The next morning Phil sat in CID talking to Sam about some CCTV footage he had found the night before. The footage showed Marcus Black pulling Max Green into a red car. Black had a gun pointing at Greens' head. What ever it was that Max Green had done, it clearly had upset Black a lot.

"We then loose them as the car disappears down a back alley. We can only get a partial index, Whiskey, Tango, 99… It doesn't give us much to go on but it's a start." Phil explained.

"That's great Phil. You're right though, it doesn't give us much to go on. Clearly Max is in real danger so we need to get to him quickly. If you could find Alex and get her to go through the rest of the CCTV, then get back down to the drop off site, see if there's anything we missed. I'll come down and join you shortly. Can you take Mickey and Terry with you? Thanks Phil." Sam said as she made her way back through to her office.

Phil headed down to the yard, closely followed by the two DCs. They got into the CID car and drove to the docks. As they pulled up outside the crime scene, the CSE was still taking down evidence. As they got out of their car an officer approached them, not realizing they were also police officers. They showed him their warrant cards and the uniformed officer let them through.

"Uniform, always as thick as hell. Can't even tell when their senior and far more superior officers arrive." Phil snorted. Terry and Mickey just looked at each other and smirked. Everyone knew how prejudice Phil felt towards the uniformed branch, and he never tried to hide it.

Each officer split up, looking for any indication as to where Black could have taken Max Green. It was going to take a while, but they needed to get a result on this, and fast.

In the station Alex was ploughing through the CCTV. She was so in-grossed in the footage and looking for evidence, she hadn't noticed the time go past so quickly. She finally glanced at the clock on the wall and did a double take.

Blimey it's half past ten already. She thought. Her stomach grumbled angrily at her. She hadn't had anything to eat since the night before.

Almost as if on queue, Smithy walked in with two cups of coffee and a couple of dream rings from the canteen.

"Ah, you must have read my mind, I'm starving." Alex said as she took hold of her coffee and donut.

"'Ave you not had anything to eat all morning?" Smithy asked.

"Not since last night. Didn't feel hungry, 'till now that is." Alex replied as she tucked in to the sweet, creamy ring.

Smithy glared at her and shook his head. "That's no good. How do you expect to recover if you don't keep your strength up? Anyway, what you doing for lunch? I was hoping I could take you out somewhere." Smithy asked as he sat and drank his coffee.

"Nothing that I know of, so I will be glad to get lunch with you. Has Gina put you on light duties?" Alex asked through a mouthful of food.

"Yes she has, so she asked me to come and help you sift through this lot." Smithy replied pointing at the videos sat in front of them. "Have you found anything so far?"

"Not really, certainly nothing we can use. I just can't work out what happened. Max and Marcus have been 'the best of buddies' so I don't know why they've fallen out." Alex explained.

"Well Sam, Phil, Mickey and Terry are down there now looking for more evidence. Hopefully they'll be able to come up with some more information." Smithy said.

Sam got out of her car and approached Phil. He was looking round a couple of the warehouses.

"How are we getting on here?" She asked.

"We haven't found anything that we don't know already. The CSE haven't quite finished so some of the areas are still closed off." Phil explained.

At that moment Mickey came over with an evidence bag. Inside was a key fob belonging to a hotel.

"This was found over by the area that Green was shot. From the evidence there is, it looks like there was a struggle after Max was shot. We know that Black took Max Green in the commotion from the raid, so there's a strong possibility that the fob came from a key in his possession." Mickey explained. "The fob belongs to The Royal Blackburn Hotel; it's just off Vincent Street. If that is where Black has been staying then there may be some CCTV footage that can show where he went next. After all, that is the direction he was heading before we lost him. We may be able to pick him up near by."

"Good work Mickey, you've done well. I'll get on to Alex and see if she has anything from or near to Vincent Street." Sam said as she reached in to her pocket and pulled out her phone.

"Ok Sam, I'll give you a call as soon as I know anything." Alex replied as she hung up.

"What was that about?" Smithy asked feeling a little concerned.

"They've found a key fob belonging to a hotel on Vincent Street. They want us to go through the videos and see if we can't pick him up."

"Right, well you start with that pile and I'll get on with this lot." Smithy said, separating the large pile of videos.

An hour past before they even got close to finding anything. Alex was getting really frustrated. She desperately wanted to find the two men. Smithy wasn't having much luck. He had sat through almost 30 hours of footage and hadn't seen a thing.

Alex threw her pen on the desk and sighed. She got up and walked across to the window looking out onto the yard. Smithy looked at how distressed Alex was. He knew that she was hurting, a lot, and he knew how irritated she felt about not being actively involved in Max Greens arrest. Smithy had known Alex long enough to know how this was making her feel; she didn't need to tell him.

Smithy walked up behind Alex and placed his hand on her shoulder. He pulled her into his arms and held her close. Alex started to sob again. She didn't know why she wasn't able to control her emotions when she thought about Green and the fact he wasn't behind bars. Smithy stood there with Alex in his arms and let her sob into his chest. When she stopped crying she looked up at Smithy. Her face was tear stained and when they looked at Smithys' shirt it was wet from her tears.

"That was clean on this morning, I hope you appreciate that." Smithy said as he looked down at her.

Alex gave a little laugh and smiled at him. Smithy pulled her back into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"We will get him you know; it just might take a bit of time. But I promise I won't give up until we do." Smithy comforted.

"I'm sorry Smithy. This is rather unfair to you isn't it. I shouldn't expect you to comfort your girlfriend when she is upset over her dead husband." Alex said as she dried her face.

