Chapter 47
As Alex watched Duncan and Ray leave she felt a cold chill run down her spine. Thomas returned to the spare bed and was leaning against it his eyes transfixed on her. Alex swallowed nervously she didn't like the look in Thomas's eyes. "So are you going to tell me why you wanted to stay?" she asked but her question got no response. Alex but her hand over to the cabinet beside her bed, she instinctively moved the vase of flowers Fitz had given her closer as she retrieved a magazine she had left there. She tried to ignore him but being under someone's constant gaze would make it hard for anyone to concentrate.
As Duncan and Ray approached the car park Ray went to walk towards his car "No we'll take my car" Duncan said pointing towards his black Citroen "I just thought I'd take my car as well" Ray responded, Duncan didn't stop to discuss his decision he continue towards the Citroen, when he got there he turned to Ray who had stopped a little way from the car. Duncan rested his arms on the top of his car "You have no idea where we're going and I haven't got time to worry if you're able to follow me. Get in" Duncan said getting in, a few seconds later Ray climbed into the passenger seat just in time as Duncan slammed the car into gear.
About 15 minutes past before Thomas got to his feet and walked over to the window. Alex watched his progress around the room without lifting her head; she had been turning the pages of the magazine without taking in anything that was printed there. "Where is it?" Thomas asked as he looked out at the park below. "Where's what?" Alex question as she looked up, she had an idea what he was talking about but she didn't want to assume anything, especially not of Thomas. He turned round the hatred in his eyes very obvious to Alex and she instinctively shifted in her bed but the movement made her wince, as the stitches in her stomach pulled slightly as she moved. "Don't play games with me I'm not in the mood and I don't have the time. The disc, where is the disc?"
"You know I gave Ray a copy of the disc" Alex replied as her eyes surveyed the room for anything that could help her. "NOT THAT DISC" Thomas shouted as he moved closer to her "The one with the bank codes"
"I don't have it"
Thomas laughed, "You expect me to believe that. Alex Rogan trusting another human being with something that important. What kind of idiot do you take me for?"
"People can change" was the only reply Alex could think of, but this just made Thomas angrier. He pulled open the cabinet by her bed and pulled everything out. He checked her clothes before hurling them across the room. "I want that disc Alex," he said standing up after finding nothing. The fear Alex had been feeling started to turn into anger "I don't believe it you've sold out. Lazarski's bought you hasn't he?"
A smile broke on Thomas's face "No, he's given me the chance to get even with you and get me life back with a little bonus"
"Get even with me. What are you talking about?" As her words left her lips they seemed to enflame Thomas he moved really close, his face no more than 2 inches from hers "How quickly and easily you've forgotten her. I wish I could erase her so easily from my mind. It's about time you paid for what happened to Christina. You do remember her, don't you?"
Alex's mind raced as the image of Christina became clear she had been assigned to Alex as a partner, McCormack had insisted. Alex had tried to fight it she didn't like having partners especially not when they were just out of training. Alex had made her feelings known even to Christina. Her arrival had caused quite a stir in the male operatives; Alex hadn't been surprised by it after all Christina was about 25 good-looking and a tall leggy brunette. Thomas had been bowled over by her; no one had ever seen him react like this to any woman, after all Thomas had a reputation of a ladies man, love them and leave them that was the way he had treated them in the past.
Christina was bright and Alex couldn't fault the fact that she was keen to learn and this lessened Alex's resistance but Alex had to hold her temper on many occasions as Christina's blossoming romance with Thomas had interfered with a case they were working on. So Alex decided to carry on working alone when Christina was off duty spending time with Thomas. This caused friction between her and Christina, as Alex solved cases without her. Late one night Alex brought in terrorist suspect connected to a big case Christina and Alex had been working on, but Christina was in the building and when she realised what Alex had been doing there was a blazing row. Alex hadn't pulled any punches, she made her feelings clearly known, she wasn't about to let a lead go cold while Christina played house with Thomas. She told Christina as her supervision officer she had to write a report at the end of her probation period. In the heat of the argument Alex shouted that she wasn't going to pass her. Christina had demanded to know why. "You're too easily distracted, with little or no commitment to this kind of work, you delay cases to make room for a social life. You can't give them out there a chance to get away. Your just not up to the job" Christina had stormed out after yelling back at Alex that she could do the job just as well if not better than her and have a life as well. It had been the last time Alex saw her alive.
