The smell of cooked breakfast wafted into the room where Lindsay was busy getting ready. She looked at the clock for the first-time after getting up. It was nearing 10am and Lindsay had spent the better part of the hour packing her belongings back into her suitcase. The room was clean now. The bed was made, the wardrobe doors closed and her makeup removed from the desk. A stark contrast to the mess it was in when they were busy trying to find Carly. Most of that time had been spent at the station and anytime spent at the caravan was to eat or sleep, entirely focused on the case. Trying to find Carly and bring her home, but now she was or was going back and Lindsay could go back to work in AC-12. Spending her time focusing on catching bent cops and routing out the criminal underworld attached to them. Especially now since she saw what they did to Carly. Every minute spent in jail wondering how she would orchestrate their downfall when she got out and how she could help Carly and every other victim get out from under their filthy hands. She finished doing up the final buttons of her shirt, grabbed her suitcase and wheeled it out of the room and into the kitchen.

"Something smells good." Lindsay said, placing down her suitcase and walking over to him.

He reached out to her, put his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek.

"Good because it's nearly ready."

"Is Carly up yet?"

"No, she hasn't been out. I did shout but I don't think she heard me."

"I'll do it. You plate the food up."

Lindsay turned away from Tom and opened the door to Carly's room. She could see the girl still fast asleep under the covers. She leaned over and lifted the cover off her foot, grabbed it and gave it a shake.

"Carly, it's past 10am. You need to get up. We need to leave soon. We need to meet the police escorts at the station."

"10 more minutes. Please." Lindsay could hear Carly's muffled voice from under the cover.

"No. Now!" Lindsay left the room and came back with some of Carly's dry clothes for her to wear. She placed them on the bed beside Carly. "I'll leave these here for you to change into but I want to see you ready and dressed and out here in 5. Breakfast is ready and it will get cold."

She could hear the girl huff under the covers at the directions she was given. She replaced the cover on the bed and left the room closing the door behind her. Noticing Tom sitting at the dining room table with the plates already placed down she went and sat beside him.

"How is she?"

"She'll be out soon. How are the police convoy arrangements coming along?"

"Good. We'll go to the station and meet them there and then you will travel with them until you meet the border and then you'll be met by your constabulary who will then drive you back. Don't worry it's all sorted."

"Good."

At that moment the door behind Lindsay opened as Carly came out of her room, now dressed and ready to face the day. She was holding Lindsay's folded clothes in her hands.

"What should I do with these?" She asked.

"You can keep them. Pass them to me and I'll put them into your bag. Sit down and eat."

Lindsay got up from the table and took the clothes from Carly. Carly took her place at the table and started to eat the breakfast prepared for her. Lindsay walked over to the sofa and started to pick Carly's clothes off of the clothes horse, fold them and put them in her bag. She placed the bag on the floor to zip it up and saw the plastic bag from yesterday. She picked it up.

"I found this in your bag yesterday."

Carly looked up from the table towards Lindsay. Her mouth agape. She had no idea how to explain how the events of the last few days came to be.

"We already know. The petrol station manager has been interviewed. We understand why you did it but we are going to have to go there to apologise to him and explain why you did it, give them his property back and hope that he drops the complaint. You understand?"

Carly nodded. "Sorry."

Lindsay came back to the table. "I want you to understand that there's no need to do that now or anything you ever did before for those men. They're adults and shouldn't be treating you like that. It's illegal and wrong and their conduct is disgraceful. You're a teenager Carly. You should be worrying about boys your own age, working towards getting into university and choosing a prom dress. You shouldn't be growing up before your time or having to do anything illegal to survive. I'll do everything in my power to help you get out. OK."

Carly nodded, tears visibly running down her face. Lindsay stood up and went around to the other side of the table. She sat down beside Carly and pulled her into her arms to give the young girl a comforting hug. Carly accepted and rested her head under Lindsay's chin. Lindsay rubbing small circles on her back to try and calm her down. They soon split apart and Carly dried her tears.

"We're going to pack the car. You finish eating your breakfast. We will come and get you when we're finished."

Lindsay and Tom stood up and started to get everything together for the journey. Carly joined them soon after leaving the breakfast dishes in the basin, which Tom would wash later when he got back. A short while later, with all their belongings collected, Tom locked up the caravan and got into the passenger side of Lindsay's car where Lindsay and Carly were ready and waiting on him. Lindsay pulled away; the trio ready and eager to start the short journey to the station and the long journey home.

