First of all, thank you very much for all your reviews. I really appreciate them.

Secondly, I know I left the last chapter on a cliffhanger and I know you want to find out what happened next. Thing is, I don't want to resolve it just yet. However, if you were wondering what happened to Gene, you'll find out now. Please enjoy this flashback chapter. And if the physics of what happens are a bit suspect, I'll just claim artistic licence.

"You know technically the Scott family are innocent," said Alex as she waited by the doors that lead out of CID, "You flap around here like a bat in snakeskin boots decrying them as too evil to live, but the case got thrown out."

"You and I both know that was a travesty," said Gene as he leant against Alex's desk, checking his gun over.

"Was it though?"

"Yes, DI Hunt," said Gene, grinning at her. Alex felt a frisson of pleasure at that name, even though they'd been married for over a year now. DI Hunt had almost replaced Bolly in Gene's favourite nicknames for her, all though he would still call her Drake if she was being particularly annoying (or right, according to Alex).

"High number of cases of salmonella in Fenchurch, traced back to loaves of bread bought from the same grocer. Grocer had nothing to do with it, bread arrives completely sealed from a nearby factory owned by the Scott family. Therefore it was the Scott family what done it." Gene span the barrel of the gun and grinned at Alex.

Alex didn't grin back. "The security guard-"

Gene rolled his eyes. "Sod the security guard. He says he was paid to not be at his post for a few nights and he reckons they- whoever this mysterious 'they' are- will be there tonight. Big deal. Scott family probably paid him to say that."

"They don't have a motive."

"Nobody has a motive, Bolls."

Alex leaned heavily against the doors, sighing in frustration. "I know. It doesn't make any sense. Someone should have owned up."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Gene, checking the bullets again, "Scum like that are scared they'll end up in prison, passed around like binoculars outside women's changing rooms."

"But people commit bioterrorism like this to make a point or to gain notoriety. If we don't know who did it, then who do we know who to be afraid of?" She paused then added, "Are you going to be long? Ray and Chris are waiting."

"Long as it takes Bollykecks," Gene smiled, finally putting away his gun, "You've got some cheek though. Number of times I've been waiting for you to change your dress again, re-fix your make-up…" his voice trailed away as he realised Alex wasn't smiling. Gently, he cupped her face. "I'm not afraid, Alex."

"Yes, you are," she said stubbornly.

"How did you work that out?"

"You've spent the last fifteen minutes checking your gun over again and again. Why did you do that if you don't expect any trouble?"

"Bloke's rights," Gene said. He gently kissed Alex's lips. "Let's not keep the boy wonders waiting any longer, eh?"

XXX

Of course Gene wasn't going to admit it to Alex, but he was worried. He couldn't quite explain why, just some kind of gut instinct. They had driven up to Scott's factory and the security guard wasn't there, all part of the plan. Silently they waited.

When it was nearly midnight, a large car drove up. Beside him, Alex took out the camera and tried to focus it on the car's registration plate before giving up in frustration. It was too dark and the angle was all wrong. She could barely see the plates anyway.

"Do we follow them inside, Guv?" said Ray as shadowy figures ran from the car to the factory.

Gene craned his neck. "No. If we do, we'll be seen. There are still some people inside. Can you see what they're carrying?" he asked as the figures ran back.

"Boxes," said Chris unhelpfully.

The other car started again and turned around. Gene's hands tensed over the Quattro's ignition key. He waited until the car was just out of sight before he started the engine and screeched away after them.

XXX

They followed the car to what looked like a single story house. Quietly, the four officers got out of the Quattro. Gene drew his gun and the others copied him. This was it. The showdown. Alex felt her heart rise into her mouth. She wanted to call out to Gene, to take his hand and have him hold her, stroke her hair and tell her not to be so stupid, this was all going to go fine, she had nothing to worry about. She briefly closed her eyes and pretended that he had. It didn't help.

They advanced on the house. At the door, Gene looked back as if to say, "Right, team, this is it," then kicked down the door.

The first room was empty, but the door was open and the sound must have travelled. Four doors led from this room, two on the left, one on the right and one straight ahead. One door each.

Ray and Chris took the doors leading to the left and Gene went straight ahead. Alex opened the door to the right and found herself in a very large kitchen. An ominous clicking noise echoed its way across the dark room to her ears. She gripped her gun tightly.

The clicking was coming from a clock at the far end of the room. Alex ignored it, looking instead at her surroundings. She had got the goldmine. This was the room they wanted.

She took out her radio to summon the others but the words died on her lips as she looked at the clock again. The clock was fixed by wires to explosive material- a bomb. The second hand seemed to speed round- she had less than half a minute.

Alex ran across the room, screaming into her radio. "Bomb in East room evacuate! It's about to explode, get the hell out!"

She got to the door. It was jammed. Alex tried unsuccessfully not to panic as she through her body against the door. It refused to move.

Ray and Chris heard Alex's voice on their radios and ran out of their respective rooms on the left hand side and outside. They looked at each other.

"Where are they? Why's Drake not out?" asked Chris forgetting, in his panic, a wedding.

"The Guv-" said Ray moving back to the house.

The bomb exploded. The bomb had been pathetically small, but the explosion hadn't been the point. All though it was big enough to blow a hole in the side of the house, the real danger lay in the fire started. It quickly engulfed the room.

Ray and Chris shrank back as part of the house just melted away and the rest of it caught fire. Ray grabbed Chris' arm.

"She was in that room!"

They ran back inside, choking in the poisonous fumes. To their surprise, most of the house was still standing. It had only been Alex's room that was destroyed- and even then it couldn't have been all of the room since the wall and door was still intact…

The door. How was it locked?

Together, Ray and Chris smashed it down and heaved Alex's limp body outside onto the grass. Behind them the flames spread to the other rooms, spitting sparks into the night sky. The house was no longer stable as bits of the house began to fall until it grew so unsteady that whole walls collapsed and burned and crumbled to dust.

Alex's eyes flickered.

"Gene," she coughed, "Where's Gene?"

Chris looked around hopelessly at the surrounding area as Alex's eyes closed again, as though she already knew the answer.

The Guv wasn't there.