Thomas could see the recognition on Alex's face "So you do remember her. Do you remember that she's dead because of you?" he said as he moved away back towards the window
"Look I didn't have anything to do with her death" Alex now knew that she could be in real danger here and she was in no condition for a fight.
"DIDN'T YOU!" Thomas shouted as he spun round to face her "She idealised you, the great Alex Rogan, McCormack's star, you were all she talked about, how she wanted to be just like you. She thought she had to prove just how good she was, that she could do anything as good as you. Only she couldn't could she, there was no way for her to ever be like you, she wasn't a cold hearted bitch."
Alex breathed deeply trying to think her way out of this "Thomas I didn't know she was going to go after Maxwell on her own. If I had any idea I would have stopped her, you have to believe that. I know I should have gone after her when she walked out but McCormack called me into his office. When I got out she had already left the building. I went by her apartment that night and next morning but she wasn't there, I thought she was with you."
"How convenient and how typical of you. You've convinced yourself that you did nothing wrong. You were her partner damn it! You were supposed to be there for her, not pulling her to pieces because she didn't want to live like you" Alex mind drifted to that morning, she had returned to her car when she found that Christina still wasn't home. The memory of the radio call still turned her stomach over "All units, Officer down, Griffin warehouse, Hammersmith Road, ambulance on route. Several armed suspects thought to be still on scene." From the address Alex knew it involved Maxwell, a drug dealer and arms dealer she had been hunting for months and now with horror knew where Christina had gone.
By the time Alex had arrived at the scene the area was swamped with Criminal Intelligence vehicles. Alex abandoned her car in front of 2 others and made her way towards the building. She stopped at the door her hands gripping the metal doorframe, as a sick feeling hit her stomach; she watched the scene in the middle of the dimly lit warehouse. A figure was crumpled on the floor holding onto another that was laid outstretched on the cold concrete, a pool of blood surrounding them. Several others were stood around as Alex walked slowly across the concrete floor she just knew that it was Christina laying on the floor. The last words she had said to her came back to deafen her as they screamed at her from her memory. She wished she could take them back but Alex knew from the way Thomas was cradling her that it was too late. Ray had seen her coming and had moved to stop her getting any closer "This isn't a good time Alex".
The sound of her name made Thomas look up, the hatred in his eyes almost took Alex's breath away "Get that Bitch out of here" he shouted before he turned back to Christina's lifeless body. Alex hadn't resisted Ray as he steered her through the warehouse door. "What was she doing here?" Alex asked her mind unable to process what had happened. "After your little argument yesterday she booked out a car from the pool and surveillance gear. That was the last anyone heard from her until her distress call this morning"
"What the hell possessed her to try this alone?" Alex asked but the look on Ray's face gave her the answer and the look on Christina's face flashed into Alex's mind and the last words she would ever hear her say "I can do this job just as good if not better than you and unlike you I'm not scared to have a life too. I'll show you just how good I am"
"Oh my God" Alex said as she run her hands through her hair as she walked towards her car. Ray followed "Alex you couldn't have known what she planned to do" Alex spun round to face Ray "Couldn't I? I should have realised, she was more like me than I wanted to admit and this is something I would have done if someone had just told me that I wasn't good enough."
"You can't blame yourself Alex." Alex opened her car door before looking back at Ray "Can't I, you tell that to Thomas he blames me and I'm not sure he isn't right" before Alex could get into her car Ray took hold of her arm "She made this choice not you."
"Did she or did I push into something she wasn't ready for. I told McCormack I'm no good with partners but he wouldn't listen and now look. If she'd been put with Roberts or Willis she might still be alive now" Alex noticed that Ray was torn between staying with her or going back to his shattered partner. "Go back to your partner Ray, he needs you"
"What about you? Are you going to be OK?" Alex smiled weakly "Me, no need to worry about me. I don't need anyone or haven't you heard." Ray heard the words but he didn't think Alex was as hard as her outward manner projected and he didn't like that look in her eyes, it usually meant trouble. "What are you going to do?"
"The only thing I'm good at my job"
Thomas walked back towards her "Partners are supposed to watch each other's backs, to stick together". The last part of Thomas words made Alex catch her breath, 'Is Ray involved in this?' the thought alarmed her, she didn't want to believe it but he was quick to leave Thomas here and he knew the bad feeling between them. "Now where is the disc?"