It was a few minutes later when they arrived on the B road heading towards the city centre. Traffic on the road was light and had barely, if any, cars. It was after the breakfast time rush and the lunchtime holiday traffic hadn't started to build just yet. They were getting closer to the centre now. The tree lined road going steadily by the window. As they turned the corner of the road, both Tom and Lindsay spotted a car driving towards. It was on the other side of the road so they weren't too worried at first but it went over the speed limit and was quickly accelerating towards them. It was within touching distance within seconds and had veered across the road into her lane. There was no time to tell the others to react, she did what she knew, what she expected other more experienced coppers who had an advanced driving certificate to do, what she did that fateful day when her world had broken apart, she grabbed the steering wheel tightly and made a sharp left turn. The green of the bushes was all they could see in her windscreen and suddenly the front of the car was inside it. She was sure she blacked out for a second because when she opened her eyes her face was leaning on the steering wheel. She groggily picked up her head and a searing pain came through it. She placed a hand on her temple to try and stem it but it didn't seem to work. Her vision became blurred and tried to move in her seat but was pinned in place by the seatbelt. She turned to her left and put her arm out to Tom who was sat beside her. She shook him gently but he didn't move, his face firmly planted on the dashboard. Blood dripping down his face from what she could only expect to be from a broken nose. She lifted her head up to look in the front mirror of the car to see if she could see Carly sitting behind her but she could only see the seatbelt stretched forward. She could only expect that Carly was still in it but had been thrown forward into the gap between the seat. She saw a flash on her right from outside. She turned her head as quickly as she could to see what was going on. She wanted to get out and shout at the other driver who caused this but she couldn't. She hoped that they were still there and that they were coming over to see if they needed help. What she didn't expect to see was a man in a motorcycle helmet quickly striding over to the car. Her neck was in pain, she turned her head back around and sat straight in the seat looking out towards the bush they were firmly planted in. The backdoor opened. She could hear Carly's seatbelt unclick and screaming. She wanted to calm the girl, expected the screaming to be down to something she had broken while in the accident but the screams grew louder but at the same time quieter. She turned her head quickly to the right to look out her side window. In a matter of seconds Carly had been taken out of the car and was currently being dragged backwards across the road. This wasn't someone coming to help, it quickly clicked in Lindsay's head that this was a kidnapping. She quickly turned back to Tom who was of no help as he was still out cold. She forcefully pushed down on her seatbelt and after a couple of pushes it gave way. She pulled the lever to the door and pushed herself out only to find herself on the tarmac. She had fallen out and pushed herself off the ground. The next few steps she stumbled across the road to the car that had caused this. She threw a hand down on the bonnet to steady herself and upon looking up she found herself staring at someone she never expected to see again.

"Dot." She gasped.

Lindsay looked behind him now in the car and could see Carly being tightly grasped by a muscular white male in his 40s. She looked back to Dot who was in the driver's seat and suddenly the car had moved from under her. Dot had put the car in reverse and she had stumbled forward, her body trying to keep her balance. She stumbled forward, her body trying to keep her balance. Dot put the car into first and pressed on the pedal. The car sped forward and that's all Lindsay could see as she hit the front bonnet and blacked out. Tom watched from his view at the back of the car as Lindsay went up the bonnet, rolled over the top of the car and came down to the ground with a sickening crack. The vehicle sped away as Tom made his way over to Lindsay, as quickly as he could due to the pain in his ankle. He brushed the hair from her face and saw as her eyes were tightly shut, blood now pooling around her head. He quickly went into the pocket of his jacket in search for his phone and when he found it, he quickly dialled 999. Relaying the information of what had just happened to the operator who then dispatched an ambulance to his location. He heard the sirens in the distance, quiet but getting louder as they drove closer. He looked down at Lindsay and hoped she could hang on long enough.

As the ambulance arrived, so did the traffic police and his team after they heard what had happened. He watched as the paramedics quickly got out the ambulance and ran over to Lindsay to help out. He stepped back to let them get on with it. Mared, Sian and Llyod got out of their vehicle and ran over to Tom. He was in a daze and could not hear anything that anyone was saying to him. Just watching everyone around him but not taking anything in.

