A/N: Hello folks. Tuning in for Gail's plan? Excellent. Opinion on Sanderson seems to be a little divided, which is intriguing. Which side are you on?
I've had a seriously productive week, maybe because I spent a lot of time on the train. I've done a shed load of writing...none of it links together of course, but it's all down on paper, so that bit can come later. I am also spending the weekend with the police (no, I haven't been arrested!) which means an opportunity for a bit of research. So all is gravy in my writing world. Happy days!
Anyhoo. I'll get on with it. Time to crank things up a notch.
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"Holly. Holly! Come on Nerd, wake up,"
Holly's eyes opened a crack as she tried to process the hushed whispers that had roused her from sleep. The figure looming over her bed startled her, her body tensing before she realised it was only Gail. She rolled over and lifted her phone from the nightstand to check the time – five thirty two A.M.
"Gail, what the hell? It's the middle of the night!" she groaned.
"It's only an hour before you usually get up!" Gail pointed out indignantly.
"Not when I'm not at work it isn't," the doctor mumbled.
Gail rolled her eyes and stood from her crouched position. "Well if you don't fancy going for a run, then ok, you go back to sleep…" She smirked when Holly's head snapped up off the pillow to stare at her.
"Seriously?" she asked. "You're seriously going to let me go running?"
Gail quirked an eyebrow and gestured down at her own body, hands waving at the running gear she was dressed in.
"But you guys said it wasn't safe!" Holly said, confused about why the rules had suddenly changed.
"Routine isn't safe, remember Doc? It's not that running isn't safe, just that it's what you do three times a week. Six thirty A.M., Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So we're shaking it up. Five thirty start on a Sunday, different route, different everything. Are you coming?" Gail asked.
"Does McGregor know about this?" was the suspicious response.
Of course he didn't. Gail had squared it with Sanderson last night, and they had spent their shift planning it. A very early start was key, as was Gail going out with Holly and sticking close. Sanderson had been out around the neighbourhood this morning already, checking for any signs of trouble and he was satisfied they were in the clear. He was going to stay back at the house but would be ready by the phone. She shrugged at Holly; "What McGregor doesn't know won't hurt us. Get dressed and meet me downstairs in ten," Gail told her. Holly grinned widely, and shot out of bed, squeezing Gail's wrist in excitement as she bolted past.
Gail watched her fly towards her closet, and laughed at the mess Holly made as she tossed clothes aside in search of her workout stuff. She only realised she was staring when the brunette grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and began to peel it off over her head to get changed. The expanse of olive skin that was suddenly on show made Gail catch her breath, and she scooted out the bedroom with a shake of her head. These feelings were getting ridiculous. Pull yourself together Peck, she berated herself; Holly will notice if you perv on her like that! Gail stomped down the stairs and began a quick stretching routine in the kitchen, trying to focus her mind away from how the muscles in Holly's back moved as she lifted her arms over her head…
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Thirty minutes later, Gail's inner torture had only intensified. They had avoided the park where Holly usually ran laps, and were heading out in the opposite direction down a long tree lined street. The doctor's exuberance at being able to run again meant she was setting a fast pace. She was running several steps in front of Gail, and all the blonde had seen for the past five minutes was Holly's long, long legs striding out confidently, the short leggings she wore hugging her thighs in all the right places and leading up to…
"Argh!" Gail groaned, as she found herself watching the way Holly's ass moved as she ran yet again. She was supposed to be alert for any potential threats, but knew she had been hopelessly distracted for at least half of this run.
Holly turned at the sound, and slowed slightly to allow Gail to catch up and run alongside. "Sorry!" she said, smiling despite her elevated breathing. "Am I going too fast? I got carried away being out again," she told her companion.
"Its fine," Gail murmured. Even though she wasn't as keen a runner as Holly and therefore had to work a little bit harder than the other woman, she knew she was fit enough to keep up. She had to be a reasonable athlete to keep her job, after all. But if Holly was going to offer a plausible explanation for why she was flushed and sweaty, then the cop was going to seize it.
"We should turn round and start heading back at the next block anyway," Holly said, checking her watch. The women did just that, moving onto a slightly quieter street to lead them back to the house. Having Holly alongside her now meant that Gail's attention was back on their surroundings, and she automatically scanned the path ahead, noticing a van pulling out of a side street in front of them and bumping the brunette with her shoulder to divert her path slightly and cut behind it. They ran in silence, now at a leisurely pace and enjoyed the feeling of being out in the pale early morning sunlight. Holly turned to smile at Gail, and the cop grinned back, loving the fact she had managed to make the doctor happy just by taking her out for a run.
