Over an hour had passed since her last conversation with Robertson, yet Graves had ordered Dex to do one more sweep of the town. It was a feeling more than anything that had her disobeying Robertson's instruction to head out of town if they hadn't found any sign of them within an hour. It was risky and she'd cop it if it backfired on her, but she was prepared to take the heat. After all, Robertson had always told her to trust her instincts and that's exactly what she was doing.

She smiled wryly to herself. Of course he wouldn't see it that way. He'd tear strips off her if she fucked this up, and she wouldn't really blame him. This had gone on long enough and the pressure was building with every passing minute, and as senior officer, Robertson would be the one having to deal with the consequences of losing a witness, along with Nick.

"How much longer?" Dex asked.

Before Graves could answer, her phone went. She breathed a sigh of relief at not seeing Robertson's number on the screen.

"Graves," she said in reply.

"We just got a report of a disturbance at the Holder's Veterinary Surgery," Const. Garner told her.

"What sort of disturbance?" she asked.

"A heated argument between two women and a man," replied Teri. "The caller also said there's a window that's wide open and she swears she saw a rifle. It sounds like it could be the people we're after."

"Ok, give me the address and we'll be right there."

"I'm already on my way," said Teri. "I'll meet you there."


Finding the lock a little more difficult to pick than expected, Brodie was still working on it when the door suddenly flew open. He looked up in surprise.

"What the!" he said, succumbing to the tranquiliser before he even knew what had happened.

"Like I said, just in case we needed to deal with them in silence," Charlie whispered with a smug smile as she reloaded the tranquiliser gun.

"If we had the time, I'd kiss you right now," Joey said, then realised she'd said it aloud by the look on Charlie's face. "Just forget it," she mumbled.

"Let's just get the fuck out of here," Charlie said, just as Hayley opened fire from the other side of the building. "Fuck me," she murmured when she heard the commotion behind them. "I hope the animals will be ok."

"They're in the room furthest from her," Joey told her. "They should be fine."

"God I really do hope someone has called the cops by now," she said.

"I'd say so," said Joey. "But we can't hang around here waiting for them."

"Yeah, not after you pissed off a couple of psychotic women like that."

"Hey, it distracted them, didn't it?" Joey said, checking to make sure the coast was clear. "At least long enough to get out of there."

"I suppose so," Charlie murmured, still hoping that the cops would miraculously show up before they had to run, even knowing that Joey was wishing the opposite.

"This is our best chance Charlie, let's not waste it."


Pee Wee, having left those lunatics to make their mess, came around the side of the building to find his friend lying prone on the ground and the backs of two women fleeing in the distance.

"You fucking bitches!" he shrieked, all sense of discipline gone. He was too fucking pissed off and sore to worry about the cops or Brax. All he wanted was revenge for the hassles those dumb whores had caused him. Abandoning his prone mate, Pee Wee set off after Charlie and Joey.


"Hails, stop," Tegan said.

"Why, you worried about your lover being hurt," her girlfriend snidely replied, and fired off another round.

"Would you give it a rest, Hails," Tegan snapped. "I just heard Pee Wee yelling."

"So?"

"So, I think he was yelling at our targets."

Hayley lowered the gun when she realised what her girlfriend was getting at. "Shit."

"Shits right," said Tegan. "I think they've done a runner."

"Damn it, I want that bitch dead," she snarled nastily.

"And you'll get that wish," Tegan assured her.

"Really?"

"I promise baby," Tegan said, circling her arms around Hayley's waist. "I will personally kill Joey myself, and make it as painful as possible if it will prove to you once and for all, that you're the woman I love, and only you."

"I want to be there when you do it."

"You can help if you want."

Hayley smiled, and it was a cold, ugly smile that turned Tegan on. Tegan leant in and kissed her. It was quick, but deep and the look in Hayley's eyes when their lips parted was far more welcoming that it was a few minutes ago. It was a start, and if she followed through on her promise, she and Hails would be as strong as ever, and this little misunderstanding would be in the past.