"Tom." Mared shook him by the shoulders

He snapped out of it. He looked at her.

"What happened?" She asked

"Carly's been kidnapped."

The trio looked at each other in horror at the revelation.

"Is this man coming with us?" The paramedic asked.

"Yes. He is." Mared shouted back.

"Tom, I need you to go to the hospital. I'll be here trying to make sense of it all. Most of all, be there for Lindsay. OK?"

"I'll come to the hospital to get your statement sir." Llyod ran to the car and got inside it. Getting ready to follow the ambulance to the hospital.

Tom nodded and turned towards the ambulance. Pulling himself into the back, he took a seat beside Lindsay. She had come to mean so much to him in the past few days. He took one of her hands in his and kissed it. Silently praying to whoever for out there to make her better and keep her safe. The doors of the ambulance shut and soon they were on their way to the hospital. Arriving a few minutes later. The doors of the ambulance opened when they arrived. Tom made his way down from it with a little help from the paramedic. He watched as Lindsay was wheeled into the emergency department and followed her until he was stopped by a nurse.

"You need to wait here sir. "You're in need of some medical attention. You'll be able to find her later. Someone will come to collect you but for now wait here." She passed him some hankies for his bleeding nose and went on her way. Tom took a seat in the A&E waiting room and pressed the tissues to his nose. Wanting the mess that he had just found himself to be over already. He spotted Llyod at the door and motioned him over and the younger man took a seat beside him, getting his notebook out.

"Can I ask what happened today sir?"

"Myself, Lindsay and Carly got dressed, fed and ready for 10:20. We left the caravan in Lindsay's Audi and drove the B road down into the town. Lindsay was going to drop me off at work before her and Carly were going to go back to Birmingham. We were driving the speed limit and had just passed the crematorium when a green Landrover drove towards us at an incredible speed. It crossed the road into our lane and Lindsay took a sharp left turn to get out of its path. We ran into the bushes at the side of the road and when I came to Lindsay and Carly were not in the car. I got out just in time to see Lindsay shout at the driver and then go over the top of the car. I expect Carly was inside and that she was trying to get to her.

"Any idea of the plate sir?" Llyod asked.

"It was a 14 plate but that's all I remember."

"What did she shout when she was in front of the car sir?"

"Dot. It seemed like she knew him."

"Thank you for this, sir. I'll go back to the station to update the others. I hope she gets better Sir."

"Thanks, Llyod."

Lloyd got up from where he was sitting and left Tom alone again in the waiting room. Hoping that it wasn't going to be long until he was seen.

It was into the afternoon when he got to see Lindsay again. Tom's injuries were dealt with a while ago and he had just been waiting on the news that she was going to be ok. He was shown into her private room on a recovery ward. She had been rushed into surgery from the minute they arrived and had only just come out. The doctor had told him the diagnosis, she had a broken arm which was now fitted with pins in it to keep it together. Stitches on her head to close a nasty cut that she had gotten from hitting the vehicle and a possible concussion but they wouldn't know more about that until she had woken up. The nurse told him to take a seat beside her and talk to her, which he did. She also said that talking to her might help her out. She wouldn't respond but she may be able to hear and that's what he did. He took a seat at her bedside and took her hands in his. She looked even more fragile than she had at the crash scene. She was now in a hospital dressing down. An oxygen mask on her face. Routine beeping of the monitor she was attached to filled the room. It saddened him to see her like this.

"Hi Lindsay, you gave me quite a fright out there. The doctors say that you will be ok, that you will wake up soon and I'm glad to hear that. The team is out there now searching for Carly. We were so close to the finish line, so close to getting her home but you don't need to worry about that, you just need to focus on getting better. I will be here to help you with that, a bit broken and bruised but you are the same way. That doesn't mean anything bad though, because it means we're fighters, that we can get through this and we will. Don't stop fighting Lindsay, because I won't either. I'll be here for you because I love you Lindsay Denton. You've come to mean so much to me and I hope you feel the same way too."

As he came to the end of his confession, he noticed he was crying. He took his hand and wiped them from his face. A knock on the door brought him out of his own world and he tried to make himself as professional as possible.

"DCI Mathias?" The figure spoke.

"Who's asking?"

The man took his police ID from his pocket.

