"Mrs. Cameron, if you'd like to come with me? End of this corridor, turn left and the fourth one on the right after the double doors. Don't worry I'll be right behind you."

Alex swallowed hard as walked slowly through the doors and back into the maternity section of the hospital. She didn't dare say anything and the codeword- Battersea- suddenly seemed ridiculous. If she said it right out, Langley would recognise it as a codeword, shoot her and leg it. She could drop it into an innocent-sounding sentence but the best she could come up with was "Ever been to Battersea?" which sounded obvious. Besides, she didn't want the others bursting in too soon. She needed to find out where the bomb would be.

As Alex approached the fourth door on the right, Langley, who had been following her at close quarters, suddenly gripped her arm and pushed her up the corridor a bit, through the fifth door on the left. The door slammed shut behind him and Alex hissed in pain as she massaged her arm. She knew what he had done, if the others were to follow the directions picked up by her wire, they wouldn't find her in the room they thought they would.

In the doctor's room were three men, all dressed in black wearing gas masks. Alex shuddered as they peered expressionlessly at her. On the desk in the middle of the room was a bag that seemed to be wriggling next to a fourth gas mask. Alex doubted it was for her.

"So, Mrs. Cameron, how are you feeling today?" Langley asked jovially. "Baby giving you any trouble? Are you still taking the drugs prescribed to you?"

Come on now, work it out! Alex implored silently to the people at the other end of the wire. He just alluded to Cardoxymide, that's a clue surely! He wants to kill me because of it!

But, Alex realised with a sinking heart, they wouldn't. It was perfectly normal for a doctor to ask about the drugs he had prescribed to his patient. There was nothing suspicious about Langley at all.

Langley nodded at the men and they pushed her into a chair so violently that she nearly shrieked out loud. Only the sudden pressure of a gun barrel against her head kept her quiet. Her arms were forced against the sides of her body and a rope was secured tightly around her. Her wig was ripped from her head and thrown into a corner of the room.

Langley completely ignored her, instead standing on the desk and stroking the ceiling. He frowned then gently pushed up. A ceiling tile lifted up to show a space above the ceiling. Langley looked down, grinned at Alex then looked away. Alex followed the direction of his gaze to the wall where a ventilator was embedded into the wall near the ceiling. She suddenly felt sick. So that's how they were going to do it.

The door behind Alex opened and she knew, by the way that Langley put a finger to his lips but widened his eyes excitedly, that the person who had entered was not someone on her side. As they moved forward, she saw that she was right. It was a man, dressed similarly to the others, carrying a gas mask and a canister of some sort.

Langley held out his hands eagerly, like a parent for their child. Alex knew this canister had come from behind the door she had seen earlier. The foil had been to keep the room cool and preserve the contents of the canister.

Rubella.

Langley set the canister lovingly down on the desk and fitted the gas mask round his head. The others followed in a staggered form so that there was always a gun pointed at Alex's head. She wasn't sure why they were bothering. It wasn't like she could do anything, she couldn't get free and nobody was coming. She shut her eyes and thought of all the unborn children in the building that were about to be put in danger, including her own.

One of the other men stood on the desk and heaved the canister into the hole in the ceiling. Alex heard a gentle thud as he set it down on top of the ceiling.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Alex wasn't entirely sure what had happened at the time. Her senses seemed to be working independently of each other and reporting to her brain information that didn't make sense. She tried to piece it together, the psychologist in her kicking in, analysing her surroundings.

The man on the desk collapsed, clutching his leg and a bang. All though maybe the bang had come first.

Alex craned her neck around until the doorway was in her peripheral vision. They were there. A bit blurry but there, all four of them. Chris ran forward, as though to jump on the table, but found himself knocked sideways by one of Langley's men. His head collided with the floor and he passed out. Both Ray and Shaz found themselves overpowered. Shaz glanced up at the hole above the desk. Was the canister open?

Whilst all this was happening, Gene turned to face Alex and stopped, spinning the gun around so the barrel pointed past her.

Langley was too quick for him. A bang echoed around the room and Alex screamed. Gene dropped the gun as though it had caught fire. Alex struggled against the ropes until she felt the barrel of Langley's gun nuzzle, not against her head, but against her belly. Against her baby.

Gene miraculously was still standing, unhurt, but unarmed. Langley hadn't intended to kill Gene, just disarm him.

"I thought the League didn't use weapons," said Gene so menacingly that everyone in the room flinched except Langley.

"Bullets have their uses, Hunt. You should know."

"Nope. You are currently making about as much sense as Mrs. Fruitcake over there, even when her baby hormones are all over the shop."

"Then I'll enlighten you," whispered Langley. Alex shivered as she felt his breath on the back of her neck as he addressed her. "Your darling husband, the father of that little bundle of joy you're carrying- did you never wonder how he got away? Why we let him leave us?"

"Shut up, Langley," Gene growled. Alex felt alarmed. She did know, what was going on? Was there more?

"He came over to our side, darling," Langley purred, drawing circles on her abdomen with his gun. "One of the most respected officers in London- even if he is a dinosaur- has been working for us, spying for us. We always knew exactly how much of the case you had cracked- which was not much, was it?"

"Alex, please, it's not true!" Gene pleaded.