Within ten minutes they were only a couple of blocks from Holly's place and Gail began scanning the streets in earnest. The last thing she needed was McGregor or Chen to turn up early for the morning handover, and their finding out about this little unauthorised outing. She saw the van moving slowly towards them, and strangely enough it was the swipe of wipers across the windshield that drew her attention first - it wasn't raining, so why was the driver clearing his view? It was only then she realised that she had seen the vehicle before. It was the same one that had pulled out of a nearby side street five minutes before; dark blue with a round dent in the panelled side door. Gail felt a cold finger of fear slide down her spine as she realised the van must have circled the block to be coming back towards them now. Time froze as she saw the vehicle slow down, pull over and the side door start to slide open.
Gail reacted. She slammed the brakes on, her sneakers skidding on the pavement. She quickly threw an arm out and grabbed Holly's wrist, yanking her to a stop too. "Gail!" the doctor yelped, not noticing what the cop had seen. The van had come to a standstill twenty five yards down the street; far too close for the blonde's liking. Two men jumped out the door, and immediately scanned the sidewalk, looking slightly surprised when they saw how far away the two women were. Clearly they were expecting to be right alongside them, but Gail's instincts had bought them some time. She shoved Holly backwards. "Run!" Gail shouted at the confused brunette.
"What?" Holly asked, and Gail shoved her again. "Run! Get the fuck out of here, Holly!" The two men started towards them, and Holly finally saw the danger. Gail dropped to one knee and pulled her service weapon out from where it was holstered around her ankle. She stood and faced the oncoming thugs, and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Holly's footsteps moving away from behind her. One less thing to worry about.
"Police!" Gail yelled at her two adversaries. "Stop right where you are, now!" She got into a solid firing stance and pointed her gun straight at them.
The men paused slightly, and glanced at each other. Then one of them looked past Gail to where Holly was backing away, albeit much too slowly for Gail's liking. He began to advance again.
"Stop and put your hands on your head!" Gail shouted, praying they would listen. They didn't.
"I won't tell you again, I will shoot if you do not stop moving. Do you understand me?" she yelled again, standing her ground. Gail could hear her heart pounding in her ears, and fought to keep her voice steady.
One even had a small grin as he approached so that he was only ten yards away. "You won't shoot me, Blondie," he said confidently. "Get out the way."
She swallowed hard, and centred the gun on him. She depressed the safety trigger of her Glock slightly, so that any further pressure would fire the gun. All her training stated you didn't warn someone more than twice, but the men looked like they were unarmed. Could she really shoot them down in the street? She wasn't even in uniform. "Don't move," she said clearly, mentally taking his description down; dark hair, cropped beard, leather jacket. He was taller than his shaven headed companion, and looked like he could handle himself. The man took another stride forward, and was already stretching his hand out as if to knock Gail's gun aside.
Gail shifted her weapon quickly, aiming well above the man's head and pulled the trigger, firing a warning shot high into the air above him. The thunderous sound of the gunshot made all three of them flinch, and she moved her weapon back to point at the guy's chest. She watched his dark eyes and saw them narrow. They both paused for three long seconds, staring into each others' eyes.
Gail was so focused on the man in front of her; she nearly missed the twitch from the bald guy. The movement registered in the corner of her eye as the shorter man rocked forward ever so slightly, coming up on the balls of his feet. Gail read it correctly, swinging her gun towards him as he launched himself towards her. She pulled the trigger again, just as the guy's forearm came crashing down on her wrist.
The pain shot through her arm and up into her shoulder, causing her to lose her grip on the weapon and she saw it drop and skitter into the gutter, straight under a parked car. Then the guy's weight slammed into her, knocking her backwards off her feet. Gail hit the sidewalk with a thump, but quickly shuffled herself backwards expecting the thug to grab hold of her. However, he struck the floor without moving and she realised she must have hit him somewhere when she fired.
The bearded guy stepped over his stricken pal, and as Gail scrambled to her feet he launched a backhanded slap that caught her cheekbone with enough force to rock her back on her heels. She gasped at the pain, but kept her body in the middle of the sidewalk, conscious that she probably couldn't stop this goon, but she could buy Holly some time to get away. Gail was banking on a local resident hearing the gunshots and calling the police, but she knew a squad car would take time to respond. He came at her again, a cocky grin on his face. He swung another fist, but this time Gail was ready and she slid to one side letting the punch fly over her shoulder. She grabbed his outstretched arm and wrenched it backwards and downwards, just as she'd been shown all those years ago in the Academy.
Beardy dropped to one knee, howling at the pain in his arm and trying to pull away, but Gail hung on grimly. She almost felt like she had control of the situation…until she heard the clunk of a van door behind her, and two seconds later felt strong arms wrap around her from behind and pull her backwards. Shit. She'd forgotten about the van driver.
