Hey ;) So, I was getting a bit bored with this to tell you the truth , but suddenly was inspired to write again lol. I asked my good biatch UltraaNeeon about the last bit in the story, and she was like, 'Yeah'
Lol, so that made no sense, let's get onto the story :) Oh yeah, I know it looks long but it's worth it I swear :P
"Vince?" To the younger man's surprise, Gene didn't actually barge through, yelling. He tapped, almost hesitantly on the door. Vince got up from where he sat, thinking, on his bed. He opened the door and went back to his brooding, head in hands as he stared at the floor.
Gene walked over and sat next to him, the bed dipping slightly and the stench of stale smoke and whisky were thick in the air. For some reason, this comforted Vince, but he was thinking to much to realise,
"Why did you walk off? There's no point sittin' in this dump all day," Vince nodded slightly, as if in agreement with the DCI, but the flat was still in silence as both men just sat there, "So we finally got something out of Oliver Noir" Gene was pleased to see Vince react to this,
"What?! What did he say? He wouldn't do anything, he's got a family to look after, a little kid, with good dress sense..." Thankfully, Gene didn't hear this last bit and replied,
"'E said that he was havin' a card game," This bit was said with a disbelieving voice, "With those two blokes we nabbed for workin' with the Morton's. He gave us an address of where they wanted to meet him"
Vince nodded and heaved himself up off the sofa, much to the surprise of the guv, who half expected the young man to sit there all day,
"Well c'mon then, the sooner we find evidence that he's innocent, the sooner I can go home" He ignored Gene's look and walked towards his door, biting his lip as he heard a voice from the telly, deliberately slowing down to hear it,
"Hey you, the doctor brought this really posh, expensive neurologist - that's someone who looks at your brain scans and tells us what's what. Anyway, he said it might help you wake up faster if you heard something familiar, besides my voice, so I brought your Bowie CD, I'll just turn it on... there you go sweetheart..."
Flowing from the telly came 'Ashes to Ashes', which made Vince's eyes well up with tears, but hurriedly blinked them away, in case the guv saw. However, it doesn't stop him singing along,
"Do you remember a guy that's been... in such an early song...I've heard a rumour from ground control, oh no, don't say it's true" Although he was singing quietly, it didn't stop Gene giving him a sideways glance,
"I've never heard that one" He muttered as Vince finally shut the door, but regretted it instantly, no longer being able to hear the song,
"It's by Bowie, 'Ashes to Ashes', it was out ages ago" He got a blank stare and nearly kicked himself. Of course it wasn't out years ago, it would be out in... when? 1980. Seven years. Well at least he had stuff to bet on. With these thoughts in mind he trilled,
"I bet you that in 1980, Bowie'll release a song called 'Ashes to Ashes'" Getting just a growl in response, he shut up and headed towards the car.
--
"Right, we've got back-up and Plod waiting, so let's get on with it" Gene shouted at his team, who all nodded in response, including Vince, who actually looked rather excited at the prospect of raiding this bar. In truth, he'd never really done anything like this, Howard had never let him, preferring to take specialists, leaving Vince in charge while he was gone. Vince had always grinned at this, loving how scared Howard was for him, but now, he felt almost sick as he pictured Howard, scared to death about the small man in the hospital bed, never getting any better.
"Let's go!" The DCI yelled, and they swarmed in, ignoring the startled looks they got from various regulars there, Gene kicked a door at the back of the room down, and charged in, stopping when he was only half-way in and glaring around at the room. There were about 12 men in there, smoking and watching a screen that was showing what looked to be porn.
"Right, I'm gonna have you all dragged down the station and you're going to answer some of my questions, got it?" He yelled, possibly spitting in several people's faces. Vince managed to edge into the room, and, after a quick glance at the screen, asked,
"What're all those on that table?" Gene looked round slowly, making sure to keep the men in the room in his sight. On the table opposite, there were about two crates of various films and magazines, which Gene gave one glance at and grinned back at him,
"Nice work Vincey boy. Ray, get a couple of Plod to help and take this evidence down to the station" He shouted to Ray, who managed to worm his way past Vince and nodded, waving over a few officers who quickly picked some magazines up and exited the bar, depositing the 'evidence' in the cars.
"Sad" Vince muttered, rolling his eyes and not taking another look at the screen, which is what all of the other officers were doing, barely making sure that all the clients there were being taken to the station.
"C'mere" He said to one of said clients, making sure the rest were following before making them wait in different cars, before going back and pulling Gene to their car.
"Do you mind, I was checking the crime scene!" He barked at Vince, who just nodded, disbelievingly and asked,
"So why didn't you find this?", holding up a phone number which had been stuck to a board in the room. Gene looked like he was going to burst, but just breathed out slowly and said,
"I was leaving it for you... boosting your confidence and all..."