"I'm DS Steve Arnott from AC-12. I drove from Birmingham as soon as I heard the news"

"You're from Lindsay's team?" Tom asked.

"Yes, I am. How's she doing?"

"The doctors have done MRI's and CT scans and they've come back clear. They seem to think that she will be ok but we won't know for sure until she wakes up. She got the broken arm from the fall off of the car. She's strong. A fighter."

"She is. That's our Lindsay."

A moan and a couple of coughs came from the bed. Both men turned around to look to where it was coming from. Lindsay was now awake. She took the oxygen mask down from her face.

"Hi Lindsay, how are you feeling?" Tom asked.

"Sore." She said.

"That's to be expected."

"Do you know where you are currently?" Steve asked.

"Hospital? Steve, is that you?"

"It is. When Hastings got the news, he told me to come and see you, see how you are."

"I'm glad he cares." Lindsay laughed.

Lindsay could hear where the voices were coming from but she couldn't see them. She tried to open her eyes but they were stiff and heavy. She threw her right arm out and grabbed onto Tom's arm.

"Tom, I can't see. Tom, I can't see."

Tom quickly turned around and hit the button for the nurse, using his other hand to run it over her face in a comforting manner, trying to calm her down.

"It's ok Lindsay, calm down. The nurse is on her way."

It didn't take long as less than a minute later she was walking in the room.

"What can I help you with?"

"Lindsay is complaining that she can't see." Tom said.

"Lindsay, you're awake. That's good news." The nurse walked past Steve and stood at Lindsay's bedside.

"I'm just going to have a check of your eyes." The nurse took a torch from her pocket and opened Lindsay's eyes one after the other and shined the light into them. They were reacting as she would expect.

"Lindsay, everything is fine. You've been in surgery where we hooked you up to some morphine. You're coming off that now so you will be slower to react and your vision will be blurred, you may also start to feel cold. You're physically ok but you're just feeling the side effects. You will be fine later. Is there anything else I can get you while I'm here?"

"A blanket then please." Lindsay asked. "And a ham sandwich and some plain crisps."

"The blanket I can do, the food will need to wait until after the doctor has come and done his rounds. I'll go and get you that blanket."

The nurse left the room and came back with the blanket and placed it at Lindsay's feet. It made Lindsay jump as she was still working out on sounds since she couldn't see.

"It's ok. It was just the nurse." Tom took the blanket and unfolded it. Laying it on top of the sheets, tucking it into Lindsay's frame.

"I need to go and phone Hasting's. I'll be back soon."

Steve stepped out of the room and into the corridor. Taking his phone out he searched his contacts for Hasting's office number and pressed dial. He heard Hasting's pick up soon after."

"Superintendent Hastings."

"Sir, it's Steve."

"Ah, Steve. How is Lindsay?"

"She's awake sir. A little bit worse for wear. A broken arm and some stitches. I asked the nurse and It seemed like she might still need to stay overnight for observation."

"That means that they will be a team member down then and they still need to find Carly. I have an idea Steve. You should join them, just until Lindsay gets back on her feet again. You're not really needed up here at the moment, it's the quiet before the storm."

"If that's what you think is best sir."

"I do. Tell them that I'll do the paperwork for them and send it tomorrow. Thanks for this Steve."

"No problem, sir. I'll go for now. Bye sir."

"Bye Steve."

Steve hung up the phone and re-entered the room. Both Lindsay and Tom looked at him as he returned.

"My boss tells me that I will be working for you now. Just until Lindsay is better. He said he will email the paperwork to your department tomorrow. I will need to go back to Birmingham to collect my things. Is 8am tomorrow a good time."

"8 o'clock is great. I'll see you tomorrow."

He was about to leave when Lindsay stopped him.

"Steve? I forgot to ask, how is Kate?"

"Her husband is fine; Josh is out of hospital. She's taking some time off work at the moment for obvious reasons."

"Since you will be here working on the case can you ask her to look after Bella for me."

"I will. She will be happy to."

"Bye Lindsay. Sir. I hope to see you up and about soon."

Steve turned and left the room. The conversation that Tom saw Lindsay and Steve having left him with questions he wanted answers to. He turned to Lindsay.

"I need to ask Steve something, Lindsay. I'll be back soon."

He left the room and rushed down the corridor to meet Steve again.