"I told you I don't have it and even if I did I wouldn't give it to you" Thomas launched across the room back handing Alex across the face. Her eye felt like it was going to explode but she didn't cry out, she had learned long ago not to give any one the pleasure of knowing how much they had hurt her.
"Do you think Christina would be proud of what your doing in her name? That you've sold out to likes of Lazarski" Alex's words hit the nerve they were meant to and Thomas grabbed her around the throat. As he concentrated on choking the life out of her, Alex managed to reach the heavy glass vase and with all the strength she could muster she brought it crashing down into Thomas's skull. The impact was enough to break the vase into pieces and send Thomas crashing to the ground.
Alex knew she didn't have the time to wait to stay to see if Duncan would make it back before Thomas came round and as she didn't know what Ray's part in all of this was. She rubbed her throat as she pushed back the covers and slowly swung her legs out as she placed her weight on her feet she had to hold onto the bed to steady herself as her legs were a little weak after being in bed for so long. As quickly as she could she picked up her clothes and dressed. It wasn't easy as the pain from her wound kept flowing over her making her stop until it had subsided. Just as she had finished there was a groan from Thomas, Alex walked over and bent down she quickly found a pressure point and render him unconscious again. She then took his gun from its holster; Alex put the gun behind her back and pushed it into the belt of her jeans. Alex then made for the door as she opened it she used the frame for support as she checked the hall was clear.
Alex used all her skills to avoid the nurses and find her way to the back entrance. She didn't want to use the main entrance, as she didn't know if Lazarski had any men there. Alex hadn't realised just how much the virus and the surgery had weakened her but it was very clear to her now as everything was taking a great amount of effort. Her survival instincts had now taken over all she could think about was getting out of the hospital. She pulled her jacket around her as she opened the final door. She stumbled on the ramp leading down to the road but managed to catch hold of the handrail to stop herself from falling. As she took a moment to regain her composure she looked around there was nothing she recognised, the hospital must be in a part of Paris she had never been to. There was no time to worry about it now her first task was to get away from the hospital and then she'd figure out how to get to Duncan.
As Alex watched Duncan and Ray leave she felt a cold chill run down her spine. Thomas returned to the spare bed and was leaning against it his eyes transfixed on her. Alex swallowed nervously she didn't like the look in Thomas's eyes. "So are you going to tell me why you wanted to stay?" she asked but her question got no response. Alex but her hand over to the cabinet beside her bed, she instinctively moved the vase of flowers Fitz had given her closer as she retrieved a magazine she had left there. She tried to ignore him but being under someone's constant gaze would make it hard for anyone to concentrate.
As Duncan and Ray approached the car park Ray went to walk towards his car "No we'll take my car" Duncan said pointing towards his black Citroen "I just thought I'd take my car as well" Ray responded, Duncan didn't stop to discuss his decision he continue towards the Citroen, when he got there he turned to Ray who had stopped a little way from the car. Duncan rested his arms on the top of his car "You have no idea where we're going and I haven't got time to worry if you're able to follow me. Get in" Duncan said getting in, a few seconds later Ray climbed into the passenger seat just in time as Duncan slammed the car into gear.
About 15 minutes past before Thomas got to his feet and walked over to the window. Alex watched his progress around the room without lifting her head; she had been turning the pages of the magazine without taking in anything that was printed there. "Where is it?" Thomas asked as he looked out at the park below. "Where's what?" Alex question as she looked up, she had an idea what he was talking about but she didn't want to assume anything, especially not of Thomas. He turned round the hatred in his eyes very obvious to Alex and she instinctively shifted in her bed but the movement made her wince, as the stitches in her stomach pulled slightly as she moved. "Don't play games with me I'm not in the mood and I don't have the time. The disc, where is the disc?"
"You know I gave Ray a copy of the disc" Alex replied as her eyes surveyed the room for anything that could help her. "NOT THAT DISC" Thomas shouted as he moved closer to her "The one with the bank codes"
"I don't have it"
Thomas laughed, "You expect me to believe that. Alex Rogan trusting another human being with something that important. What kind of idiot do you take me for?"
