Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter up - grr real life! At long last, this is the penultimate chapter of STC, just an epilogue to follow and then we're done... for the time being at least! Who knows what will happen in the future! Anyway, as always, hope you enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think.
"Well, well. We meet again Samantha." Hugh cackled harshly, the sound carrying in the quiet of the house. "It doesn't look to me like you're in much of a position to make demands."
"This isn't about Abigail, or Joseph, not really. This is about you and me, the fact that you can't get over my rejection of you." Sam's rational mind screamed at her not to provoke her ex-mentor, seeing how unstable he was and well aware he was capable of shooting her, but her maternal instincts overpowered all other senses, her only concern keeping Hugh from climbing the stairs to where her daughter and grandson were.
"I see you're as egotistical as ever. Do you really think that the entire universe revolves around you? Only I've got news for you – it doesn't! This is about my child – the son that no one has a right to take away from me. I'm sure Abi will be more than willing to listen to reason with a little persuasion." Hugh left the foot of the stairs, beginning to slowly stalk towards where Sam stood rooted to the spot, her legs leaden and unwilling to carry her out of his path.
Gary heard voices downstairs as he held Abi tenderly in his arms, immediately stiffening as he strained to make out who they belonged to, thinking he had recognised Sam's husky tones. Abi heard the murmuring seconds after Gary, trembling in his embrace and reaching out to him desperately, silently screaming for him not to leave her.
"I've got to go and see who it is. Promise me that as soon as I'm out of the door you'll barricade yourself in? Use that chest of drawers, drag it in front of the door and wedge it against it. Promise me Abi?" Gary whispered to her urgently, pulling away from her but keeping hold of her upper arms, imploring her to do as he asked.
"But you'll be stuck out there. What if it's Hugh? What if he's armed? You'll have no way of protecting yourself. Gary it's suicide to go out there." Abi pleaded, tears beginning to roll over her cheeks as she thought of the goofy young officer putting his life on the line to save her and her son.
"If your Mum's here then chances are so are a lot of armed officers. All I need to do is distract him long enough for them to get in here."
"Mum's here?" Abi shot up on the bed, sitting hugging her knees, torn between keeping Gary safe and the knowledge that her mother may well be downstairs facing off an armed man alone. Her whole body trembled, the sudden realisation of what it meant to be a mother hitting her full force, leading her finally understand why Sam's instincts to protect her were so strong, and why they sometimes led her to make the wrong decisions. "Do what you have to do Gary, I'll make sure no one harms a hair on my son's head." She spoke calmly, her resolve strengthened as she caught sight of a faint flashing light beyond the curtains.
"So how are things going at the safe house? Is the man Mickey saw Hugh Wallis?" Jo questioned as Zain was secured in the back of the ambulance, halting Phil as he went to climb in beside his colleague.
"The Trojan Unit are in position and ready to storm to house. Jo, Jack asked me not to tell you but you need to know; Sam's inside the house. She went maverick when their backs were turned, went after Hugh alone." The paramedic ushered Phil into the ambulance, keen to get on the way to hospital with their critically injured patient.
"Phil, thank you for telling me. You be okay at the hospital if I secure the scene here and then go over to the safe house?" Jo's stomach was churning at the thought of Sam facing down Hugh alone, knowing that he was armed and dangerous.
"Of course, but no heroics. They'll get her out safely – all of them will be fine, trust them to do their job Jo." With a curt nod, Jo turned on her heel and began barking orders to the uniformed officers who had been assigned to the area, informing them that no one was to touch anything until the scene of crimes officers had given the go ahead. Assured that everything was in order, Jo jogged back across the road towards the pool car she and Phil had arrived in, sliding into the driver's seat and firing the engine, pulling away as she dialled Jack's mobile number.
"Jack Meadows." He answered, the tension evident in his voice.
"Guv it's Jo. What's happening there? And where exactly is there? I'm on my way over." Jo sped through the warren of streets leading back to the main road.
"Jo, stay put, there's nothing you can do here." Jack attempted to dissuade the sergeant from joining them, knowing in his heart it was futile.
"No? So you won't be needing a negotiator then? Let me try talking to Hugh, see if I can reason with him to give himself up. I'm sure he knows there's no way he can get out of that house without us getting him one way or another. If armed officers storm in there, what's to stop him shooting indiscriminately? Why risk more lives than strictly necessary?" Jo was careful to avoid mentioning she knew her lover was inside, ready to see if Jack would volunteer the information.
"You're too emotionally involved to negotiate with him rationally."
"I don't let my personal feelings affect my work Guv, I never have. All I want to do is make sure that a young mother and her son are released safely from that house." Jo reasoned.
