Episode 6 Part 2:

A few hours later after sunset a heavily armed police force gathered around their target, most officers were hidden in cars in plain clothes; others were hidden on top of nearby roofs or skulking in stairwells. Then at precisely half past the hour the plan suddenly swung to action, a pair of constables kicked in the door and entered the property, immediately on their trail were DCI Jordan and DS Merrick. "Search every nook and cranny boys, we need to find her!"

- - - -

It was a sudden crash that awoke Meredith from her fitful slumber, she had been sinking in and out of consciousness since her earlier exchange with Will; Meredith could feel the bruising coming out on her cheeks and she spat on the floor in an effort to clear the foul taste of her own blood from her mouth. "Hello!" She gasped out, once more opening up the cut on her lip which had almost stopped weeping. "Is any body there I'm over here!"

- - - -

"Sarge I think I can hear something!" One of the Constable's piped up as they all headed down the darkened corridor skirting the many boxes that lay slowly rotting in the damp building.

"Alright everyone stay close, I want to get her and all of us out safely we don't know if he is armed or not, I want this one to rot in jail....Ready!" Carol asked, nodding to the Constable who then kicked down the final door and they all barged in.

- - - -

Suddenly Meredith heard a crash nearby and for a moment her heart rose in her throat, someone was here they were going to rescue her, her prayers had been answered. "Over hear!"

"What's the matter my dear been missing me already?" - - - - -

"I'm sorry Inspector..." The Constable began, holding the abandoned radio somewhat sheepishly in his hands as Carol glared at him. "I really thought I heard a woman crying...."

"It's alright." She replied but in reality her thoughts were far from the despondent young man in front of her they were working over just what exactly she was going to say to Gavin Cochrane when he found their big bust had produced nothing more than an empty flat and an old am radio. - - - =

"Will!" Meredith gasped in horror. "But I thought...."

"What dearest? That someone was here to rescue you?" Will replied mockingly.

"But I heard a loud crash...." She added.

"Oh that's just my friends arriving...You see thanks to you, well the contents of both your purses I might add, the old and new...." He paused waiting for the implication to settle in. "You're paying for my little party, I've invited some of my closest friends and believe me they're all dying to meet you, after all not only have you paid for the supplies but you'll be providing the evenings entertainment!" He trailed off chuckling menacingly.

"No..." Meredith gasped. "Will please...."

"Oh don't worry I'll make sure you're as high as a kite when they do it...After all I'm not a complete monster, but I must admit they might take some restraining its been a while for a few of them so in a way you'll be performing a noble public service! So that'll be a first for you helping out your fellow man for a change, giving them one last good shag!"

"What do you mean?" Meredith demanded.

Smiling evilly Will closed the distance between them and leaning down he whispered softly in her ear. "I mean my dear that just like me my little friends will not be long amongst the living, we're all in the final stage."

"Final stage of what?" Meredith asked, shaking her head to dispel the first thing that had come to mind as that was far too disturbing.

"Oh I think you know you're a clever girl, in fact I bet your 'positive' about it! Well dear if you weren't before you'll certainly be 'positive' afterwards!"

"No you wouldn't do that, deliberately infect me, how could you even think it?" Meredith replied as she had to fight nausea at the very idea.

"It's called revenge, and believe this will be as sweet as it comes!" Will hissed as he pulled away reaching into his pocket as he pulled out a hypodermic needle. "I think its only fair as the guest of honour that you should go first my dear." He added grasping her arm roughly and pushing up her sleeve, holding it remarkably still despite her struggles. "Now this won't hurt a bit!" He giggled as he located a vein and ignoring Meredith screams injected a healthy dose.

Panicking Meredith could do nothing to stop him and immediately afterwards she began to feel strange, as Will pulled away the room began to spin and she could barely hear the words he whispered to her. "You stay right here I'll come and get you when we're ready!"

Across town Gavin paced up and down at the police station, why hadn't anyone called and let them know how it went? However just before he was storming across to reception to ask that very same thing his mobile began to vibrate in his pocket. Sighing loudly he pulled it out and pushing open the exit doors answered it. "Cochrane"

"We've got a lock boss!" Danny exclaimed gleefully down the phone!

"What? Where, how?" Gavin demanded.