"Can I ask you who Bella is?"

"Bella?" Steve said. "Bella is Lindsay's cat. She just got her back recently. She was in the shelter due to the fact that when Lindsay was in prison, she couldn't look after her."

"Lindsay was in prison?"

"She hasn't told you about that yet, has she? You seemed close in there. I'm sorry, I overstepped the mark. I'm sure she will tell you in her own time."

Tom nodded. "I'm sure she will. Well I will see you tomorrow at 8, bright and early."

"You will. Thanks, sir."

They both turned away from each other, leaving the conversation. Tom went back into Lindsay's room and took the seat beside her again. She knew he was there. He would keep that fact that he knew her secret from her for now. He was sure that she would tell him but for now all he wanted for Lindsay to focus on was getting better.

"I'm going to need to get going soon Lindsay. You should try and get some rest. Maybe by the time you wake up the drugs will have worn off. I'm sure the nurse will wake you up when they bring in your food."

"OK." Lindsay curled up under the covers and tried to make herself comfy.

Tom found it adorable and as soon as he knew she was asleep he got up quietly and left the room. Rushing to the police station to see what they had gotten in the time he was away.

Carly was pulled from the Landrover and dragged into the old farmhouse. The air around her smelled of grass and sheep shit. The blindfold that had been placed over her eyes was ripped off when she had gotten into the house. It wouldn't have really mattered anyway as she had already seen the men's faces but it was more to hide the location of where they were keeping her. She was pushed upstairs into a bedroom by the muscular man, Dot looking on, happy with the effort that he went through to get her. The door slammed shut behind her and she turned quickly to try and open it again but she could hear a lock turn on the outside, she was trapped. She looked around at her environment. Pressing down the light switch beside the door she was surprised that the light actually turned on. The room smelt musty and the decoration of the room suggested that it hadn't been decorated since the 1980s. The overall light in the room was dark even with the overhead light turned on as the windows had been boarded up with wood, both on the inside and out, as to not to suggest that anyone was still living here. She sat down on the bed; she was glad that they had at least given her this. Along with a small amount of furniture. A desk, and chair, a bookcase with a small number of books and a box tv which would have been a staple in the early 2000s. She wondered if this had all come from a charity shop or if they had been sitting here for years as the items all seemed very mixed. She thought that she should settle in as she wasn't sure how long she would be here for or what the men outside would do with her. All she wanted was to be in Lindsay's tight embrace again. The only woman over the past few years who seemed to genuinely seemed to care about her. She wanted to be home in her own bed. She would never say anything bad about her foster mother ever again or do anything that she wasn't meant to ever again. She just wanted to go home.

The team and Steve were hard at work trying to find the men and the car that took Carly but due to the scene and surrounding areas being mainly farmland and villages and due to the fact that they did not know what direction the men drove in. The team were coming up empty on the CCTV front for the moment. A call had gone out to all units in the surrounding area asking them to be on the lookout for the car or Carly but nothing had come up yet and they had spent the best part of the day trying out leads and following arounds after their own tails until the phone rang in the other room. Sian quickly went over to answer it. The team waited in apprehension at the news. Could this be the news they were looking for?

"And you're sure it's her?" Sian said.

The other person on the line answered.

"Then send it to my email." Sian smiled at the news she's been hoping for.

"Well?" Steve asked. The other members looked confused along with him.

"A unit stopped at a petrol station, situated here..."

Sian went over to the map and pointed to where the petrol station was situated.

"One of the constables got talking with the owner, asked him if he had seen the car and the owner said that he had."

Sian went back to the table, opened up the laptop and entered her email. A new email notification popped up.

"They've sent us the CCTV."

Sian clicked the button to open it and played the CCTV. The video showed the back of the car as it pulled into the petrol station. The licence plate on display and Dot's figure as he got out of the car. He filled the car up with petrol and went in to pay, coming back out a few minutes later and getting into the car again and pulling away.

"And there's no other angles."

"No sir, that's the only one." Sian said.

"It's still great news." Steve said. "We know where they are now."

"Not really sir. That petrol station is the main one on the way out of town. With the time that has elapsed, they could be anywhere by now."

Steve breathed in deeply at the news. Any lead that they seemed to get, he watched as it got crushed in front of his eyes. Finding Carly was like a needle in a haystack.