"Don't be daft. I don't expect you to stop loving your husband or forget he existed.

You were together for something like ten years, married and had three children. I want you to still feel like you can talk to me. I hope our friendship isn't going to change just because we're dating." Smithy replied, looking at Alex as she dried her face.

He placed his hand on her cheek and brushed away a tear with his thumb.

"I hope our friendship doesn't change. You're one of my closest friends Smithy, someone who has always been there for me. I think we've both been through a lot and it's going to take a while for us to get there, but we will eventually." Alex said.

"Course we will. I still want you to talk to me about Paul, the girls and anything else that's on your mind. You've always been there for me as well and nothing will ever change that."

"Only if you promise to do the same. I want you to feel that you can talk to me about Kerry and Louise. I think this is only going to work if we're truly honest with each other." Alex explained.

"Yeah you're right. So have you told the girls about us yet?" Smithy asked.

"I told Cara last night. She took it really well, better than I thought she would actually. She really likes you so I think that makes a difference."

A noise from a passing officer made them both realize that they needed to get back to work. Reluctantly, Alex pulled away and sat back in her seat.

"Have you found anything yet?" She asked.

"Not yet. What 'bout you?" He replied.

"No nothing. I'll keep looking though. We're bound to find something eventually."

Smithy sat back at his desk and started looking through more of the videos.

After a short while Alex found something from one of the tapes.

"Smithy come here a minute. I think I may have found something."

Smithy walked over and sat in the chair next to Alex. She rewound some of the video and then played it back for him to see.

"Look closely at that red car. It's too blurred for us to get an index, but look at the guys in the car. They look really suspicious. I can't make out who it is but they pull up out side this lock up and go inside." Alex said.

"Yeah, and it doesn't look like that other guy is going voluntarily, does it?" Smithy pointed out.

"Right, I'll take this up to Sam and let her know. I'll see you in a bit, yeah?" She said as she made her way to the door.

"Catch you later." Smithy replied and winked at her as she left the room.

In CID Alex had explained to Sam and Neil what they had found. Sam sat and thought about their next move.

"Right lets get all available units down there now." Sam made for the door and headed down to towards Ginas office.

Together Gina and Sam arranged for a group of officers to go down to the lock up. They would be joined by armed officers, just to be on the safe side.

"Right Dan, Lewis, Rodger and Tony; I want you to come with DI Nixon and myself to a lock up at the back of Briston common. We believe that there are two suspects occupying one of the lock ups, and they're possibly armed. SO19 will be accompanying us but still be very careful. We'll make our way down to the van in 10 minutes, so if you get your kits." Gina dismissed her officers and made her way to the female changing rooms.

In the van the officers made there way to the lock up. They discussed exactly what they were going to do.

"SO19 are going in first. Once they have secured the place we will go in and make the arrests. We do not split away from the rest of the team at any point." Sam explained firmly to her colleagues.

As the van pulled up outside the lock up, raised voices could be heard coming from inside the building. The officers couldn't quite make out what they were shouting about, but when they stormed the lock up, all became apparent.

Marcus Black was holding a gun against Max Greens head. He was shouting at Green about how he had betrayed him. He looked nervous and very jumpy.

When SO19 aimed there weapons at them, Marcus became worse than before. He didn't know what to do. He continued to point the gun at Max but was looking at the armed officers.

"Armed police put your weapon on the ground and your hands in the air." The Sergeant shouted his orders, but Black refused to move.

"Please Marcus, don't do…" Max Green tried to plead.

"Shut up. You backstabbing bastard." Black shouted back before pulling the trigger.

Max Greens body slumped into a heap on the floor. Marcus Black then turned the gun on the officers as they looked on in horror.

"Put your weapon down and your hands in the air." One of the armed officers repeated.

"Come on then. Shoot me." Marcus said, raising the gun and taking aim at Sam.

The armed officers had no option but to shoot. The sound of gun shot rang round the lock up.

Outside Sam sighed and zipped off her bullet proof jacket. She looked around her and then stepped aside to let the coroners through to take away the bodies.

Jack got out of his car and walked towards his DI. Both looked at each other with grave disappointment and confusion.

"What happened?" Jack finally asked.

"To be honest, I don't know Gov'. We went to check the place out and arrest Max Green and Marcus Black. When we went into the lock up Black was holding a gun to Greens head. Before we knew it he had shot Green, SO19 had no choice then but to shoot Black. I don't know what we're going to tell Alex. It's not the kind of result she would have wanted." Sam said.

"No, I'm sure it's not the result any of us wanted but she'll understand." Jack replied.

"We'll let SOCO examine the area and get back to us with what they find. Until then you should go back to the station." Jack ordered.

A couple of weeks past since the incident at the lock ups. The CPS had decided to drop the case against those arrested, due to a lack of evidence. Alex sat in Ginas' office and listened as Gina explained the reasons why the case had collapsed.

"I'm sorry darlin' but the CPS felt that there wasn't enough evidence after Max and Marcus were shot. The case hasn't been dropped completely. CID are still looking into it and gathering evidence." Gina explained.

"Yeah I know, but I won't see the man who murdered my husband behind bars now. It would be nice to know why Black and Green fell out though." Alex replied.

"Yeah it is intriguing. Anyway, you need to put it to the back of your head now. Tell you what, do you fancy coming to the pub tonight?" Gina asked with a grin.

"Yeah why not. Well my first month at Sun Hill has certainly been…erm… eventful, hasn't it?" Alex said.

"You can say that again. And here's to many more" Gina said as she raised her coffee cup, toasting Alex.