Disclaimer I do not own New Tricks.

Follow the Leader?

Strickland felt useless as he sat next to Clarky. He had been sat behind a desk too long. He couldn't remember the last time he had done any solid detective work, all he seemed to do these days was chase around his officers, defend UCOS and try as he might humor the politicians that he had to deal with. He was begining to get fed up with the constant negotiation and politican wrangling that went with his rank. He knew that if anyone other than Sandra had been missing there was no way he would have been able to be hands on in the investigation, he just hoped he wasn't too rusty.

"Sir?" Clarky followed behind the red S Reg Ford Fiesta that was trundling along a few cars ahead of them.

"Yes"

"If we are right, if Lincoln is leading us in the right direction why have you left the others to search the address Emily found?" Clarky inwardly winced, he didn't want to seem as though he was questioning his senior officers authority. Strickland glared out of the windcreen.

"Just in case I am wrong" He almost spat the words through gritted teeth as Clarky turned the car left and continued driving to the other side of the city.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Come on think" Sandra muttered. I am not some soppy bloody idiot that is going to wait around to be rescued. They haven't killed me yet and with their past record I would have been killed the minute they burst into my place. No I am not going to be killed. So why the Hell am I here? And mores the point, how the Hell do I get out of here? She stepped back and stared at the door. It was then she realised what now seemed blindingly obvious. Sandra Pullman, girl you are going home. She thought to herself as she stepped behind the door and began to wait.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Emily found the address" Pushkar announced as Gerry nodded.

"Bloody good copper my Emily"

"Yes she is" Pushkar smiled. He knew Gerry was protective of his children, the fact that one of them was a police officer just made him all the more protective. Especially now his youngest Jessica was determined to follow him and Emily into the force.

"So what do we do now?" Gerry turned to the police man. "Storm in there or wait for the others?"

"Clarky and the boss are looking into some other leads" Pushkar explained, "So we are waiting for Jack and Brian to arrive"

"Sod that" Gerry opened the car door. "If she is in there and not the way we want to find her I aint letting either of those two see that. It'll kill them. You know how Brian is"

Pushkar sighed, he knew Gerry was right. He could just picture the aftermath if she was dead. It was the last thing he wanted to think of but unlike the others he had accepted it as a possibility. Sandra had been missing over 24 hours and as each hour went past statistically the chances of finding her alive dropped. He nodded as he got out the car.

"Right, all me and you can do is knock the door, hope we get in there that way" He walked across the road as Gerry grinned slyly. He wasn't officially a copper anymore, he had other ideas about how to get into the house. He was determined to find his friend and the small matter of breaking and entering didn't seem that much of an obsticle. After all he didn't really care what happened to him as long as Sandra was safe. He was going to make sure they found her in one piece.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Eleanor Lincoln parked the small rusty car outside the chemist on the High Street. She was desperate for a fix, she had missed her appointment for methodone and knew there was no way the pharmacist was going to bend the rules and let her have some now. Cursing she wondered why they hadn't just killed the police officer they had kidnapped. That way they would have made their point and she would have got her fix. She slammed the car door shut with a force the car really couldn't take before storming along the pavement to the alleyway.

"Ellie" Peter smiled as he approached her.

"You get it?"

"Yeah" He held out the small plastic bag as she grabbed it greadily from him.

"Hey take your time" Peter laughed.

"You had yours?"

"Yeah" He leant his head back against the wall.

"Why are we messing around? Wasn't the plan always to make that bitch pay for us going to prison? Wasn't it always the plan to kill the blonde bitch?"

"You're right Ellie" He paused "But we ain't kids anymore. I don't fancy being a pensioner when I get out of clink again. We are going to kill her but we are going to make sure she has time to think about what she did before she meets her maker" He laughed hysterically as Eleanor raised her eyebrows. Neither of them were aware that DAC Robert Strickland had taken a leaf out of Gerry's book and let down their tyres. Clarky pulled on the collar of his shirt, immediately nervous that they would be caught.

"Sir?"

"We can't arrest them for kidnapping Sandra until we have enough proof. I arrest them for what they are doing now and we may never find her. This way we keep them off the road until they come down from whatever crap they have just taken and then we just have to follow them" Strickland explained.

"Criminal damage to stop a crime?" Clarky shook his head.

"Yeah if you like. But it works. Radio the others. I want a sitrep on what is going on" He stood and made his way back to the car as Clarky just rolled his eyes. He had a feeling what he had just witnessed would never find it's way on to the official report.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Brian poured over the files he had downloaded on to his Ipad. He knew Esther wasn't that keen on his new toy but it really was amazing. He absolutely loved it and had never tired of telling the others what it could do. Now he was reading the arrest record of Peter 'Mad Dog' McCarthy as Jack drove.

"He was a nasty piece of work Jack"

"We know that"

"So what are we doing? Are we going to get her back?" Brian began to panic. "It says here he was responsible for six other armed robberies and one aggravated burglary"

"Yes we were after him for a while" Jack remembered the case well. "First time anyone was killed was the pub break in. Nice quiet family pub too. I had drunk there myself a few times before."

"We have to get her back Jack, these people. They are evil. The things they did" Brian shook his head as Jack turned into the street where he thought Pushkar and Gerry were waiting for them.

"And we are doing everything we can to find her" Jack stated as he parked the car. He looked up to see the car he knew Gerry had been driving was abandoned a few feet away. "Oh great, just great"

xxxxxxxxxxx

A/N Sorry for my woeful speed at updating. I hope this chapter is ok.