"One of our old dealers down Preston street called in with a tip off, apparently Willy boy's a customer of his and he called in not less than half an hour ago to pick up practically a tonne of heroin, apparently Will was bragging about this party he's hosting for his fellow carriers."

"Carriers?" Gavin demanded.

"He's got AIDs, final stage apparently, Jims pissed because he didn't know and you know how he feels about dealing with that crowd, he's paranoid about it!"

"Fine where's the party?" Gavin snapped.

"Some abandoned warehouse down by the docks, the old Portland steel place apparently." Danny replied sharply.

"Excellent, send some of the boys there now, have them find the right warehouse, you come and pick me up from here I want to deal with this personally!" Gavin hissed, snapping the phone shut and sliding it back into his pocket.

"Just hold on Meredith a little longer we'll get you out of there I promise!" He whispered almost to himself pacing up and down and counting down the seconds until he spotted his car come racing round the corner, not waiting for Danny to stop properly Gavin flung open the back door and barrelling in he slammed it shut signalling for Danny to get going.

"And put your foot down we haven't a moment to waste!" He added as he slumped back into his seat his mind whirling as he realised the dire consequences he just hoped that he wasn't to late.

Meanwhile over in the docklands the party was really getting started, Will had gathered together several of his so called friends and they were seated haphazardly around a large drum fire huddled closely together for the warmth as they passed a syringe around the group.

"So Will where's the little lady then? I thought you said she'd be joining us!" One of the men snorted.

"Oh she will be I'm just letting the idea sink in..." Will replied, sniggering away to himself, before getting unsteadily to his feet and lurching off to where Meredith was tied up, pausing for a few moments for a quick slash, he eventually rounded the corner, his blurry vision finally settling on the practically comatose woman. "Come on Meredith Wakey Wakey!" Will called out in a sing song voice and he nudged her with his foot.

However when she neither moved nor spoke Will bent down to get a closer look, a distorted frown creasing his already contorted face. "Jesus don't tell me you've OD!" Will mumbled as he rummaged around in his pocket for the keys to the padlock, finally finding the correct key and managing more through luck than skill to get it into the lock. Pulling the chain away from pipe Will seized Meredith's lolling head and placed his fingers on her neck to check for a pulse, however the instant he released his hold on her hair the heavy metal chain came whirling up and smacked him hard in the face. Stunned Will was knocked clean off his feet landing heavily on some stray crates, and Meredith spotting her only opportunity staggered to her feet.

Concentrating hard against the powerful lull of the drugs in her system, she forced one foot in front of the other, ignoring the disjointed feelings as blood finally made its way back into her legs; fighting the feelings of nausea and light-headedness as she tried to flee her captor. However she had only made it half way to the door before Will caught up with her, yanking her roughly back by the hair he hissed evilly in her ear. "Not so fast Meredith dear, you should really say hello to my friends before leaving they came especially to see you after all!"

And with that he dragged her by the hair into the other room and the others welcomed them both with cries of bawdy delight.

A few buildings away Gavin's car pulled to a stop and ignoring Danny, Gavin darted out of the backseat striding over to shake the hand of Dennis, his man in charge of the muscle in his operation. "Have we found her yet?" He demanded, but Dennis shook his head sadly.

"Fraid not, this place is huge, but apparently one of the others has caught some old tramp hanging around, possibly one of the party guests, he's bringing him right over so we can get some answers at long last."

"Look I keep telling you I don't know nothing!" The tramp slurred as two of Gavin's burliest boys dragged him towards their Boss.

"Let him go boys there is no need to be all rough after all we only want a few simple answers..." Gavin ordered and his lackies immediately dropped the tramp, giving him a hard shove for good measure. "Now I'm only going to say this once!" Gavin began pulling out his wallet and idly pulling out several fifty pound notes. "There have been some men hanging around here and I want to know where they are, I can assure you I will be more than grateful."

For a moment the tramps eyes glazed over at the sight of so much money and he had stop himself from practically drooling. "Actually now you've come to mention it there have been a lot of weirdo's round here today they all went into the that big grey building over yonder..." the Tramp trailed off thumbing back over his shoulder. "There's a side door that's open..."

"Excellent." Gavin hissed nodding to his men to pick the tramp up.

"Hey what's the idea? I told you what you wanted to know!"