"I'll follow them, you get the car, and try to cut them off from the other direction," Tegan told her. "Then we take them, get the hell away from all these cops, and then you can ask me to do whatever you want to them, and I'll do it."

"Thank you baby," Hayley said, then rushed back to the car while Tegan set off after their quarry.


It didn't take long for Joey to realise that she and Charlie had become separated during their hasty flight. It must have happened when they'd jumped into one of the yards and a dog had gone at them. Both of them had just bolted, obviously in differently directions.

"We really do have to work on that," she muttered, her injured shoulder aching from the strain she'd subjected it to as she kept on the path she'd taken. Charlie knew what the plan was, so she just had to trust that Charlie would find her way there, and then if there was no sign of Charlie after a short time, she'd just have to go back and find her, because there was no way in hell Joey was going to leave her behind, especially after all of this.

So Joey just ran, all the while keeping an eye out for their pursuers, and a car she could steal, and hoping like hell that Charlie would be there when she got there.


Charlie had kept running, even after she'd noticed Joey was no longer at her side, she just kept going, knowing that if anyone could get out of this, Joey could, and so all Charlie had to do, was keep running toward their destination, and Joey would be there waiting for her. She better be waiting for her, she thought, because for all her anger at Joey over the day's revelations, she loved her too much to see any harm come to her. Charlie nearly tripped over at those words. She'd known the truth, yet she hadn't said the words directly, either to Joey or even really in her own thoughts, not like that, and now that she had, it made her even more determined to run toward Joey. She needed to tell her before it was too late.


"The animals were all unharmed, but the front of the place is a right mess," Teri Garner informed them the moment Graves and Dex arrived on the scene. "It must have been a bloody big gun to cause that damage," she said. "I already sent an alert to be careful when apprehending them."

"Good work," said Graves. She looked at the ground near their prisoner. "Is that a tranq dart?"

"Yep, it was found near his body," Teri replied. "He's out cold," she told them. "This is one of them, isn't it?"

Graves nodded. "This is Brodie Upton, usually accompanied by Peter Wilson, aka, Pee Wee," Graves said. "They go way back with the Braxtons, right back to when they were just a gang of thugs."

"Then this is a good catch."

"A very good catch, especially if we can get him to talk," replied Graves. "Make sure he's secured both in the ambulance and at the hospital," she told her. "And once he's given the all clear, take him straight to the Station."

"What if he asks for a lawyer?"

"Get him one," said Graves. "We don't want to give his defence any ammunition of impropriety on our part, especially with all this talk of corrupt officers," she said. "We do this absolutely by the book."

"Will do," said Teri.

Graves nodded to her again, then turned to one of the other officers, a Const. Hogan. He was like a giant next to her, yet he didn't use his size to intimidate her.

"Any word on their whereabouts?" she asked him.

"Yeah, they were seen running in that direction," he replied, pointing that way.

"What's in that direction?"

"If they keep going straight, then it's a couple of blocks of houses, before heading into the bush," Hogan told her. "It's pretty heavy bush, especially in this fading light, and since they're not locals, they could easily get lost in there unless they stick to the tracks."

"They were on foot, right?"

"Yes. We located one car at the end of the street and another one here, which had blood on the seat," he said. "We haven't received any reports of any missing cars in the neighbourhood, so we assume they're still on foot."

"Ok, if they remain on foot, then hopefully it won't be long before we can catch up to them."

"Avery and Fitzgerald are already following their trail."

"Good," said Graves. "Now, you said there was blood in the car?"

"That's right. It matches the description of the car that sideswiped the pole," he replied. "There's bullet holes in it and the blood is on the driver's seat."

