Settling the score
A/N: Hey everyone, thanks a lot to all my fantastic reviewers for the last chapter-
By the way, I am aware that the majority of people reading this don't watch Hustle, so once again here's a recap of the characters in it.
Mickey Stone- The boss of the group. Black skin, brown eyes, charming, thoughtful, sometimes aggressive, arrogant, jealous and used to go out with Stacie Monroe. Still a hint of something between them.
Danny Blue- Newest member of the gang. White skin, very blue eyes, blonde hair, jealous, fancies Stacie Monroe.
Stacie Monroe- Has recently been stabbed (in my fic, not the TV show lol). Only female member of the gang, dark hair, a little flirty, knows both Danny and Mickey fancy her, but hasn't made a move on either of them on the TV show.
Ash Morgan- Very smart, very calm and he's one of Mickey's oldest friends.
Albert Stroller- The oldest member of the gang (like OAP old lol), trained Mickey, and is absent from this chapter.
Phil and Sam exchanged a worried glance before Phil went to tell the DI about the recent development.
"Does anyone know what happened yet?" Sam asked Smithy
"Not yet. We're staying well clear on the DI's orders. He said it was a CID case and that all uniform had to stay out." Smithy explained.
"Is she alright?" Sam asked
"Yeah, whoever did this must have missed the vital organs, she's conscious."
"We'll need to get someone down to the hospital." Sam said,
"I'll go." Phil replied, reappearing with the DI behind him, "I've got a rapport with Stacie."
"But you don't with anyone else." Sam pointed out
"So?"
"So the rest of them are going to be there." Sam pointed out, "And you've already succeeded in getting Blue and Stone to hate you with that little flirting stunt."
"Well you and Blue didn't seem that close either." Phil said. Neil looked between them, before making his decision.
"Zain, go down there and interview the victim. And try to appear friendly; we're going to need someone close to them if we're going to nick them."
"Guv." Zain nodded, picking up his coat and heading towards the door.
"Oh, and don't flirt with her. We're going to need the whole group on our side, not just the girl." Neil called after his retreating back.
Zain hesitated outside Stacie Monroe's room, unsure of how he was going to play this. Caring cop? Maybe that would annoy the other members of the group though. Then as he heard the boss, Mickey's voice from inside the room, he decided he'd play it by ear and see what happened.
"So what happened?" Mickey said
"Yeah, I would like to know that as well." Zain said, stepping into the already cramped room. Instantly, he felt all eyes on him, some glaring and some merely mistrusting. He glanced around all the faces and saw that the older man, Albert Stroller, was missing from the group. Apart from that they were all there.
"And you are?" The youngest man asked. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. Zain recognised him as Danny Blue, the same con artist Sam had been talking to earlier. He seemed particularly untrusting of Zain.
"DC Zain Nadir from Sunhill CID." He replied.
"That's all we need, more cops." Danny muttered to the boss, Mickey Stone. He saw Mickey incline his head in agreement, but the only woman in the room, the victim, Stacie Monroe rolled her eyes at her friends' stupidity. He decided instantly that she was his way in.
"Nice to meet you Zain." Stacie said, smiling at him reassuringly and unless he was mistaken, a little flirtatiously. He smiled back, and noticed Danny stand up to give him a seat. Zain sat in it and Danny moved around to stand by his boss.
"Why do all the cops we meet have to flirt with her?" the boss, Mickey wondered loud enough for Zain to hear. His friend, Danny just glared at Zain. Maybe Neil was right, Zain realised, maybe flirting wasn't the way in. It made those two men even angrier towards him. He took out his notebook and decided to try the business approach,
"So what happened?"
"I was in the park because I'd just had a falling out with my friends." Stacie said, nodding in Mickey and Danny's direction, "And all of a sudden, this boy jumped out at me with a knife. He told me to hand over all the money I had and when I told him I didn't have any, he stabbed me. Then everything went black" She finished.
"Right" Zain wrote down a few notes, not believing a word of it, "Can you describe your attacker?"
"He was a white teenager, about 5ft 5. He was wearing a red hoody and a cap." She described. Zain wrote it all down again, knowing for certain that she was lying, but unable to do anything about it.
"Well if you can remember anything else, here's my card." Zain said, handing it to Stacie, knowing that no one in the room had any attention of calling him. Groups like this had their own way of solving problems. Just like Kristen Shaw, his girlfriend. He glanced around all four of the people in the room once more. Stacie was looking at him thoughtfully, Mickey with a hint of impatience, Danny was still glaring at him and the only man who hadn't spoken during his duration in the room, Ash Morgan's face was unreadable. At least he didn't appear to hate him as much as the other men. He nodded once in farewell to all of them before leaving through the door.
A/N: I know the majority of readers are Sam/Phil fans, or Huxon as the new name seems to be ;) (Well done Becki and/or Maz lol) so that's why I'm going to continue to bribe you with promises of Sam/Phil in the next chapter as long as you're all great readers and review. I know the chapter was very much about Zain, but I love him so tough ;)
See you all soon lol