"It's more complicated than that Jo." Jack paused hoping that telling Jo wouldn't cause her to have an accident. "Sam's inside, she went after Hugh alone."
"All the more reason to try and resolve this peacefully Guv." Jo's voice barely wavered as she answered, her stomach churning and a coldness seeping into her soul at the thought of losing Sam so soon after being reunited with her. She heard Jack sigh into his mobile on the other end of the line before hearing an address muttered grudgingly.
"If you can get here in the next ten minutes, I'll see if I can persuade Inspector Rollins to stand his men down. No promises though Jo and if it looks as though we're getting nowhere, the Trojan Unit will take over, no questions asked."
"Deal Guv, all I'm asking for is a shot at it." Jo flipped her mobile shut as she ended the call, flooring the accelerator as she raced up to a roundabout, swinging the car right round it and back in the direction she had come from, knowing a shortcut to reach her destination. Her heart was pounding as she sped along the thankfully quiet roads, mentally ticking down the minutes it was taking her, pushing the car to its limits in her haste.
Gary crept to the top of the stairs, crouching down and peering down as far as his neck would go, trying to catch a glimpse of the intruders. A loud voice startled him, he pulled back into the shadows as a man came into sight dragging a dazed blonde woman with him by her hair.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just shoot you? Believe me, it would make my life so much easier. Every time I try to achieve something, you're always one step ahead blocking my way. Well not this time Sam, this time I've got the lead on you and all you can do is sit back and watch as I take what I want. Now strip – I don't trust you not to be wearing a wire." Hugh raised his arm to strike Sam again as he threw her onto the sofa, inviting her not to comply to his order at her peril. Gary watched as Sam spat blood from her mouth following Hugh's second strike, her face already beginning to swell, her fingers fumbling with the buttons on her blouse.
"Is that what this is really about Hugh? You can't stand to be beaten by anyone, but especially not by a woman, is that it? What did O'Rourke do to deserve being executed? You were the one who got his daughter pregnant and used his own mistress as an alibi to get you off a murder charge when Niamh was pushed from that bridge." Sam baited him, knowing if she could hold him off long enough, the officers outside would resolve the situation. All she had to do was keep Hugh downstairs and away from Abi and Joey. Gary crept onto the top stair in a crouch pausing to see if his movement would attract the attention of Hugh, feeling his boldness growing as he remained undetected.
"See that just proves how little you know. Niamh was pregnant with her own father's baby. He's the one who was with her on the bridge that night, I was with Sandra Carmichael, talking to her about what sort of man she was getting herself involved with. Then Sandra told me she was going to lie, that she was going to tell the police that it had been Ciaran who was with her when Niamh was killed and not me. I couldn't have that, I couldn't have her perjuring herself for a man who cared so little for his own daughter that he used her and abused her so badly. Sandra told me that Lisa was Ciaran's daughter too, that she had her daughter to protect. We got into a fight, I never meant to kill her but when the police decided O'Rourke had done it in a jealous rage, who was I to argue with that? As far as I was concerned, he deserved to be locked up, whether he killed his daughter by throwing her from the bridge or whether she jumped because she was pregnant with his child and couldn't take it any more." Hugh's eyes glazed over as he remembered the events that had led to the feud but as soon as Sam attempted to move, his attention snapped back to the present. "But you've still given me no reason not to shoot you Sam, don't you care what happens to you? And there was me thinking that now you're all loved up with your lesbian fiancée, you might have had a bit more to live for."
"And that pains you even more than being beaten by a woman doesn't it Hugh? The fact that I turned you down and have found happiness, not just with someone else but with another woman. What's up, make you feel threatened?" Sam breathed in sharply as Hugh cocked the hammer on the gun he was holding, willing herself not to close her eyes as she stared at the barrel, pointed directly between her eyes. Gary gradually made his way down the stairs, his path becoming more treacherous the closer to the bottom he got, bringing him closer to Hugh's peripheral vision.
"I watched you with her in the park after you found my gift to you. I should have shot you then when I had the chance, or maybe when I chatted to you in the bath together – that would have raised a few eyebrows amongst your colleagues no doubt; the frigid Samantha Nixon found naked and dead in her bath with her lesbian lover. You know, I was so disappointed you didn't get to O'Rourke before I did. I kept him there all night, begging for his life. I expected you to send someone over to investigate the meeting place at the very least but you were too distracted by that dyke to care about any one else – same as ever, only after personal gratification without a thought to whose lives you ruin in the process." Hugh rested his finger lightly on the trigger, enjoying toying with Sam and having her completely at his mercy.
