Another feather in our cap,' Spikings beamed as he put out orders for arrest on the Van der Bilt and Farrel Board, 'well done to the team and especially Detective Inspector Dempsey, Inspector Makepeace and Sergeant Watson and Jarvis, good work. Dismissed,' he barked after the acknowledgement of his officers roles.

'The next project is somewhat more problematic, Dempsey in my office and Makepeace I'll see you next,' he turned his back on them and waited for his orders to be followed lighting a cigarette for temporary gratification as the next op was tricky.

The Yank came in after he'd poured himself a coffee and said a few words to his partner. 'Sorry boss,' he acknowledged Spikings aggravation, 'couple of things I needed to finish with D.I. Makepeace.'

'Shut the door this is highly confidential,' Spikings growled as he dragged on the fag. He waited until Dempsey had complied and then sat down and indicated the other man should do the same.

'I need you to protect someone for a given period, act as their security. Its right up your street Dempsey you've got carte blanche as long as the mark sits pretty. He's the key to a Nigerian money laundering operation based on the profits from human trafficking and prostitution.'

'Sounds nice but why ain't Makepeace in here getting the briefing, we're a team,' this smelt bad and Dempsey could read the boss's body language pretty well and Spikings was unsettled about something or someone.

'The individual in question is her ex, Robert Makepeace so Harry can't work on this. He's been up to his armpits in the business and turned Queen's evidence when the heat in the kitchen got too much. The respectable face of the indefensible, skilled professionals that don't look too closely at what they're doing as long as the money's good.'

'Yeah I know the type,' the American's face was grave as he considered the impact of this assignment on his relationship with Harry. 'Why me, there are other officers that could do this? It's bound to cause distance with my partner I'm guessing Harry will find the situation difficult.'

'Yes I know,' the older man ran his hand over his hair. 'Robert Makepeace is a viper, he's the kind that gives this country a bad name and he didn't treat the girl very well. He'd run rings around most of the idiots out there but he won't run rings around you Dempsey so that's why you.'

Dempsey looked frustrated because Harry didn't want the boss to know about them and to be honest both of them were just getting used to being a them and this couldn't have come at a worse time. He decided to come clean well at least admit he had feelings for Harry. He looked at Spikings and his chin squared decisively. 'Boss I'm gonna be honest with you here….

'No don't,' the Chief Superintendent growled. 'I know you have feelings for Harry that are stronger than one colleague should have for another in an ideal world where we are all just the job. I acknowledge that. However, you're the only officer, other than D.I. Makepeace, that I have any confidence in to pull this off. So you're it so to speak, I suggest you read the brief and then come back to me if you have any questions.'

The American left the room and indicated with his head that Harry should follow him to the locker room. Before she got the chance to comply, Spikings roared her name from the door of his office. She got up ready to obey and James caught her arm to get her attention. 'Before you go in there I want you to know that I tried to get out of this operation but the boss ain't having it.'

Harry's blue eyes reflected her alarm but she nodded and quickly made her way over to the Chief Superintendent's office ready to hear the worst.

Spikings repeated the information given to Dempsey and saw Makepeace's face freeze with distaste, 'people trafficking' she repeated obviously horrified. Robert Makepeace was certainly a gift that kept on giving. 'I really should change my name back to Winfield.' Harry had to wonder why she'd never done that, probably because of the admin. She decided there and then to get her solicitor onto it.

'Well I suppose Robert Makepeace was principally involved in keeping the anonymous faces at the top clean in legal terms rather than involved in the business itself; unfortunately money talks and these people have a lot of it. Anyway, he's now a witness for the prosecution and that means that the same people will be out to make sure he doesn't testify. We will put the witness in a safe house and Dempsey will protect said witness and will pick a team to assist him. You can't be on the team due to your relationship with your ex.'

'I see,' Harry responded woodenly. 'And how long is it before the court case commences,' she could imagine this might drag on for months which would seriously impact any time she could spend with James not to mention having Robert pouring bile into her partner's ears. This couldn't have come at a worse time in their relationship.

'Luckily, it's only a couple of weeks until the trial starts but I have no idea how long it could go on for; the key thing is that Robert Makepeace gives his evidence and after that, well then he will be given a new identity and be under a witness protection program. I imagine he will probably be shipped off to the Antipodes or America, God help him but he'll be out of my manor anyway.'