Smiling tersely Gavin took a step towards him, for a moment unable to suppress the automatic feelings of nausea at the stench coming off the man. "Oh I believe you...."

"Then what's the problem?" He slurred back.

"Let's just call it insurance!" Gavin retorted, striding off in the direction the tramp had pointed the rest of his men following behind struggling to keep up with their bosses demanding pace as they dragged the irate tramp with them.

If only Meredith had know that help was on the way she might have been able to suppress the very real feelings of nausea that bubbled up inside her due in part to the cocktail of drugs that were floating around her system, the traces of chloroform still left in her bloodstream clashing with the heroin as she struggled to remain in control. It would be so easy to just slip into a drugged out trance, and block out the jeering cat calls of Will's friends as they egged him on, encouraging him to hurry up so they could all have a turn with her. However when Will's wandering hands moved under skirt she couldn't keep the nausea down and she brought up the meagre contents of her stomach all over her assailant. Reacting automatically Will backed away, stripping off his vomit covered shirt and throwing it to the ground.

"You Bh" he yelled, once more raising his hand and backhanding her across the face but this time without the support of the wall she went flying, landing heavily on the floor. A moment later and he was on top of her one hand grabbing at her bound wrists the other moving to try and prise her thighs apart. For a moment they struggled Meredith trying to knee him in a sensitive area but Will managed to force his hand between her legs pushing them wide enough apart to force a knee between them, then another until he had her forced thighs apart and lay victorious in between them. Smiling sadistically he pushed his fingers up inside her, watching as her eyes widened in horror before removing his hand and unbuttoning his trousers pausing only to whisper in her ear.

"I wouldn't struggle if I were you, the more you fight the more damage it'll do and the greater the chance you'll catch it, but then again considering the amount of us to get through the chance of you not catching it are slim to none!"

"Please don't!" Meredith gasped, her eyes filling with tears as she tried to force what was about to happen out of her mind and in that moment allowing herself to surrender to the comforting lull of the drugs in her system.

"It's too late for sorrys Meredith..." Will began. "You have to pay for what you did!"

"Not today she doesn't!" A voice suddenly hissed in his ear before he felt a pair of strong hands settle on his shoulders physically dragging him off Meredith and slamming him hard against a stack of crates before kicking him in his exposed groin. Doubled over in agony Will managed to glance around the room, straining his hazy double vision he spotted a fist heading rapidly in his direction, unable to duck in his drugged state Will heard his nose crack as Gavin's fist caught him plum in the face before he blacked out.

Panting heavily Gavin moved away from the unconscious Will to Meredith, she still lay on the floor where Will had left her although she had managed to pull her skirt back down shrugging off his coat he wrapped it round her shivering form pulling her up off the concrete floor and into his arms. "Its alright I've got you." He whispered softly as he brushed he hair away from her face, for the first time noticing how pale and clammy she felt and how unusually dilated her pupils were.

"Meredith talk to me...." He demanded but she didn't reply, instead her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp as a rag doll in his arms. Raising a hand to her neck he quickly felt for a pulse, relief flooding his body when he found one, it was weak and racing but it was there! "Call an ambulance!" He demanded.

"But boss you know how long it took us to find this place..." Danny began.

"Fine!" Gavin snapped leaning down and scooping Meredith up into his arms. "Then we'll take her ourselves." He added moving determinedly towards the door.

"And them?" Danny called out nodding towards the cowering group of men who had been herded into a corner.

"Teach them a lesson!" Gavin instructed, "But as for him!" He added glaring at the unconscious Will, for a moment he recalled his promise to DCI Jordon but just as quickly as that had popped into his mind he dismissed it, after all she had kept part of their bargain so why should he? "I want him to disappear!"

Smiling slightly Danny nodded. "No problems! Perhaps a nice long vacation somewhere watery?" He asked as he followed Gavin outside.

"Whatever!" Gavin snorted, carrying Meredith out to the car and laying her gently on the back seat. "I don't care about that right now, let's get going."

"Sure thing boss." Danny replied sliding into the front seat and hiding a sly smile as he started the car, this was all too easy Gavin was going to be far too distracted worrying about his little girlfriend to pay him any attention, this was just the sort of diversion he knew he could capitalise on and when it was all over there would be a new man at the top.