"Who set fire to the house? Was that you? Or was that O'Rourke? We know he was responsible for the bomb." Sam attempted to buy herself some time, feeling her heart rate rising to dangerous levels and thoughts of Jo threatening to crowd out all other considerations in her mind, the reality of her situation settling in her stomach like a leaden weight. "How is it that you've always known where Abi and Joey were?"
"You were supposed to link the fire to O'Rourke and put him back behind bars, where he belonged. I gave you every reason and every opportunity to do that but you failed him. You left him to die, once again too wrapped up in yourself to work the case objectively. And please, credit me with some intelligence Samantha – do you know how easy it is to hire someone to tail a person for the right amount of money? All the time, Jack thought someone in the department was leaking the locations of the safe houses, as if I would trust anything told to me by a police officer!" Hugh laughed at his own joke before sobering quickly and steadying himself, still disappointed by Sam's refusal to offer him any reason to let her live. "You're always after answers aren't you Sam? How much are you willing to pay for the truth? Is it worth your life?"
"What do you hope to achieve by this Hugh? We know O'Rourke is dead, anything you do to Joey now will be obviously your responsibility. What will it achieve? There's no way you can just walk out of here?" Sam continued to avoid his question, knowing the moment she answered him, all hope of walking away would be gone and not fancying her chances of surviving with the gun so close and his hand so steady.
"If I can't see my son, if I can't be a part of his life then he won't grow up. I'll be the one to decide my son's fate. Abi can't deny me access." Hugh spat chillingly. "Anybody who stands in my way is collateral damage." His eyes were devoid of any emotion as he calmly discussed killing his own son.
"If you do that, if you kill your own son because Abi won't allow you to see him, that makes you worse than Ciaran O'Rourke. You're not God, you don't get to decide who lives and who dies. I'm glad that Abi is sensible enough not to want you anywhere near her son. You might have contributed to him genetically, but I can promise you that is the only input you are going to have in deciding how his life turns out." Sam's words were muffled as Gary at Hugh's back, knocking him forwards, the pair rolling off the couch and onto the floor, Sam tumbling with them as Hugh tried to use her as a shield, the gun knocked from his hand by the fall. Sam struggled in Hugh's grip, his hands grasping at any body part he could hold onto, sliding over her naked skin from where he had ordered her to disrobe. Gary reached for the gun allowing Hugh to scramble backwards towards the window, dragging Sam with him by her neck, her arms clawing uselessly at his vicelike grip. As Gary spun around, holding the gun in front of him, his eyes widened in horror at the sight of Hugh holding a knife to the DI's neck, a trickle of blood already seeping from beneath the blade. Sam writhed with renewed vigour as she felt the cold steel pressing against her throat, Hugh's hand tightening around her windpipe as she kicked, restricting her intake of air and making her head begin to spin as her panic grew.
"I've got a clear shot Sir. The suspect is standing with his back to the window." One of the armed officers hissed into his radio as he watched the scene developing in the dimly lit lounge of the supposed safe house, thankful for the night vision scope on his rifle, knowing without it, he would be shooting ghosts in the dark.
"Tell me exactly what you can see." Inspector Rollins instructed, holding off momentarily on issuing the order to fire, needing confirmation that all the innocent parties were safe, not wanting a tragedy on his command.
"The upper torso of one IC1 male fitting the suspects description. One IC1 male fitting the description of the officer assigned to protect the mother and child, he's got a gun trained on the suspect." The officer kept his eyes trained on the room in front of him, seeing the suspect move slightly to the side as though grappling with something, or someone. "One IC1 female fitting the description of DI Nixon being held in front of the suspect as a human shield." He admitted, heart hammering in his chest as he realised just how close he had come to shooting the woman, knowing any bullet he fired would tear through the suspects body and enter the woman held against him.
"Hold your fire." Inspector Rollins reluctantly ordered his men, not willing to take the risk of injuring the errant DI no matter how much he wanted to wring her neck for entering the house in the first place.
"Put the knife down Hugh. There are armed officers swarming all over the outside of this building. Right now, there are probably at least a dozen guns trained on your back and the minute they get a clear shot they will fire." Gary informed the crazed man holding Sam hostage, willing his own hands to remain steady as adrenaline coursed through his veins. His eyes flickered to Sam's which were threatening to roll back into her head as her oxygen supply continued to be compromised. "Killing Sam won't achieve anything. Release her now and you can still walk out of here with your life." The young DC instructed. Hugh edged towards the hallway, making sure he kept Sam between himself and the gun Gary held out in front of him.
Jo arrived at the scene, slewing her car to a halt at the cordon uniformed officers had set up, flashing her badge at them before racing towards the DCI. As she approached, she watched armed officers positioning themselves in readiness to enter the building.