"Right" Vince answered, in a heavy sarcastic tone, gazing at the number. It looked really familiar, and stirred a very hazy memory up in his mind, but was struggling to recall it.
--
They all sat in the station, everyone but Vince trying to edge further forward, clustered around a screen set up in the middle of the room. The boxes they had taken from the scene were stacked on desks, while Vince sat on another desk near the back, swinging his legs as he dialled the number he'd found into the phone.
"Any luck Noir?" Gene shouted across the room,
"It's not been answered yet. It'll probably be a sex chat line or something" He shook his head as the guv looked puzzled and stuck a finger up in the 'one minute' gesture as the phone was finally answered,
"Hey, this is Vince Noir, d'you want to speak to my mummy or daddy?" A cute little voice errupted from the other end of the phone, making Vince almost fall off the desk. He knew that number looked familiar. Why would their home phone number be given to a place that sold and showed porn?
"Hello?"The kid sounded really nervous by now, so Vince stuck the receiver down quickly and let out a shaky breath, looking up to see Gene frowning,
"Well? Any chat?" Vince shook his head quickly,
"Erm.. no, no it was a... wrong number, er, unobtainable" Gene growled and stomped the front of the room, where the other officers were waiting impatiently to check the 'evidence'. Switching it on, they were all immediately greeted with a woman doing some very pleasing things to a man who looked to be grimly enjoying himself. After a few minutes, the guv switched it off and barked,
"I want to know who's sellling and making this filth! Hard-core porn..." He was about to say something, but was interrupted by Vince laughing and saying,
"Hard-core. Yeah. I've seen worse on channel 4" The others all turned to look at him curiously, while Gene flared up and said,
"Anyway. I want whoever's doing this found by tea time, got it?!" They all nodded quickly and got up, before all rushing over to the magazines, muttering things about needing to analyse them.
VInce rolled his eyes before going to stand by the guv, his head in a whirl. What would his dad have that would be of interest to these people? If it was the Morton's behind it all, why would they want him?
"You and me are going into town" Gene announced to the DI, who swivelled round to look at him,
"Genius! I think in the paper it said there was a sale somewhere... possibly 'Ye olde Topshop'" He started muttering to himself, panicking as he tried to think of a decent clothes shop in the 70's.
"No, what me any you are doing, is we are going to find Jimmy Lips," Vince raised an eyebrow at him, making the guv sigh and elaborate, "He's a great squealer, knows all sorts of things does Jimmy. Prozzy would be better, but they don't always know stuff about gangs. More rapists and muggers"
Vince nodded and asked,
"Are we going then?" The guv nodded and shouted,
"Chris, go through this film again, try and pick out faces!" The young officer scuttled over, nodding and exclaiming,
"Yes guv!" Before settling down in front of it with a grin on his face.
--
After fifteen minutes of merciless beating, Jimmy Lips (Although Vince had a hunch this wasn't his real name) finally spoke,
"The Mortons are planning something, something big, only the 'ead honcho knows what" Gene threw him against the wal again,
"Is that true Jimmy? And who would that be?" The man looked extremely nervous and shook his head, either not knowing or unwilling to say. After another few minutes, Vince layed a hand on the guv's arm,
"Guv it won't do any good, he doesn't know anything. Let's go back, see if any of them found something" His bright blue, pleading eyes won the guv over, and he threw Jimmy out of his grasp and onto the floor as Gene walked back to the car, dragging the younger man behind him, who kept flicking his eyes backwards to check if Jimmy was still moving and/or breathing.
--
"Guv! Boss, we've got something!" Chris yelled as they came back through the doors. Looking at eachother, both Gene and Vince ran over to where Chris was sat, waiting for him to explain,
"I was watchin', and the camera kinda swung round and it showed the people who were directing, and I managed to pause it and, well..." He tailed off and let them to see who was there themselves. Gazing up at the screen in horror, Vince saw an incredibly familiar face near the front of the directing crew.
--
"So Mr Noir, care to tell me why you were at a porno shoot the Morton's set up?" Gene growled, his temper already extremely close to snapping as he looked at the nervous man on the other side of the table,
"Ok... I was... I didn't go because I wanted to, I... they threatened me, and my family, Little Vince and Ivy, my wife. They said if I came to one of those, filth shoots, then they'd leave us alone" Gene was looking at him all the time, never taking his glance away,
"And why would someone as high profile as the Morton brothers want to hurt you and your family?" The man shrugged, shaking and pale. He was wringing his hands uneasily and looked to be quite sweaty.
"Erm, guv, maybe we should give him a minute" Vince suggested, getting a warm feeling in his chest as his dad looked over and smiled in thanks. However, the guv said,
"Have you had anyone try and contact you yet?"
