A/N: Phew! I know I promised more regular updates but I gave myself a little break because of my birthday and then for the hangover. So, here you are.
Misg: Glad you're back.
Darkness4eva: Nice to have a new reader.
Tony felt all eyes on him as he returned to the station late that morning after spending hours in a car with a sympathetic Gary. The trouble with Gary in that mood though was the young lad kept repeating how much he supported Tony when all he wanted to do was forget about it for a bit.
What he needed was a friendly face that wouldn't ramble. His thoughts immediately went to June Ackland, one of the people at the station he'd always trusted and had always been able to confide in.
Desperately trying to ignore the stares he made his way to the Sergeants Office, relieved to find June there along with another friendly face in the form of Jim Carver.
'Hi,' Tony said awkwardly.
Jim was first to answer. 'How are you?'
'Not my best.'
'Everyone's on your side, you know,' June said.
'I wish they didn't have to pick a side,' Tony muttered.
'This 'superior',' Jim said. 'It's the DI, isn't it?'
'Yeah, how'd you know?'
'Powers of deduction,' Jim said with a grim smile. 'Plus he's a prat.'
'Is there anything we can do?' June asked.
'Just needed to see a friendly face,' Tony said with a lilt in his voice that he knew betrayed his emotions.
'Just remember we're here, Tone,' Jim said.
'Thanks.'
Sam finally located Andrea in the locker room which was otherwise empty. To be fair on the young woman, she was looking fairly tired, perhaps a restless night because of her little leak?
'Andrea, you look tired.'
'Yeah,' she answered softly. 'I am a bit.'
Sam decided to get to the point quickly. 'You called the papers about Tony, didn't you?'
'What? Why would you think that?' Andrea bluffed with evident unease.
'It's written all over your face,' Sam replied sitting down on the bench. 'And I heard your phone conversation yesterday.'
Andrea opened her mouth to answer but seemed deflated and plopped down on the bench. 'So I did.'
'Why?'
'It isn't how you think.'
Sam was getting a little heated now. 'You better start telling me what it is like, Andrea, otherwise I'm just going to hand you over.'
Andrea sighed. 'I'm... I'm an undercover journalist.'
'You're a what?!'
'I was sent in to get the scoop on the Super,' Andrea explained wearily. 'About his policy on black officers.'
Sam was struggling to take this in, Andrea was a journalist? 'You're here under false pretences?'
'Yeah.'
'What the hell did you think you were doing?'
'Trying to make my career,' Andrea said lamely.
'By wrecking Tony's life?' Sam asked angrily. 'That what you've done.'
'My editor's been pressuring me!'
'And that's your excuse?'
'I just thought...' Andrea trailed off. 'I'm sorry.'
However the wheels in Samantha's head were crunching into action. 'What's it worth for me to keep quiet?'
The young PC looked up. 'You're blackmailing me?'
Sam shook her head. 'I'm offering you a deal. One that'll give us both something.'
'What do you mean?'
'As a journalist,' Sam answered. 'You know all the ways to get secret information about people and, as a police officer, you've more access to the information.'
'Who are you after?' Andrea asked curiously.
'The DI.'
'Am I allowed to ask why or should I just shut up and get on with it?'
'He's done some things.'
'Like what?'
'He was responsible for my daughter being shot,' Sam explained hesitantly. 'Not to mention his victimisation of Tony which you've probably made a thousand times worse.'
'You must have more than that,' Andrea probed, the true journalistic tendencies becoming pronounced.
'I'm not sure how much I want to share with you, you are a journalist after all.'
'It's not like I've got the choice to write about it,' Andrea pointed out. 'Not if I want to keep my job.'
'Alright,' Sam relented. 'Do you remember Eva Sharpe?'
'Yeah, she left on my first day. Are you saying the DI had something to do with that?'
'Eva and I did a bit of digging about Manson,' Sam said. 'We didn't get anything on him but he got worried. He had something over the DCI and persuaded him Eva should go.'
'Something on the DCI?' Andrea repeated. 'What?'
Sam cleared her throat. 'He had an affair with a case witness, it would've ended his career.'
'So he sold Eva out instead?'
That sounded very accusatory. 'If Jack went Manson would really have won.'
'What if he finds out about my looking into him?'
'You're on your own,' Sam stated simply.
'What's to stop me telling Manson you're behind it?'
'It's not like I'm doing this for my own benefit!' Sam argued. 'If we don't stop him there's no telling how many lives he'll wreck.'
Andrea sighed. 'What exactly am I looking for?'
'Something in his cases, irregularities, withdrawn statements. I know he isn't above using violence to get what he wants.'
Andrea looked a little shaken by this. 'Could I be in danger then?'
'Be discreet. You've managed it pretty well so far.'
'I really do like this job you know.'
Sam stood to leave. 'You better hope you get the chance to keep it.'