"Guv, the ten minutes isn't up yet – give me a crack at talking to him." She panted, resting one hand on the top of Jack's car as she fought to regain her breath from the frantic sprint.
"Situation's changed Jo, he has Sam as a human shield. No amount of rational argument with him is going to get him to give himself up peacefully. They're getting ready to go in." Jo looked as though she was about to argue, before her jaw clenched as she bit back the words.
After a moment, she composed herself enough to respond, "just make sure she's safe, Guv." She paced along the pavement, hating the feeling of helplessness that was settling over her.
Sam realised that Hugh was heading towards the stairs, her sense of self-preservation overruled by concern for the wellbeing of her daughter and grandson. Summoning every ounce of energy she could muster, fighting off the darkness that was threatening to overwhelm her and ignoring the screaming of her lungs for more air, Sam raised her foot from the ground and stamped as hard as she could on the top of Hugh's foot, listening with grim satisfaction to the sound of bones crunching beneath her boot heel. He yowled in pain, loosening his grip around her throat enough for her to gulp in much needed oxygen. She felt him double over a little as the waves of pain crashed over him, his balance lost with his inability to weight-bear on the foot she had crushed. Sensing the opportunity, she slammed her elbow into his midriff feeling the air gush from his lungs past her ear, the knife wavering in his grasp allowing her to wriggle away from his hold on her giving Gary a tiny window of opportunity to shoot, an opportunity he seized immediately. Sam sucked in a breath as she felt the bullet whistle past her arm before hearing it collide with Hugh's body.
Inspector Rollins issued the order to enter the building as soon as the sound of gunfire rang out. Jack and Mickey both grappled with Jo, restraining her as she made to race towards the house.
"Stay here Jo. Gary had the gun, not Hugh." Jack kept repeating those few words until he was certain that Jo had heard him, that she was at least slightly reassured Sam was unlikely to have been on the end of the shot fired. Both men could feel her heart beating wildly, the pulses pounding in her veins as though straining at their flimsy walls in the hopes of making a bid for freedom. Her eyes never once left the house, scanning the windows and doorways for any sign of life, any glimpse of the woman who held her heart and soul in the palm of her hand. The radio in Jack's hand crackled to life.
"House is secured. Suspect is apprehended and in need of medical attention. Can we have a paramedic in here?" Jo let out a breath she was unaware she had been holding as she the officer made no mention of an officer being injured. As Jack's grip on her eased, she raced towards the house intent only on seeing her family, as desperate to make sure Gary, Abi and Joey were ok as she was Sam. She spied Sam being escorted from the house by an armed officer his jacket protecting her modesty in her state of undress, her protests falling on deaf ears.
"I need to see my daughter and grandson – they're still in there. For God's sake, let me see Abi. She'll be terrified, I need to tell her I'm ok, that it's all over."
"Sam!" Jo enveloped Sam in a crushing embrace, kissing every inch of her hair in her desperation to show her affection. Holding her at arm's length, she gently rebuked, "What in hell's name were you thinking? You could have been killed! I was terrified I'd lost you." Tears welled in her eyes as she realised how Sam must have felt after hearing of her own heroics. Jo became aware of the bruising to Sam's face , the gash on her neck from the knife and her lack of clothing on her top half, letting go of the dazed woman and slipping out of the grey cardigan she was wearing before leading Sam into the seclusion of the side passage before removing the jacket loaned to the petite blonde and replacing it with the cardigan she had just shed.
"I had to protect my baby girl." Jo's trembling fingers carefully fastened the garment closed, a reassuring smile offered as Sam searched Jo's face for any signs of recrimination. Jo pressed a handkerchief to the oozing wound on Sam's throat leading her to a waiting ambulance to be attended to, placing a tender kiss on her forehead as Sam was invited to sit in the back. Jo couldn't be mad or disappointed by Sam's inability to promise no further such actions, knowing that her own would be an empty promise – their passion for protecting others a huge part of what attracted them to one another.
"Promise me you won't ever change Sam? I love you just as you are and I don't want to make you try to be someone you're not… even if that means going through hell when you decide to go it alone!"
"I promise…" Sam breathed, wincing as her wound was dressed and the bruises on her face examined for signs of any bones broken, "… as long as you promise me the same thing?"
"Consider it a done deal, sweetheart. Now you just wait here while I go and see what's keeping Abi and that gorgeous grandson of yours."
"Ours," Sam corrected her fiancée, "he's just as much your grandson as he is mine, especially if we're to be married soon – the sooner, the better too." Jo grinned at her, not trusting herself to be able to force any words past the lump which had formed in her throat.