Series 24, Episode 29: Going Under

Date: Monday 7th September 2009

Investigating Officers: DCI Jack Meadows, DI Sam Nixon, DS Stuart Turner, DC Hannah McKay


As the briefing ended and the briefing room quickly emptied, Hannah stood and moved to stand with the DI. Sam introduced her to DS Mayhew and she shook his hand with a warm smile. He asked whether she knew anything about antiques, chuckling when she repeated the statement she had made to Superintendent Heaton about all of her furniture coming from Ikea.

They wasted no time heading down to the club where Jack was meeting the suspects, clambering into the back of the van and watching as the DCI glanced in their direction before heading through the doors and into the club. Hannah hated the confined nature of observations, but she hoped it would be over quickly and then they could arrest both men.

It was a couple of minutes before Jack appeared on the screen again; the camera Hannah had hidden in Summers' office picking him up. They watched as Palmer searched him quickly. Sam had made the right call about bugging the office rather than the DCI. They continued to watch as the suspect moved around the desk and took a seat, talking to Jack about how important trust was.

"Oh god…" Hannah sucked her breath in through her teeth as, to prove that he was on the level, Palmer asked Jack to tell him about one of the pictures hanging on the wall.

"Come on, Jack…" Sam muttered, willing her superior to have some knowledge of the object.

"Jack's toast. He hasn't got a clue about paintings." DS Mayhew said, shaking his head.

Raising her radio, Sam shook her head. "I'm gonna call Trojan."

"Hold on… give me a minute." The man stopped her. "Get Jack on his mobile… I might be able to talk him through it."

"If you think it'll work…"

Looking slightly unconvinced, the DI pulled out her mobile and selected Jack's number, handing it to DS as soon as it started to ring. She glanced at Hannah, who shook her head slowly and shrugged, both of them hoping beyond hope that it was the right call.

"Jack, it's Ronnie. The painting you're looking at is by Giovanni Marano. That's Giovanni Marano… an eighteenth centaury painter who specialised in Venetian scenery." He told the DCI quickly. "Now, if the painting's genuine it could be worth eight to ten thousand, but there are a lot of copies made, so there's a good chance it's a fake… eighty-twenty in favour of it being a dud."

As Jack hung up and turned back to Palmer the trio inside the van held their breath. They watched on tenterhooks as the DCI reeled off the information he'd just been fed, before taking the gamble and claiming that it was the real deal and not one of the many fakes that had been made.

"Trojan from DI Nixon… move forward… prepare to deploy."

They received the message back that the Trojan Unit were in place and ready to go just as Palmer told Jack that he was correct. Collectively the three detectives in the observation van let out a sigh of relief.

Their relief didn't last long, however, as Palmer told Jack that Summers was waiting for them and led the way out of the office. The DCI looked directly into the camera and gave a sharp nod as he passed, signalling that he was alright. They switched cameras and watched as they walked over to the pool car and Jack opened the boot. He took out the bag of money before climbing into the truck with the suspect.

"All units from DI Nixon we have an off off off towards West Canley." Sam said into her radio as the truck pulled away from the curb. "Tony, you have tango one. Be discrete but stay tight on the target vehicle."

"Tango one has crossed Chiswick Road and is heading north up Peckett Street." Tony informed them. "Not much traffic… we'll have to back off now."

"Tony, we're on Steerman Road. D'you want us to take over?"

"All units, all units… we've lost visual contact. Target last seen heading east over the railway crossing on Tasker Street." Tony's voice crackled through the radio to them.

Sam and Hannah exchanged a worried look. "We're on our way."

They pulled up on Tasker Street a few minutes later and climbed out of the van. Sam ran to the car where Tony and Nate were sitting in a queue, opening the passenger's door and peering in.

"Sorry," Tony apologised, "there was nothing I could do. He ran the flashing lights. If I'd followed him we'd have got caught between the barriers."

"Alright… well, as soon as the barrier goes up you keep going in the direction you saw the target vehicle heading. If you see it, call it in. Don't make any moves until Trojan Unit are on scene." Sam ordered.

Stepping back as the barriers were raised, the three detectives watched as the car sped away. Running her hands through her hair, Hannah let out a long sigh. Her eyes drifted towards her friend and she saw that Sam was chewing on her lip nervously.

"OK." The DI seemed to pull herself together. "Hannah, circulate the details of the pickup and have every available unit fan out until we regain visual contact."

Nodding, the redhead walked briskly back to the van and put in a call to Gina, passing on the information and asking her to get everyone looking. The Inspector nodded and assured her that she would do it straight away. Then Hannah chewed her thumbnail, hoping that the Governor was alright and that their fear that he was in over his head would prove to be unfounded.

"I should have pulled the plug…" Sam sighed, shaking her head. "We should have agreed that if Summers wasn't there Jack walked."

"You know Jack as well as I do." Hannah reminded her gently. "He wouldn't have walked away. He wouldn't go for that."

"I'm his handler… I should have made him go for it." Her mobile started ringing and she answered it hurriedly. "Stuart? Yeah, what have you got?" There was a long pause before she spoke. "Frankham Road. Thank you, Stuart."

Hannah didn't need to be told to get back in the van. They piled in and sped off in the direction of the area where Jack's mobile had been traced too. Bouncing with nervous energy, Hannah felt as though the journey was taking far longer than it should have, but she knew perfectly well that it was only because she was worried about her superior's safety.