Gail was forced to let go of Beardy's arm and instead tried to pry the arms from around her waist and shoulders, but the guy was too strong. Beardy rose to his feet and stepped in close to her, grabbing her chin with one giant hand. "Bitch. I will fucking kill you for that," he snarled. "Throw her in the van quickly, we need to go grab Stewart," he directed the driver. As he let go of her face however, Gail snapped her head forward and caught him flush on the bridge of his nose with a violent head butt. She had a split second of satisfaction when she heard the crack of breaking bones and saw the guy drop like a stone, but the flash of pain in her own forehead and the realisation the driver still had a hold of her from behind was a quick reminder that she wasn't out of the woods yet. She struggled wildly, but the guy didn't budge. Instead he moved his arms upwards to clamp around her throat, choking her. Gail desperately tried to stamp on him or bring a leg up to his groin, but he avoided her blows and only squeezed harder.
Her vision swam slightly, and Gail knew she had lost. But at that split second when she stopped fighting, she heard an almighty crash, felt something rain down on her head and shoulders and then the arms around her neck dropped away. She turned to see Holly standing there with a look of complete panic on her face as she held up the remnants of the terracotta flower pot she had just smashed down on the driver's head. Where the hell had Holly come from? Gail wondered momentarily, before turning her attention back to their current situation. The driver was flat out on the ground, groaning in pain alongside the completely prone Baldy, but Beardy looked like he was attempting to get up.
Gail didn't stop to assess any more damage. "Run!" she yelled, yanking Holly's t-shirt as she began to stumble away from the guys on the floor, "We've got to get out of here!" Gail half dragged Holly along with her until the brunette's legs started to work on their own. "Come on!" she hissed as they sprinted up the street. Gail chanced a glance back at the gangsters on the pavement and saw Beardy rise and start to move in their direction. She shoved Holly into a left turn when they reached the end of the block, wanting to put a corner between themselves and the thugs.
As they ran, she fumbled her phone out of her pocket and hit the speed dial for Sanderson. Thankfully he answered quickly and Gail screamed at him, not even bothering to put the phone to her ear, instead just switching it to speaker, "They're here Scott, and they're fucking chasing us! I shot one of them!" She couldn't hear Sanderson's reply but kept the phone in her hand, hoping he would still be able to hear what was going on and knowing she could shout to him if she needed to. She trusted him to keep listening and to come and find them. "Go left out of Holly's place," she yelled at the phone, not able to tell him exactly where they were but knowing that would set him in the right direction. They skidded round another turn into a small alleyway, and ran straight through to the next street.
"Where the hell are we Holly?" Gail asked, looking desperately around her. She knew they were still heading in the general direction of Holly's place, but was sure she had never been down this particular road before.
Holly didn't answer. Gail took one look at the shock that was written all over the brunette's face and knew she wasn't going to get a reply. She took a chance and led them both left once more in the hope of heading roughly towards Holly's street. There was still no sign of any of the guys from the van chasing them, but Gail knew that at least one of them was on the move. It could only have been less than a minute since they started running but the speed at which they were sprinting meant both of them were gasping for breath already. Gail could feel her heart pounding, and wasn't sure if it was fear or the exertion. Her jaw was also throbbing from the blow she had received, and her forehead felt like it was split open.
All of a sudden she could hear the slapping of footsteps against concrete. She looked back along the straight road they had found themselves on, and saw Beardy barrelling out of the alleyway a hundred yards behind them. She increased her pace, hoping that Holly had the legs and frame of mind to keep up, and headed for the junction at the end of the street. "Help! Police!" she yelled, hoping someone would be up at this time and call in the commotion in what was usually a quiet residential area. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Holly look back and even through the other woman's heavy breathing she heard her gasp when she saw their pursuer. Gail attempted to tell her to focus and keep moving, but couldn't find the air in her lungs. She knew that they couldn't keep this pace up much longer.
It seemed Holly didn't need any encouragement though; the sight of the man had been enough to spur her on her, as she hit the next corner a yard ahead of Gail, turning right and then pushing her pace even faster. Gail could only follow, and was then completely surprised when the brunette vaulted a small fence bordering the front yard of one of the properties. Gail nearly ran straight past, but managed to turn in time and follow Holly, albeit less gracefully as she caught her shin painfully on top of the wooden slats. Holly sprinted across the yard and up along the side of the house, keeping close to a manicured hedge row that marked the border of the property. The two women slowed down as they shimmied through the narrow passage and into the back yard. Holly pressed her back against the brickwork at the rear of the house and slid down to the floor, eyes closed and chest heaving. Gail copied her, praying the goon hadn't seen them enter this lot. She knew he would soon work out that the women weren't still running up ahead when he couldn't see or hear them, and would start checking the yards. They needed to be out of there before that happened. How the hell did I manage to drop my weapon, Gail asked herself. What a fuck up!
