Alex's heart was racing, her adrenaline pumping, aiding her in getting to Gene as fast as possible. Her left hand moved to the gear stick and almost slipped off midway through changing gear, due to how clammy they were.

She approached a sharp corner and wrenched the handbrake on. The back wheels stopped, making the car skid but Alex spun the steering wheel and the car glided round the corner.

Not as effective as the Quattro, but still good enough. She thought as she took off the handbrake and sped to her destination.

"Where the bloody hell has she gone?!" Ray exclaimed as he gawked at the empty space in front of the house where the car should have been.

Chris, Ste and Vicky exited the house to see what was going on.

"Where's the car mate?" Chris asked innocently whilst walking towards Ray. He stopped abruptly when he saw the look of disdain on his face.

"DI Drake has taken it. Where? I don't know. But it's gone and we now have no way of getting back." Ray explained.

"We could always walk?" suggested Ste. The looks he received from the other three officers made it obvious that it was the wrong thing to say.

"Look, let's just cadge a lift off one of the PCs and then we can get on with interviewing Pam." Vicky sighed, she really didn't want to get into an argument over transport.

Just at that moment a PC was unlocking a squad car and unfortunately for him, Ray noticed and pounced.

"Alright mate" He said as he slapped a hand in between the man's shoulders "fancy giving us all a lift to the station?"

The PC knew better than to argue, so he silently nodded and the officers climbed in.

When Alex arrived at the pub, a mere ten minutes later, Gene was sat outside on the pavement smoking the last of his stolen cigarettes.

Play it cool Alex. Don't rush over and overwhelm him when he's just gotten free she told herself before exiting the car.

"Hey" she whispered as she walked over then sat down next to him.

Gene lifted his head to look at her "alright Bolly." They sat in silence for a few minutes, but Alex was itching to ask him that one question that everyone was thinking. A small teasing smile played on her lips as she turned to face him.

"So, a gay pub huh?" She tentatively asked. Gene sighed hard and rubbed his face, leaving the question hanging and Alex with a deep sense of anticipation. "Bolly, I will say this only once and then I do not want to ever have a repeat of this conversation, understood?" He paused for her to answer, when she nodded he continued. "I have never, nor will I ever, be gay, ok?"

"I know guv." She smiled and stood, then as she started walking away, added "I'd be quite disappointed if you were actually." She continued walking towards the car, not daring to look back at his reaction. If she did, she would have seen a comical look of surprise written across his face.

Gene smothered his features in his neutral mask before getting up awkwardly and hobbling across to the passenger's side of the car and joining her.

"Right." He excitedly spoke as he clapped his hands then proceeded to rub them together "Luigi's!"

Alex turned to face him, not quite believing what she was hearing. "You are joking aren't you?" at the sight of his expressionless face, she continued "You've been abducted and tortured; you need to go to hospital! Plus you've already been to a pub."

Gene was outraged; he knew his body better than she did.

"Bolly, I swear to god if you don't take me to Luigi's then I will have to resort to desperate measures!" he threatened, practically growling at her.

"Gene, I'm not backing down on this, you're going to the hospital to get checked out and that's final! I was scared for you and I don't think I'll calm down until I know for sure that you are ok."

Her admission stunned Gene into submission, allowing Alex to drive off towards the hospital in peace.

"Viv, lock her in the cells, we're done with her now." Ray said as he practically threw a cuffed Pam in Viv's direction.

He continued walking, not once looking back, brimming with confidence knowing that he was officer in command at the moment. He could hear quick paced footsteps behind him, obviously trying to catch him up. He knew it was Ste, he had joined him for the interview and was obviously after some approval of how he acted. He managed to catch up, they stood in front of the doors to CID and Ray decided to put him out of his misery.

"You did good mate, well done." He smiled and continued into the office. Ste smiled, allowing his words to sink in before following him in.

"Unbelievable" Alex said to herself as she walked to the car with Gene by her side.

"Told you Bolly, I'm fine. Couple of cuts and bruises Docs said. Told me I need to keep an eye on this cut" he raised his hand to show her the cut "but other than that I'm all hunky-dory."

"How anyone can go through what you have and have nothing worse than a cut on a hand I'll never know" she said disbelievingly as they got into the car.

"Well Bolly, it takes a certain type of man to pull that off." He smiled as Alex started the car. She shook her head and laughed as she pulled away and drove off. He didn't need to tell her where he wanted to go, she already knew.

Ray looked at the clock and sighed. Bugger it he thought I'm in command, I'm making the call.

"Right" he stood and announced to the room "we've done all we can for today, let's bunk off early and enjoy the evening."

It took less than a minute for CID to empty, with Ray leading the way they made their way to Luigi's.

He made his way down the steps and headed to the bar to order a drink, but what he saw make him stop dead.

"Guv?"