"What?" Oliver asked, looking thoroughly confused,
"They're going to want to know if you said anything to us, so when they hear you've been released, they'll probably arange for you to meet them somewhere. So you should go home. I'll stay outside and wait, then we'll go when they call" Vince said all this quite quickly, not wanting Gene to interrupt before he had finished. Thankfully, when he did, the guv said nothing, but actually nodded in agreement, but growled, as they were leaving,
"No funny business Noir". Both Noirs turned around, grinning slightly as Gene scowled and said,
"The one who doesn't annoy me every hour of every day" They both nodded, Oliver for some reason looking slightly guarded as he and Vince left.
--
Vince sat in the unmarked car Gene had provided. He felt rather sorry that his dad had to drive them back, what with his shaky hands and everything, but didn't trust Vince enough when he announced that he was learning how to drive.
Vince was almost falling asleep when he heard a door slam quietly and he looked up, seeing Oliver half running/half walking over to him. Getting in the driver's seat, he looked down at his lap and said, almost shyly,
"They called. Said I had to meet them at a snooker club in half an hour" Vince nodded and picked up the radio in the car and tried to grin, but only managed a small grimace,
"We'd better call in some reinforcements then, huh?"
--
"You'd better be right about this Noir" Gene said, glaring at Oliver, who fidgeted about on the spot nervously and pulling at the cuffs on his jacket. Vince was just as nervous. Is this when his dad went? No, he corrected himself insantly, the only thing his mum had said about this was that it was at a family wedding. Vince crunkled his lip and glanced about, hoping not to see any banners saying 'Congratulations' or anything like that. Checking his watch, the guv said gruffly,
"You'd better be going in then. And don't worry, I've got someone on the inside, you'll be fine" He winked at Vince after Oliver had walked in.
"Do you really have anyone in there?" Vince asked,
"Yeah, I got Jimmy Lips to go in there and see what he could find out, then if..." His words were cut short by the sound of gunfire in the air. Not wasting any time, Vince ran in, his heartbeat racing. What if his dad hadn't ledt? What if he'd been shot, and his mum just said that to him because he was so young and didn't understand what 'death' was?
Gazing around with his heart in his mouth, he saw a body, bleeding and barely breathing, lying on a snooker table, but instantly knew it wasn't his dad. The hair was completely different. He shot into the only other open door, which led to a back room. There was another body in here, slumped at his desk, blood dripping onto the paperwprk he never got to finish,
"Da... Oliver?" Vince called out, hoping no one heard that small, slip of the tongue. He heard a gasp and saw a man cowering behind a desk, looking up in shock, big baby blues hitting Vince. Standing up quickly, he grabbed hold of Vince's arms and said, almost yelled,
"You've got to get me out of here Vince! They were waiting for me, the Morton's, they shot everyone, and I... I heard and hid..." He was wringing his hands again. Wow, Vince thought, I never knew how much my eyes affected people. Now I know why Howard does what I ask him so many times. He looked up as they both heard Gene shout from the other room,
"Noir, here!" Vince dashed out, dragging his eyes away from his dad's and sped into the main hall, seeing Gene bent over the body on the snooker table, trying to decipher what he was choking out,
"The...K...Key, key..." He shuddered as he heart finally gave out, and lay still
"Even in death you're useless, aren't you Jimmy?" The guv growled, looking down with some regret as Jimmy Lips lay dead before them, "What the bloody hell does key mean?" He spat, before looking up at Vince,
"Were's Oliver?" He asked, making Vince start and say,
"He's fine, he heard the gun shots and hid, he's in that back room,". Pointing a finger in the direction of the room and continued as they walked there together, "He said the Morton's were already here and waiting..." He trailed off as they went in and saw that the only person in the room was the dead man hanging off his chair, souless eyes gazing up at them.
"Find him or don't come back at all Noir!" Vince glowered at him, but it didn't take too much persuading for him to go. What if his dad had gone... The family wedding! Vince was sure it was today, or maybe tomorrow, and ran off, before skidding to a halt near Jimmy and saying, extremely slowly,
"Key... not a key. The key. A quay! You got the wrong type! A dock!"
Gene looked at him and said,
"He told us before he'd heard about some porno shoots being done at docks. Right," Gene blew himself up to his full height and barked out orders, "Noir, you go find Oliver, us lot'll go to the quay"
"I think I know where he is!" Vince yelled at his retreating back, "A family wedding he...I, I heard him talking to his wife on the phone" He quickly lied, "It's at... erm..." He struggled, trying to remember the name of the place. Suddenly, alightbulb went off in his head, "Greystoke Community Centre!"