Suddenly, Alex understood. The Gene Genie did not plead, not ever. Not when she confronted him about Langley. Not when he came to her flat after- he insisted that she listen to him, more than anything else. He didn't beg her forgiveness. He didn't even beg the rest of CID to forgive him when they found out. So, his pleading now was not something she saw in him, ever.

He was faking. The only reason Gene was still alive was because Langley believed the Stockholm Syndrome was still in effect. As soon as he realised that Gene was as loyal to him as a mouse was to a cat with a knife and fork, Gene would find himself going the same way as the snout.

"The snout that was found shot, we knew about him from Hunt. Shooting him was a pleasure, maybe we should use guns more often."

"You're lying, Langley," Alex whispered. Gene didn't visibly relax, but Alex knew she was playing her part correctly.

"I assure you, I'm not." Alex resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Fine, Gene was now safe, but how the hell were they going to get out of this? And the rubella…

Langley considered this, his tongue running slowly over his teeth, "You know."

Alex felt her heart stop beating. She didn't realise Langley had moved so he could watch her face carefully, so when she shot a panicked expression at Gene, he noticed.

He lost it. Instead of shooting her, Langley used the gun to whack Alex's jaw. The force of it made her gasp and her eyes water.

Gene roared and sprang forward, his hand enclosing Langley's throat, slamming him to the ground. Langley ripped Gene's hand away, but struggled to get away from Gene's massive form.

"Big mistake, Langley," Gene growled furiously.

Langley screamed, his eyes rolling into his head. Alex wanted to tell Gene to get off him, Langley had lost his mind. But she couldn't be sure that this wasn't an act.

"You went back to her!" he yelled. "I thought you were playing us both but you weren't were you? You abandoned that stupid car and told your wife everything."

"More or less," Gene snarled, pressing his hand into Langley's throat until he gagged. Alex glanced nervously at the ceiling then down at the desk. That bag- why was it wriggling?

Langley eased a hand free and ripped Gene's hand away from his throat and gulped air into his starved lungs. "You're fickle, Gene. Going from one side to the other- I suppose your wife cured you of your psychological illness?" the way he sneered the word cured stilled Alex's heart.

"You see, I'm not entirely sure that's possible," Langley continued softly, "I don't think it's that possible to forget what you've seen."

"Gene, arrest him!" Alex cried, frightened. But Gene didn't hear her. He had relaxed his hold on Langley and his eyes seemed far away.

"Alex Hunt, a living, breathing, sentient being. A foul bitch that justifies her existence based on the unspeakable cruelty to those without a voice."

Alex looked back at the bag. It was moving faster now and she could he noised coming from it, a harsh scratching sound. What the hell was inside?

"You saw the recordings. You heard the testimony. You heard the screams and cries of innocent animals subjected to barbaric testing and you know, deep down Hunt, that Stockholm syndrome has nothing to do with it. The woman who calls herself your wife is feeding you lies and misleading you so that she can take Cardoxymide without you stopping her. She is contributing to the torture of creation."

"Gene, don't listen to him. His logic is flawed-"

Langley cut across her. "You know only the League speaks the truth."

As if on cue, the contents of the bag on the desk revealed itself. Through a small hole that it had made in the canvass of the bag, a small, perfectly white kitten poked its head. It seemed to have been recovering from being mistreated: its fur, though glossy in places, had bald patches, there was a scratch down the middle of its nose and it was the skinniest creature Gene had ever seen. It was clearly a cat that had been rescued from torture.

"Do you remember this cat from the videos, Gene?" Langley whispered. "Do you remember looking after it during your stay with us? It's still too traumatised to meow."

"And yet you risked its life and wellbeing by bringing it somewhere you were planning to release rubella?"

Alex felt as though she had been kicked in the stomach. What about her? She was there too, was the cat really more important than she was?

"We are not higher beings than cats, Gene. We are all living creatures with the ability to feel pain. All animals are equal, none should have authority over another."

"I can think of one animal that is higher than all others," Gene said. Alex, for the first time since Gene had entered the room, dared to hope.

"Oh?" said Langley, disbelievingly. "And what animal is that?"

"The shrimp."

Alex face broke into a wide grin that Gene saw and returned, before turning his attention back to Langley.

"Stephen Langley, I am arresting you for bioterrorism, attempted murder, blah, blah, et cetera," Gene said, forcing cuffs around Langley's wrists. "You would be wise to call your little minions off my officers so they can be arrested and all. Face it, you've lost."

Langley growled. Ray pushed his assailant away from him and he looked to Langley as though for instructions. When Langley ignored him, the assailant held his arms out to be cuffed. Shaz ran towards Chris who was slowly coming round. Gene hurried to Alex, untied her, and threw his arms around her.

"The canister-" she began.

Ray leapt on the desk and poked his head through the hole in the ceiling. "It's switched off."

"Are you sure?" Gene asked through Alex's hair.

"Definitely."

Gene lifted his face from Alex's hair and gently ran a hand over her belly.

"The highest being in this room," Gene whispered so quietly that only Alex heard him, "The shrimp in your gut."

"Don't let any pro-choicers hear you say that," Alex muttered and Gene cracked a small smile, still gazing at her for a moment.

Then he looked down confused. Alex followed his eyeline and saw that the kitten had jumped off the desk and was rubbing its face against Gene's ankle.

"I think it likes you," said Alex.

"Well, the cat's really out of the bag now," said Gene.

Alex rolled her eyes.