"People can change" was the only reply Alex could think of, but this just made Thomas angrier. He pulled open the cabinet by her bed and pulled everything out. He checked her clothes before hurling them across the room. "I want that disc Alex," he said standing up after finding nothing. The fear Alex had been feeling started to turn into anger "I don't believe it you've sold out. Lazarski's bought you hasn't he?"
A smile broke on Thomas's face "No, he's given me the chance to get even with you and get me life back with a little bonus"
"Get even with me. What are you talking about?" As her words left her lips they seemed to enflame Thomas he moved really close, his face no more than 2 inches from hers "How quickly and easily you've forgotten her. I wish I could erase her so easily from my mind. It's about time you paid for what happened to Christina. You do remember her, don't you?"
Alex's mind raced as the image of Christina became clear she had been assigned to Alex as a partner, McCormack had insisted. Alex had tried to fight it she didn't like having partners especially not when they were just out of training. Alex had made her feelings known even to Christina. Her arrival had caused quite a stir in the male operatives; Alex hadn't been surprised by it after all Christina was about 25 good-looking and a tall leggy brunette. Thomas had been bowled over by her; no one had ever seen him react like this to any woman, after all Thomas had a reputation of a ladies man, love them and leave them that was the way he had treated them in the past.
Christina was bright and Alex couldn't fault the fact that she was keen to learn and this lessened Alex's resistance but Alex had to hold her temper on many occasions as Christina's blossoming romance with Thomas had interfered with a case they were working on. So Alex decided to carry on working alone when Christina was off duty spending time with Thomas. This caused friction between her and Christina, as Alex solved cases without her. Late one night Alex brought in terrorist suspect connected to a big case Christina and Alex had been working on, but Christina was in the building and when she realised what Alex had been doing there was a blazing row. Alex hadn't pulled any punches, she made her feelings clearly known, she wasn't about to let a lead go cold while Christina played house with Thomas. She told Christina as her supervision officer she had to write a report at the end of her probation period. In the heat of the argument Alex shouted that she wasn't going to pass her. Christina had demanded to know why. "You're too easily distracted, with little or no commitment to this kind of work, you delay cases to make room for a social life. You can't give them out there a chance to get away. Your just not up to the job" Christina had stormed out after yelling back at Alex that she could do the job just as well if not better than her and have a life as well. It had been the last time Alex saw her alive.
Thomas could see the recognition on Alex's face "So you do remember her. Do you remember that she's dead because of you?" he said as he moved away back towards the window
"Look I didn't have anything to do with her death" Alex now knew that she could be in real danger here and she was in no condition for a fight.
"DIDN'T YOU!" Thomas shouted as he spun round to face her "She idealised you, the great Alex Rogan, McCormack's star, you were all she talked about, how she wanted to be just like you. She thought she had to prove just how good she was, that she could do anything as good as you. Only she couldn't could she, there was no way for her to ever be like you, she wasn't a cold hearted bitch."
Alex breathed deeply trying to think her way out of this "Thomas I didn't know she was going to go after Maxwell on her own. If I had any idea I would have stopped her, you have to believe that. I know I should have gone after her when she walked out but McCormack called me into his office. When I got out she had already left the building. I went by her apartment that night and next morning but she wasn't there, I thought she was with you."
"How convenient and how typical of you. You've convinced yourself that you did nothing wrong. You were her partner damn it! You were supposed to be there for her, not pulling her to pieces because she didn't want to live like you" Alex mind drifted to that morning, she had returned to her car when she found that Christina still wasn't home. The memory of the radio call still turned her stomach over "All units, Officer down, Griffin warehouse, Hammersmith Road, ambulance on route. Several armed suspects thought to be still on scene." From the address Alex knew it involved Maxwell, a drug dealer and arms dealer she had been hunting for months and now with horror knew where Christina had gone.
By the time Alex had arrived at the scene the area was swamped with Criminal Intelligence vehicles. Alex abandoned her car in front of 2 others and made her way towards the building. She stopped at the door her hands gripping the metal doorframe, as a sick feeling hit her stomach; she watched the scene in the middle of the dimly lit warehouse. A figure was crumpled on the floor holding onto another that was laid outstretched on the cold concrete, a pool of blood surrounding them. Several others were stood around as Alex walked slowly across the concrete floor she just knew that it was Christina laying on the floor. The last words she had said to her came back to deafen her as they screamed at her from her memory. She wished she could take them back but Alex knew from the way Thomas was cradling her that it was too late. Ray had seen her coming and had moved to stop her getting any closer "This isn't a good time Alex".