Gail knocked her phone off speaker in case they were in earshot of the bad guys, and gasped into it, "Sanderson!"
Scott's voice came back to her loud and clear. "Peck! What's happening, where are you?"
Gail fought against the spasms of her lungs, forgoing sucking in more air in favour of talking "Hiding out in a back yard. At least one thug chasing us. Can't see him right now," she told him, speaking as loudly as she dared and was actually physically capable of.
"You need to tell me exactly where Gail, and I'll come get you," Sanderson said, the panic evident in his voice.
"I don't fucking know, Scott!" she hissed. "It's a yard with a swing set and kids' toys, the fence is brown and the lawn is green! How the hell am I supposed to know the address?"
"Ok, ok. I've called it in anyway, unknown gunshot, residential area. Your people will be swarming round here in minutes, but you've got to stay hidden," Sanderson told her.
Gail rolled her eyes. That instruction wasn't worth stopping breathing again to respond to. Stay hidden - what sort of half assed advice was that? She was hardly going to advertise their presence to the maniacs chasing them. As they sat there gulping in air, they heard a vehicle moving slowly up the street out front. Gail thought it could have been a van; seemed like at least one of the other men they had flattened was back up and moving. She felt a tug on her arm, and looked down at Holly's wild brown eyes that were full of fear.
"These houses back onto my street," Holly whispered, barely audible over the sound of her breathing which was just starting to come back under some sort of control. "That's why I came in here,"
Gail nodded in relief. There was a way out of here for them. She briefly wondered how the hell Holly had realised that fact and acted upon it, even when she was so terrified. This woman amazed her. Even when being chased by a crazy mobster, she was still smart and resourceful. Holly's bravery astounded Gail; she herself hadn't come up with any bright ideas apart from "Run!" despite all those years of training and experience of dealing with dangerous situations.
"So which one's yours?" Gail asked, gesturing at the row of roofs she could see behind the yard they were currently sheltering in.
"Three or four houses that way," Holly answered, pointing to their right.
"Sanderson, look out for us," Gail spoke into her phone again. "We're going to try and get into the back yard".
"Ten-four, Peck," came the response.
Gail put the phone back in her pocket, and staggered to her feet. She held out her hand to Holly and pulled the other woman up. "Ever go yard hopping as a kid, Nerd?" she asked, flashing a grin to try and hide the lingering fear of being caught by their pursuers. Holly shook her head, looking bewildered. Gail knew that she was on the verge of freaking out and they had to get somewhere safe soon. The decision was made for them when an upstairs light in the house they were sheltering behind snapped on. Seemed like the occupants were getting up. "Come on," Gail said, and moved toward the wall at the rear of the yard.
A few scaled walls and fences later, a minute or two that felt like hours and the women started to hear the wail of sirens converging on the area. Gail could have cried with relief. She boosted Holly up one last wall and grabbed the doctor's outstretched hand to haul herself up too. They tumbled over the top of the wall and found themselves in Holly's back yard. Scott Sanderson was waiting, weapon drawn and as soon as Holly landed on her feet, he hustled her towards the house. "Come on Doc, let's get you inside," he said.
As she followed slowly behind them, Gail caught Sanderson's eye as he let Holly cross the threshold of her back door. "Chen's already here, McGregor and McNally are on the way. Debrief in ten. The local cops are securing the area, but you need to call the details into dispatch so they can look for the right people," he told the blonde, with a serious frown.
Gail nodded. Holy shit, she was going to be in a world of trouble. But Holly was safe, that was the main thing. She felt herself tremble as she realised how close she had come to losing her. She grabbed the door frame to steady her legs. Sanderson noticed the wobble and gripped her shoulder momentarily. "Hey, Peck. Don't drop out on me now. You got her back here; you did your job. McGregor will be ok, he can't point the finger at you," he said, trying to reassure his colleague.
Gail nodded again. She appreciated Sanderson's efforts to reassure her, but how could she tell him that it wasn't her job that she feared for? She knew she had fucked up today; putting Holly at risk by taking her for the run, shooting the guy, losing her weapon and generally being the worst protection officer that had ever existed. Her professional competence was about to be questioned and usually she would hate that anyway. But all that paled into insignificance with the realisation that Holly could have been hurt or killed in the last half hour, and it would have been all her fault. She watched as Sanderson propelled Holly up the stairs, and as the doctor turned the corner, Gail saw the tears streak down her face. Gail stumbled up against the kitchen island and bent over to lean her head against her arms that were lying on the cool surface. She felt physically sick.
Suddenly the front door of Holly's house slammed open. Gail jumped away from the counter and nearly lost her balance on still trembling legs. She felt sure that her heart was going to give out on her this morning. McGregor stormed through the open door. "What the hell happened, Peck?" he yelled.
Oh shit, Gail thought to herself. I'm about to get fired.