They pulled up outside a lock up at the same time as the CO19 Trojan Unit. Hannah followed the DI as she headed inside with one of the armed officers, moving quickly and staying hidden behind the crates and boxes that filled the space. Peering round the edge of one of the pillar-like stacks, Hannah caught Jack's eye and nodded sharply. He made no sign that he had seen her, but she knew that he had.

Darting sideways, the red head pressed her back against another stack of boxes, hearing her heartbeat in her ears as she held her breath. It felt like an age to her, just waiting for the DI to give the order and start moving in. She knew that, even when that happened, she would have to stay back until CO19 announced that it was clear and safe for the detectives to make their way forward.

"Sorry Jack…" Summers muttered, turning his back on the DCI. "Been nice doing business with you."

Taking that as her cue, Sam jumped out from her hiding place. "Police! Stay where you are!"

At her command, CO19 moved into action, swarming into the unit and shouting at the suspects. Jack, clearly enjoying his role too much to stand back, leapt at Palmer and tried to tackle the gun out of his hands. There was a struggle as the younger man refused to give the weapon up and Hannah felt as though she was going to be sick, watching the two men fighting for control.

Finally Jack, with the help of a couple of CO19 officers, managed to gain the upper hand and wrestle the gun away from Palmer. Breathing a sigh of relief, Hannah moved forwards with Sam and laid a hand on Jack's arm.

"Jack…"

"Sam… Hannah…"

Nodding her head towards the door, Sam wordlessly told her DC to take the DCI outside. Getting the hint, Hannah gently led the man towards the exit. He didn't argue, clearly slightly shaken by the drastic turn of events. They moved to sit on a low wall together, neither speaking for a couple of moments.

"You alright, Guv?" Hannah asked finally.

He nodded. "Fine…"

"You sound like me." She replied with a wry smile.

"Mmm…" Jack nodded again. "I suppose I do."

"Does this mean that next time I tell you I'm fine you won't argue with me?"

The DCI chuckled. "No. Because I know you won't be fine."

Hannah squeezed his arm. "You did a good job today, Guv."

"I think I aged Sam several years."

Laughing softly, the detective constable shrugged. "I'm sure she'll get over it." Then she paused. "I'm glad you're OK, Jack."

He smiled at her understandingly and patted the hand that was laid over his on his lap. They turned to look towards the lock up and Jack motioned his head towards it wordlessly. Nodding, Hannah slid off the wall and walked back towards the building with him. She stood aside to let CO19 officers escort the suspects out to the waiting vans, smirking with slight amusement as recognition dawned in Palmer's eyes as he walked past her.

"I'd almost given up on you." Jack told Sam as they re-joined her. "Well, not quite."

She rolled her eyes at him, all three of them turning as Mickey called the DCI. "Governor, you wanna have a look at this."

He set a blue holdall on a nearby box and opened it, pulling out a sawn-off shotgun. They looked at it closely, before the DI let out a low whistle. "Well, looks like we've found our murder weapon."

They headed back to Sun Hill, each of them keen to get back to the normality and stability of the station and, although Hannah couldn't believe she was thinking it, paperwork. After a quick debrief, Jack and Sam went down to the interview rooms to speak to Palmer and Summers, while the rest of the team were glad to head home.

As she was turning off her computer and picking up her bag, Hannah was startled by someone clearing their throat behind her. She turned, not really knowing who she expected it to be, but definitely not expecting the person who was smiling sheepishly at her.

"Hannah… I was wondering whether you fancied going for a drink with me?" DS Mayhew asked, blushing adorably.

"Oh…" She was just on the verge of turning him down, when she spotted Superintendent Heaton entering CID and heading straight for her. "OK… why not. A drink would be lovely."

A quick glance at the expression on Heaton's face was enough to tell Hannah that he had heard her words and she hurried out of CID without looking at him. The man walking beside her seemed to have grown in confidence at her acceptance of his offer and she found that he wasn't bad company, although she doubted whether she would see him again after that night.

While she was waiting at their table for Ronnie to return with their drinks, Hannah felt her mobile vibrating and hunted around in her bag for her mobile. She grinned when she read Stevie's name on the screen, opening the message and reading it quickly before typing a reply.

'I saw you sneaking out with fitty tweed jacket. I want details tomorrow. S x'

'It's just a drink. You-Know-Who was on his way to speak to me so I panicked and said yes. xx'

'Voldemort was at the station? ;) S x'

'You're such a nerd. I'll call you later and tell you all about it. xx'

Hannah was just pushing her phone back out of sight when the man returned. He set a glass of white wine down in front of Hannah and a red wine in front of himself. She barely stopped herself from raising an eyebrow at his choice of drink, unused to men who drank anything other than pints.

As the evening wore on, it became clearer and clearer that they had absolutely nothing in common. Hannah was even surer that it wouldn't go any further than a couple of drinks that evening. Ronnie was a nice enough bloke, but he really wasn't her type and she was sure that he was coming to the realisation that she wasn't his type either.

After a couple of drinks, Hannah thanked him and excused herself. Instead of heading straight home, she decided to go over to Stevie's for a couple of hours, mainly because she couldn't face the thought of going home to a house where the only people who spoke to her would already be fast asleep. The blonde was always more than happy to see her and Hannah needed that at that moment. She needed someone who wanted her around.