Makepeace nodded and swallowed hard, 'and what sort of protection is D.I. Dempsey going to get whilst he's going up against the traffickers? He's not used to working with the other members of the team he's used to working with me.'

'I'm going to suggest Chas works on this,' Spikings gave Harry a direct look. 'He's a calming influence; I imagine the Yank will pick Watson and a couple of the other trigger happy, testosterone fuelled types. We've also got surveillance back up from Vice which I'm not entirely happy about but they're insisting since it's their collar.'

'Well why aren't vice providing the protection,' Harry looked exasperated. 'Dempsey isn't the only choice surely and why isn't he compromised by his working relationship with me. If this goes wrong he could be implicated as having a conflict of interest because he's a friend of mine.'

'Vice don't carry guns on a regular basis and that's why we get this stuff coming our way. He didn't bother with the extra detail that Robert Makepeace was also fingering bent coppers in that division. 'I deliberated long and hard before I made the choice Harry, but unfortunately the Yank is the best I've got when it comes to this kind of operation, if you were me who would you assign other than you?'

He was right. There really wasn't another candidate that had Dempsey's experience or success rate. If the operation failed and Spikings had chosen one of the others he would have been criticised for not selecting the most appropriate officer. 'Point taken,' she responded, 'is that all, sir?'

'You're on another fraud case which gives you another opportunity to experience cross team working, Inspector Booth this time I believe,' he smiled encouragingly. 'If you don't like it then you shouldn't be so good at sums and balance sheets and the like.'

'I'll get right on it,' Makepeace said in a polite tone a little annoyed that she seemed to be the only one Spikings pushed into working with the other divisions and she couldn't help feeling typecast in a similar way to Dempsey, a kind of brains and brawn division of labour although Dempsey had good analytical skills as long as it didn't include her kind of skill for 'balance sheets and the like.'

Dempsey was waiting for her outside Spikings office, 'let's go for a coffee,' he offered his gaze trying to read her expression. He drew a blank she was masking anything she was feeling and she was doing it very well. He had a sinking feeling that Harry could retreat back into her shell again and he'd had a helluva time yanking her out of there.

'Yes, I suppose we should discuss the workload as we won't be able to do that once you begin protecting the witness; in fact we won't be able to meet or discuss anything separately without another party present.' Makepeace wasn't stupid she knew she'd have a battle with her partner on this one but she was prepared to stand her ground.

'You've got to be joking,' Dempsey followed her out of the office. 'Harry that's ridiculous… He knew she'd take some stupid attitude towards the operation because her ex was involved

'No it's not. We need to protect you, Dempsey!' Her blue eyes flashed to his. 'I'm serious James; hear me out before you start giving me a hundred reasons why I'm wrong.' She led the way to the SI10 officer canteen and queued up for their beverages as he gave the biscuits and cakes an unfriendly glower before he picked out the least offensive.

Harry followed him to a table and sat down. 'If our relationship was examined then the fact that we attend a lot of functions together and that you call me regularly after working hours could be used to suggest that you were acting partially towards the witness. As in if the witness gets killed during the operation they could say you didn't protect him adequately because you were jealous of his former relationship with me or you were evening the score for me etcetera.'

'I see that,' he agreed in a low tone. 'I did suggest to Spikings that it wasn't a good idea and he just blanked me, said he knew I had feelings for you which were stronger than a normal colleague's but basically he didn't want to acknowledge that.' He snapped a biscuit in two and his gaze locked on hers. 'Guess I'll just have to keep your ex-husband alive sweetheart. I don't see why that means we can't see each other; it could be months before this is finished.'

Harry nodded in acknowledgement of the point, 'I know but if we can show that we were not in communication other than when we were both in the office; I think that would be helpful if things don't go well.' She looked at her tea and stirred it in an absent minded fashion. 'Robert will probably say some unpleasant things about me as he'll probably know of our working relationship. He can be quite malicious….

Dempsey leaned forward over the table and growled, 'look at me,' which she did. 'There ain't nothing he could tell me about you Harry that would alter my feelings for you; besides I've known you longer than you were married to him and I guess I know you better than he does in a number of ways,' he winked at her.

Since Harry hadn't discussed the length of her marriage with Dempsey she wasn't sure how he knew that but decided not to pick up on it as he seemed to have agreed with her analysis of the situation. She gave a reluctant laugh and then sobered. 'I hate this,' she said in a pained tone.

'Me too, princess; me too,' he acknowledged with a deep sigh.