"That could explain the sideswipe then," said Graves. "So, one of them is injured," murmured Graves. Which one was it, Charlie or Joey? Graves shook her head. This was both good and bad news. Bad if it was a serious injury, but good in that it might be enough to slow them down. They needed these women found before they were hurt any further, and before innocent bystanders got caught in the middle. Graves glanced at her watch. And preferably before Robertson arrived, which gave them less than 30 minutes to achieve this.


Charlie slowed as she came to the tree line.

"Joey," she called out barely above a whisper. She felt stupid, because Joey wouldn't be able to hear her even if she was here. Charlie looked around. There was no sign of Joey and she felt too exposed standing out here like this, so she stepped across the tree line into the bushes.


Pee Wee smiled. His luck really was turning around today. He thought he'd lost them, only to catch a glimpse of the cop, all alone. He'd rather know where Joey was so he wouldn't have to watch his back, but on the other hand, it was going to be so much easier dealing with the cop on her own. He was going to enjoy silencing her.


"Fuck," Joey huffed as she'd had to divert from the path she'd been on to avoid a passing cop car. This was not the time to be held up by the cops, not when Charlie was still out there on her own, but it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to make her way to where she hoped Charlie was waiting. "Please wait for me, Charlie," she murmured as she darted down another path.


Under the failing light, it was even darker in here, and it was as scary as fuck. Charlie was a city girl, not used to the sounds of the bush and those sounds were freaking her out the further she went in. A twig snapped. Was that her foot on the twig or was someone else here?

"Joey," she whispered.

"Sorry, but Joey ain't coming to your rescue this time," Pee Wee said and Charlie swung around. She groaned when she saw the gun in his hand. This could very well be the end for her. "I already took care of her."

"I don't believe you," Charlie said.

"I did her nice and quick," he said with a voice full of such conviction that Charlie's own wavered. Joey couldn't be dead, she just couldn't. "You, I'm going to do nice and slow."

"Why, what have I ever done to you?"

"You got involved in something that was none of your business," he replied. "Oh, and I just don't like cops," he said. "Unless I'm fucking them up the arse," he sniggered, grabbing his crotch for effect.

"I didn't know you were gay," Charlie said.

"I'm not a fucking poof," he snapped.

Joey was right about these people, they had short fuses and were easily distracted, so she might as well try the same tactic, and if it failed, well, then maybe he'd be so pissed off as to kill her quickly and spare her the torture.

"You just said you liked fucking them up the arse."

"Fucking bitches up the arse," he said. "Do you think I'd waste this cock on a fairy? Oh no, this is purely a pussy drilling cock."

"If you're getting them up the arse, then you're obviously aiming for the wrong hole."

"You fucking bitch, I'll do you just like I've done those other cop bitches on our payroll."

"Yeah, right."

"Oh, believe me, I've done my share of cops, some willing, some not so willing, but they all took it just the same, because once they're working for us, we own their arses, just as we own their loyalty."

"Even Watson?"

"Oh yeah, I love her best when she's taking it up the arse while gobbing down on another cock, and having another stuck in her pussy," he boasted. "No complaining from her mouth, just the sounds of hard fucking and enjoyment from taking three big cocks at once," he said.

"I thought she was gay."

"She is, but like I said, we own their arses, including hers, and if I want it, I take it," he told her. "Watson is a particular favourite of mine, because she can take every inch of my cock in whatever hole I stick it in. She really is a deep throat," he cackled.

"Is that right Watson?" Charlie said. "You let him use you like a sex toy whenever he wants it?"

Pee Wee threw back his head and laughed at her. "Don't play that 'oh look, she's behind you' game, I'm not an idiot," he said.

"She really is behind you."

"No she's fucking not," he said. "And even if she were, that would make it two to one against you, you dumb bitch, now on your fucking knees."

"Why?"

He just smirked at her and Charlie shivered at the predatory expression on his face.

"Watson, please don't let him do this."

"Oh just shut the fuck up about Watson," Pee Wee said. "It's just the two of us here, now on your fucking knees, bitch," he said. "I'm about to silence you, then shoot you."