The sound of her name made Thomas look up, the hatred in his eyes almost took Alex's breath away "Get that Bitch out of here" he shouted before he turned back to Christina's lifeless body. Alex hadn't resisted Ray as he steered her through the warehouse door. "What was she doing here?" Alex asked her mind unable to process what had happened. "After your little argument yesterday she booked out a car from the pool and surveillance gear. That was the last anyone heard from her until her distress call this morning"
"What the hell possessed her to try this alone?" Alex asked but the look on Ray's face gave her the answer and the look on Christina's face flashed into Alex's mind and the last words she would ever hear her say "I can do this job just as good if not better than you and unlike you I'm not scared to have a life too. I'll show you just how good I am"
"Oh my God" Alex said as she run her hands through her hair as she walked towards her car. Ray followed "Alex you couldn't have known what she planned to do" Alex spun round to face Ray "Couldn't I? I should have realised, she was more like me than I wanted to admit and this is something I would have done if someone had just told me that I wasn't good enough."
"You can't blame yourself Alex." Alex opened her car door before looking back at Ray "Can't I, you tell that to Thomas he blames me and I'm not sure he isn't right" before Alex could get into her car Ray took hold of her arm "She made this choice not you."
"Did she or did I push into something she wasn't ready for. I told McCormack I'm no good with partners but he wouldn't listen and now look. If she'd been put with Roberts or Willis she might still be alive now" Alex noticed that Ray was torn between staying with her or going back to his shattered partner. "Go back to your partner Ray, he needs you"
"What about you? Are you going to be OK?" Alex smiled weakly "Me, no need to worry about me. I don't need anyone or haven't you heard." Ray heard the words but he didn't think Alex was as hard as her outward manner projected and he didn't like that look in her eyes, it usually meant trouble. "What are you going to do?"
"The only thing I'm good at my job"
Thomas walked back towards her "Partners are supposed to watch each other's backs, to stick together". The last part of Thomas words made Alex catch her breath, 'Is Ray involved in this?' the thought alarmed her, she didn't want to believe it but he was quick to leave Thomas here and he knew the bad feeling between them. "Now where is the disc?"
"I told you I don't have it and even if I did I wouldn't give it to you" Thomas launched across the room back handing Alex across the face. Her eye felt like it was going to explode but she didn't cry out, she had learned long ago not to give any one the pleasure of knowing how much they had hurt her.
"Do you think Christina would be proud of what your doing in her name? That you've sold out to likes of Lazarski" Alex's words hit the nerve they were meant to and Thomas grabbed her around the throat. As he concentrated on choking the life out of her, Alex managed to reach the heavy glass vase and with all the strength she could muster she brought it crashing down into Thomas's skull. The impact was enough to break the vase into pieces and send Thomas crashing to the ground.
Alex knew she didn't have the time to wait to stay to see if Duncan would make it back before Thomas came round and as she didn't know what Ray's part in all of this was. She rubbed her throat as she pushed back the covers and slowly swung her legs out as she placed her weight on her feet she had to hold onto the bed to steady herself as her legs were a little weak after being in bed for so long. As quickly as she could she picked up her clothes and dressed. It wasn't easy as the pain from her wound kept flowing over her making her stop until it had subsided. Just as she had finished there was a groan from Thomas, Alex walked over and bent down she quickly found a pressure point and render him unconscious again. She then took his gun from its holster; Alex put the gun behind her back and pushed it into the belt of her jeans. Alex then made for the door as she opened it she used the frame for support as she checked the hall was clear.
Alex used all her skills to avoid the nurses and find her way to the back entrance. She didn't want to use the main entrance, as she didn't know if Lazarski had any men there. Alex hadn't realised just how much the virus and the surgery had weakened her but it was very clear to her now as everything was taking a great amount of effort. Her survival instincts had now taken over all she could think about was getting out of the hospital. She pulled her jacket around her as she opened the final door. She stumbled on the ramp leading down to the road but managed to catch hold of the handrail to stop herself from falling. As she took a moment to regain her composure she looked around there was nothing she recognised, the hospital must be in a part of Paris she had never been to. There was no time to worry about it now her first task was to get away from the hospital and then she'd figure out how to get to Duncan.