Disclaimer: Unsurprisingly I'm running out of ideas for these disclaimers. I know what I'll do! I'll give it a blue hue, add some lame storylines and make it shit!

A/N: Because I like kidnapping people and let's face it… I'm a bad person!

Chapter Twenty-One;
Taken

"What've we got?" Max walked into the IBO with his usual imposing nature, not one inch of it lost by the limp or the way he held himself in the same position as he walked, lest his ribs attack him again. Smithy turned away from the wall of CCTV footage, frowning at him.

"What are you doing here Max? You're on sick leave."

Max waved the question away. "I don't get sick." He stepped up beside Smithy. "What's going on?"

"Two police officers were beaten up on the Larkmead this morning. They're still in hospital. One's pretty bad. He might not make it."

Max swore softly. "Hope the judge throws the book at them."

Smithy shrugged. "Gotta find their attackers first. You'd think it wouldn't hard since they stole a police car but they knew what they were doing - disabled the tracking device and everything." Max glanced sideways at Smithy, that uneasy feeling returning again. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I came to see..." he started to explain but a camera shot had caught his eye. It was the intersection at the end of his street. "Do you have footage from camera 45B at 9:57 this morning?"

Smithy nodded and went to the computer nearby, pulling up the hour. "Sure, why?"

"Because I've been here a minute now and you still haven't pawned me off to Millie." Smithy frowned. "She's not here is she?"

Inspector Smith stood up slowly. "Of course she isn't." He came to the hour and pressed play. Two minutes later the police car went through the intersection, driving calmly, the drivers still well in control.

The constricted feeling in Max's chest wasn't his ribs this time. "The officers in hospital are PCs Duncan and Emmanuel, aren't they?" Smithy nodded slowly, looking at the footage too as it looped over the police car driving through the intersection again and again. If Max looked closely he could see Millie's figure in the back seat. "They turned up at my house this morning and took Millie from right under my nose." Max crossed his arms and sat down heavily.

Max had used facial composition software before, but it had never been so personal, nothing like this. He was halfway through the second man, the man identifying himself as 25-year-old PC Timothy Duncan, when the reality hit him exactly what had happened and just how close he'd been to stopping it.

"I knew something was up," Max muttered, the young PC Copeland glancing across at him, giving him a slight frown. "The minute they turned up. I should have stopped her going."

PC Copeland stopped filling in the computer composition and turned on him. "I'm going to give you the response I imagine Millie would give you – you didn't know."

Max gave a brief smile. "Sounds exactly like her." He looked back at the computer. "Small scar on his right cheek." PC Copeland added the scar. "Yeah, that's him." She hit print and the image rolled out. At the same time she copied the image into the facial recognition software, alongside the first image of 30-year-old 'PC Derrick Emmanuel', and clicked 'search'. "Would you like a drink PC Copeland?" Max asked, pushing his chair back, eager to find these two scumbags but too antsy to stay sitting.

"I'm alright sarge." Jennifer stayed staring at the computer screen. "You can go. I'll come get you when there's a hit."

"Thanks." Max was halfway out of the IBO when he saw Smithy coming towards him.

"How's the E-fit?"

"Done." Max stopped. "When PC Copeland gets the names, I wan…"

Smithy cut him off. "I know what you're going to say and the answer is 'no'. I'm not going to have another case of chasing up your mess and then having to explain to Millie exactly why her husband is lying in a hospital bed… again."

"So the fact I'm even asking you for a way in means nothing?"

"It doesn't mean nothing Max. It means you've grown as a human being and I'm very touched." Smithy muttered as facetiously as he could muster. "But my answer is still no."

"You're an i…"

PC Copeland stepping into the hall saved Max from saying the wrong thing. "Guv?" She looked between the two Inspectors. "We have two hits."

CrimInt showed them two very familiar faces, Duncan and Emmanuel, real names Joseph Reouth and Elliot Djovnik. "Joseph Reouth, 27, Hungarian, two counts of aggravated assault. Elliot Djovnik, 32, Russian, burglary and grievous bodily harm. They sound like lovely men." Smithy frowned at the computer. "Anything about Jankowski on their file?" PC Copeland shook her head. "Of course not, that would be too easy."

"Doesn't matter; I saw them, they've almost killed two PCs, what else do we need?"

"How about proof?"

Max glared right back at Smithy. "Pretty easy to rely on the textbook when it's not your wife and son that's been taken by a madman." Smithy missed it but PC Copeland didn't – there was hurt and helplessness in his tone. He took a deep breath and looked away, crossing his arms across his chest defensively. "Fine, what are you going to do?"

"Step one – find a link to Jankowski and step two – find out where the hell they've gone." Smithy looked up as Max started to walk from the room. "Then… where are you going Max?"

"To do some real police work – find that dumped police car."

Smithy glanced across at PC Copeland as she stood. "Want a babysitting job?"

"Me?"

"I think you remind him of Millie." Smithy motioned out of the door. "Go have fun stopping him getting him killed." PC Copeland trudged after Max. "Enjoy!"