-oOo-

Spikings took it upon himself to introduce Dempsey to Robert Makepeace as he wanted to judge the temperature of the original meet as it would tell him a lot. The Chief Superintendent hadn't got to where he was without being able to read people and he rated that skill highly. 'Robert Makepeace, I'd like to introduce you to Detective Inspector James Dempsey formerly Lieutenant Dempsey of the New York Police Department or NYPD. The D.I. will be in charge of your protection.'

Makepeace smiled but not with any humour or pleasantry, 'I see so you're appointing my ex-wife's partner as my minder isn't that a bit odd; I mean for all I know she's told the D.I. negative things about me from her perspective and due to their close proximity he would probably assume that Harriet's view was accurate.'

Dempsey took that one on the chin and shrugged as if it was no matter to him. 'Detective Inspector Makepeace don't talk about you much in fact I don't think I've ever had a conversation about that which is kind of strange but there it is. If you want to formerly request a replacement it's fine with me.' He added with a grimace of a smile.

Spikings lit a cigarette and dragged on it. 'He's the best there is Mr. Makepeace but if you want to make that request it's perfectly reasonable for you to do so after all I'm covered because I've appointed my best officer for the job. Between you and me we're doing a favour for the Vice boys and I'd be pleased if they looked after their witness. Nothing in this for me but paperwork and a highly skilled, officer seconded from my team which leaves a gap.'

Robert wasn't stupid and he didn't trust the Vice Squad because he knew a number of them were on the payroll of his former employers which is why he'd been assigned to SI10. It was part of his name and shame deal and he didn't know all of the names. 'I don't want that team on my protection detail as they're a bunch of bent coppers in your parlance.'

'What are they in your parlance,' Dempsey asked in a low, sneering tone he hated cops on the take, 'former colleagues?' He looked over at Spikings at the mention of the threat from Vice. 'Considering the information just given by the witness I'd suggest you review the back-up team?'

The Chief Superintendent brushed that away. 'I know who's been detailed; first class copper no need to worry on that score.' He looked back at Harry's ex-husband. 'Do you wish to make a request for a change of the officer appointed to your protection Mr. Makepeace or shall I take it that D.I. Dempsey has your approval?'

'Leave it as it is for now,' Robert responded brusquely. 'When am I to be taken to the safe-house, solitary confinement has lost its charm.' His gaze ran over Dempsey he'd seen pictures of Harry's partner before, he was an attractive man maybe Harriet had been susceptible to that. Jealousy ripped through him at that thought.

'I can take you there now,' Dempsey responded, 'we have a laundry van leaving the prison driven by one of my team. We're gonna have a little bit of fun because you're going in a laundry bag and on a trolley. After that we're gonna be swapping means of transport in order to give us a fighting chance of having the location of the safe house remain unknown to your former employers. We will be changing locations from time to time so as to maintain your privacy. You're gonna have to trust me and follow my instructions to the letter if you want to get through this so do you think you can do that?'

'Lead on,' Makepeace hissed with little civility, he already had a healthy dislike for the American and could tell it was fully reciprocated. The trolley was wheeled in and the witness got into the bag which was filled with dirty clothes and was wheeled off.

'Was that entirely necessary?' Spikings asked sarcastically when he was left alone with the D.I. He could see he was wasting his breath as the Yank just smiled that irritating smile of his.

'Sure boss, I've done this stuff a few times and I know for a fact that at some point we're gonna be in some kind of siege cos anyone can find a safe house if they try hard enough and throw enough money at it but I like to keep that for the finale rather than the start of the game.'

'It's your operation,' the Chief Superintendent glowered. 'Try not to make it personal, Dempsey.' Spikings knew this operation would be a challenge for the American, he'd been protective enough of Harry in the past and he strongly suspected Dempsey had more reason to take up her cause than before.

'I'll try sir, and for your information Harry don't talk about Robert Makepeace so I know squat about what went on between them.' Dempsey intended to blank any attempt by Harry's ex to fill him in on their marriage; he'd decided that if anyone was going to do that it was his partner.

Spikings nodded he could imagine that his female officer kept her emotions hidden even with her partner, she was part of a dying breed, everyone these days seemed to want to publish everything and anything. He didn't believe that her ex-husband would be so discrete especially if he thought he could score points with Dempsey by the reveal. 'I wouldn't trust anything that that man has to say about Harry, we know the girl and I'll tell you something she was wasted on that individual,' he gave a curt nod of his head in emphasis and left Dempsey to it.