As always, big thank you's to Serenbex and HMbookqueen :)
Harriet parked the car just after the entrance to the alley where she knew they'd be hidden from the street lights. She glanced around and sighed; they'd only been out of the station for twenty minutes and the woman had already been tempted to throw Max out of the car at least three times. If he wasn't snapping at her or making snide comments, he was sitting in the passenger seat making unimpressed noises.
"Sierra Oscar from Sierra Oscar 2-1, in position." The radio operator confirmed he'd heard and, in quick succession, the other units confirmed they were in position.
Almost half an hour passed before the silence between the two Sergeants was broken. "What's the deal with you and Stone, then?"
Harriet turned to face Max sharply. "What you talking about?"
"There's definitely something going on between you two."
Harriet glared at the detective, her mind racing with how Max could have found out about her relationship with Callum. Smithy finding out was one thing but Max knowing was something else entirely. "There isn't."
"So he kisses all of the females in uniform, does he?" The triumphant smirk on Max's face made the brunette growl and she turned in her seat to focus on the road ahead.
"It's none of your business."
"Surely it compromises you both to have a relationship with another officer?"
Harriet's mouth dropped open angrily. "Neither of us are compromised."
"I mean, surely it means that, if anything happened, Callum's instinct would be, as your boyfriend, to protect you and not his relief."
"This is ridiculous!" Harriet snapped. "Callum's instinct would be to protect the team around him, whether I'm there or not."
"If you say so."
"What is your problem?" Harriet whirled round to face the detective angrily and leaned towards him. "Is it because im happy with Callum and you've got no one? Is that it? Are you jealous?"
Max's eyes flashed angrily and he leaned towards the woman, their faces only inches apart. To the brunette's surprise, his eyes flickered towards her lips before moving back up to her eyes. "I'm not jealous."
"Why the sudden interest in my love life, then?" Harriet moved back and shuffled in her seat, Max's actions making her feel uncomfortable.
"Do you not think the relief are gonna have something to say about you and Callum? Or Rachel?" Harriet chewed her lip at Max's words. "You know what the Met's view of relationships between colleagues is." Harriet wished she could say that that thought hadn't crossed her own mind but she knew deep down that everyone would have something to say about her relationship with Callum.
"I don't give a shit what anyone else thinks." Harriet glared at the smug looking detective and folded her arms across her chest. "It's my life and I'll be damned if I let some know-it-all tell me what to do or who to see."
"Very romantic, you two put Romeo & Juliet to shame."
"Oh fuck off, Max."
Shuffling in her seat, the woman ignored the detective beside her and stared out of the car window, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. Suddenly there was a thud as something landed on the bonnet of the car heavily and both officers shared a confused look.
"Sierra Oscar 2-1 from DI Nixon, have you got eyeball on an IC1 male in a black leather jacket and black jeans, last seen running towards the woodland."
Harriet threw open the car door and sprinted round to the bonnet as the figure moved. Without warning, he turned and sprinted into the woodland, the two officers closely behind him.
"Sierra Oscar from Sierra Oscar 2-1, currently in pursuit of an IC1 male wearing black jeans and a black leather jacket, urgent back up required."
The brunette, noticing Max had disappeared from sight, frowned and continued following the suspect through the trees. Ducking under a particularly low branch, the Sergeant gasped as her foot hit a rock and she stumbled, landing on the floor in a heap.
Pushing herself onto her elbows, she climbed to her knees as a heavy weight landed on top of her. Gasping for breath as the weight trapped her to the ground, she attempted to press the panic button on her radio desperately.
"Give me the radio!" Harriet groaned as she realised that the suspect was the one pinning her to the ground. When Harriet didn't move, he pressed his weight down on the back of her neck and she gasped for air.
Shuffling slightly underneath his body weight, she slowly slid the device from her stab vest and held it up for the man to grab. "Look, just… Let me stand-up."
"What, so you can arrest me?"
"Well they won't have no choice but to arrest you if you squash me to death!" The brunette snapped.
Harriet hesitated, waiting to see whether the man would do as she asked and, after a few seconds, he moved off the brunette slowly. Turning, the brunette opened her mouth to speak to the man looming above her but, before she could, the man slammed his fist into the side of her cheek before standing up and sprinting away further into the trees.
Harriet gasped, feeling the metallic taste of blood trickling over her tongue and she scrambled to her feet, attempting to follow the suspect's route through the woodland. Spotting a shed just ahead of her that she thought he'd headed towards, she clutched her cheek gently and hobbled over the tree roots.
Just as she reached the shed, a gun shot went off in the distance and she jumped, spinning round wildly to see where the sound had come from. Realising the sound was too far away for the gun to be anywhere near her, she turned to make her way back through the woodland towards where she knew everyone else was stationed and crashed straight into someone stood behind her. Grabbing her asp from her belt, she waved it out wildly in front of her.
"What the- What you playing at?" Max grabbed the brunette's asp from her hand and shone his torch over her face causing the brunette to wince at the bright light. "What happened to your cheek?"
"Oh, it's you." Harriet folded her asp and replaced it in her belt. "I got lamped by the suspect."
"Joe Rigby?"
"Whichever one we chased." Harriet sighed deeply. "I've lost him now anyway so fat lot of good it did."
"Uniform picked him up about five minutes ago on the outskirts of the wood." Max frowned. "Didn't you hear it on your radio?"
"He took it from me. I tripped over a tree root and landed on the floor and then he pinned me to the ground." Harriet slowly followed the detective back the way she'd come.
"So you haven't heard what's happened?"
Harriet stopped and turned to face the man in puzzlement. "What you talking about?"
"At the warehouse? You've no idea what's gone on?"
Harriet suddenly felt her stomach drop and she grabbed the man's arm tightly. "Max, what's happened?" The detective sighed uncomfortably and Harriet tightened her grip on the man's arm. "Max!"
"It's Callum… He's been stabbed"
So, this is the penultimate chapter in Falling Slowly, therefore the next chapter will be the final one!