The giv nodded and said,
"You go there, we'll go to the quay" Vince's eye's dimmed slightly,
"You're not... you're not coming?" Gene shook his head and said,
"It only takes on man to find another, how many men, possibly armed will be at the quay? Yo can go by yourself, and like it" Vince stamped his foot angrily and childishly, before remembering the seriousness if the situation and rushed off.
--
He rested his elbow on the window ledge of the centre and sighed, sticking his head on his palms, gazing through the window. His heart gave a start several times as his mother swished into view, dancing with a small child. Whether it was him, he didn't know, but for a few minutes he just sat and stared, wishing he could go in and hug her. He hadn't seen her in so many years. Her black hair, which was tied back in a pony tail flew behind her, and she laughed merrily, green eyes sparkling as she kissed the child on the top of the head and went to dance with someone else.
Vince jumped up as the happy scene was invaded by the sight of his dad suddenly coming up behind his mum and holding her hand, twirling her hair, stroking her face and mumbling small words into her ears, which made her blush prettily as they continuied to slowly dance to David Bowie's 'Life on Mars'.
Suddenly, the scene changed once again, as his dad suddenly ripped away from his mum, walking toward the front doors. Vince could hear his mum's bewildered tone, asking where he was going, and heard his dad reply in a tense voice that he'd only be two minutes, before almost running out.
Vince edged round the side of the building to see the man running into the woods near the centre. Looking sharply around and realising that Gene was as good as his words and that he had no back-up, Vince hastened to follow him, stumbling every so often as there was a particularly clumpy bit of grass.
Then, he just tripped, went right over, sprawled over the floor, after his foot hit something that definitley wasn't grass. Looking back, his stomach made an odd jolt as he saw a gun, that had obviously been dropped and, hearing footsteps running back to claim it, Vince guessed it wasn't on purpose.
Looking up from his position on the floor, Vince saw Oliver, rushing through the woodland. He stopped at the sight of Vince lying there and held out a shaking hand,
"Give it to me" He begged in a small voice, "I need it. What if... what if the Morton's find me? I need to protect myself" Vince managed to get up from the ground, hand curling round the handle of the gun.
"I can give you protection! Don't leave!" A definite tone of fear struck in his voice, making Oliver almost reel at the pain the officer was suffering,
"I.. I have to. You're going to arrest me, and I can't, I need to be... my family are better off without me and..."
"Don't move, you're surrounded by armed bastards!!" The booming voice of Gene Hunt shot through the trees, making Vince leap in fright and spin around, looking for him. Just as he did this, Oliver launched himself forward and knocked the gun out of the young man's hands, into his own.
He grinned, a psychotic glint in his eye as he pointed the gun at Vince.
"I need to keep the family safe. They're better off with this" He cocked his head slightly as Vince stared at him, deep into his identical blue eyes.
Suddenly, time slowed down. Vince heard his DCI swear and could hear footsteps running towards him as he saw his dad wink madly and pull the trigger, aiming the gun straight at Vince's chest. He was sure he heard the bullet as it ripped through him, pain exploding inside him as all he could feel was sadness. He hadn't managed to get his dad to stay. He'd never get back.
He heard his dad running off, followed by officers, but it was fruitless. They'd never catch him. He'd fallen to the ground, landing softly. Too softly, he thought, but then realised Gene had ran forward and caught him, laying him down gently.
The pain was tremendous. His eyes went fuzzy then blurry, fuzzy then blurry. Like they were in sync with a heart rate monitor. Could he hear a heart monitor? Or was he just passing out?
"Jesus Vince, come on, you can do it, just breathe, come on. God Vincey boy, come on, hold on, ambulance'll be coming soon kid, you can hold on, just stay awake ok? No, open your eyes, I..." He had the sensation of Gene holding him, cradling him, tears running down his face as he slipped slowly from conciousness, back and forth. He could hear other officers muttering in the background, a woman crying. Annie? He never got to say bye. Or tell her more about Howard. And Hannah. She was nice. He should've talked to her more. "That's it Vince, you're doing it, nice deep breath, ignore the blood it's... it looks worse than it is, I swear. Come on Vince, open your eyes!"
"Vince? Come on sweetheart breathe, come on. God Vince darling, hold on, the doctors coming, you'll wake up, come on, open your eyes!" He had the sensation of Howard holding him, cradling him, tears running down his face as he slipped slowly from conciousness, back and forth. He could hear other people, wheeling trolleys around and muttering. "That's it VInce, you're doing it, nice deep breath, come on, you can do it, I know you can! Come on Vince, open your eyes!"
He heaved a tremendous breath and his eyes opened.
Whey, where's he gonna wake up? You're gonna have to wait till next time :P Please review, or it'll take even longer for me to update....