They asked pretty much in unison.
"I don't want to let Kate down again." Ryan answered. Ron could see that he cared about Kate a lot, and that he wanted to find Kate as much as they all did.
"That accident wasn't your fault, Ryan." Lorna sighed putting her hand on her boss' arm. "Kate doesn't blame you for and if Scott…ever wakes up…he won't blame you either."
"I know that…but Kate is like a daughter to and Scott…he had a family…"
"We will bring Kate back alive, we're not going to let Appplebee kill her." Ziggy said. "She's pretty much our little sister, Applebee is gonna get his arse kicked when we find him."
"Well that makes like seven of us." Joe said getting to his feet.
Lorna looked at him and Ron. "Little half-bite made a life for herself here didn't she?"
"She's got a boyfriend and everything." Ryan chuckled under his breath.
Lorna smiled. "Someone that isn't a nutter or something to do with the government, wow, I'm so proud."
Ryan rubbed his neck again "Do you guys remember anything from the O'Riley case about anywhere they used to work?"
They shook their heads. "We never worked out where they operated from."
"We never even got close?"
"We narrowed it down to a closed area from the hospital to an accounting company…called ClearWater or something…"
Ryan looked at one of the maps that Ron had on his desk. "Where are you Kate?"
XxX
Kate woke up, her neck aching with stiffness. She opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. It almost made her feel sick to see she was still in the room Applebee was holding her in. She remembered going to sleep in the chair, he must've moved her to an old sofa in the corner of the room. She didn't understand him, one moment he was telling her he wouldn't hurt her, next he was threatening to kill her then he was moving her from a hard chair to the slightly more comfortable sofa She sighed heavily, she felt dreadful. Her head was pounding and the dust and damp was getting to her lungs. She coughed pushing herself into a sitting positon, this was not the time to start getting ill.
She looked to the door, there was a slither of light coming in from underneath it, she'd been in the dark for a long time now, and her eyes had adjusted to it. There was only one light in the room she was in and there was no bulb in it. She wondered if this was really where Applebee had been for the past three years, she wondered just how far the tunnels went.
She thought back to when she was with Amethyst and they were trying to find where the O'Riley gang was based. They had it narrowed down, but only into a small section from the hospital to the ClearWater accounting company. The same hospital where Scott Monroe still fought for his life, where he clung onto it not ready to go. If only there was some way of telling her old gang they were so close to finding her.
She slowly got to her feet, her increased headache making her feel dizzy. Slowly she walked to the cork board that Brandon had become so fixated on the day before, she'd been at the other side of the room so hadn't been able to see what was on it. There were newspaper clipping all over it, photographs too. There was a photograph of her and underneath there was what seemed to be some kind of profile.
'Katherine Barker, born 19thDecember 1986, youngest of two children. Lived in the family home till June 2001. Put into care by alcoholic father. Next appearance on records. May 14th2012 lead defence barrister on Holland trial.'
Kate smirked, of cause there was no records of her from being approached by Ryan Doyle to her becoming a defence barrister. She carried on reading.
'Friends; Ronald 'Ronnie' Brooks, DS, recovering alcoholic. Joe Hawkins, DS, grew up in care. Natalie Chandler, DI, little family. Jacob 'Jake Thorne', Kate's boyfriend, weakness unknown.'
Kate put her hands to her mouth, not only had Brandon been stalking her, he'd also been finding everything he could out about her friends. The only people who cared about not just because she had grown up around them. The people who loved her and had welcomed her in a time where she thought she was alone. She felt anger raging through her blood, he'd been trying to find their weaknesses. She noted that he hadn't found one for Jake yet. She herself couldn't think of any either. Jake was one of the strongest, bravest men she knew, but he was also stoic, she remembered how when they'd first met he'd dismiss any emotion he felt the moment it present itself.
She saw a newspaper clipping about the two of them and a trial they had won. The journalist called them a 'great team' and said that they 'played off each other in court to secure a sound conviction and get justice for the victim's family'. They did work well together, they always had. Even if they hadn't wanted to admit it to start with. But after long nights of going over case notes and drinking coffee till the sun came up somewhere along the line she'd fallen for the person she never thought she would.
She rested her bound hands on the board to support herself as she felt tears prick her eyes. Brandon knew her as a government officer, someone who was tough and would keep fighting until there was no fight left in them. However he wasn't there, and she'd spent the last three years being someone who wasn't afraid of letting their heart rule their head. She took a deep breath to stop herself from breaking down completely in uncontrollable sobs. She didn't know what to do. She was scared of what Brandon might do, he was becoming so unpredictable. She was scared for her friend because she knew if she had never hidden from Brandon amongst them, they wouldn't be in danger. All she wanted was for it all to be over.
"Miss Katherine." His stern voice made her jump. "What are you doing?"
"You've been stalking my friends too?"
He didn't answer. "I've spoken to Doyle again, we're going to meet him in an hour. He tries to pull anything…someone will die…"
She swallowed. "They won't release the others, they just won't it doesn't work like that."
Again he didn't answer her. "We leave in ten minutes."
XxX
AN: Sorry that took so long to update, hectic life at the moment and the only thing keeping me sane is reading fics, well rereading because there isn't many but I'm done with mocks now apart from RE but I'm fine with that so hopefully I should be quicker updating. thanks for reading as always, I can't believe I've done eight chapters and not given up, I'm actually liking one. I hope you're enjoying reading it to. xxx please review, it makes my day.
