The piercing shriek of the phone on the bedside cabinet woke me from my worst nightmare so far. This time Max didn't survive, this time Gregory John shot him. That night will forever haunt me. As the man next to me sat up and answered the phone I lay back down in bed trying my best to calm myself down so that he didn't realise I was having another nightmare, they seemed endless these days. He jumped out of bed and grabbed his clothes from the floor, before he retreated to the bathroom he updated me on the phone call.
"That was Smithy, Gregory John's daughter Tara Daniels has been involved in an RTA with James South."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Daniels ran the red light and smashed into the side of South's car, South was killed instantly and Daniels is in High dependency."
"Ok, should I get ready?"
"No, you look like you need the extra sleep. Another nightmare?" he asked, I thought I had managed to conceal it from him. I guess this is one of the things I liked about Max, he just knows things.
"You could say that." He smiled sympathetically and walked over before kissing me on the forehead.
"Get some sleep, I'll see you in a few hours when you come into work." He kissed me again this time on the lips. He made his way to the door and I heard him run down the stairs, shut the front door, start his engine and pull away. I moved over to his side of the bed before pulling the quilt up around my neck and snuggling into the pillow that smelt of his aftershave. I closed my eyes and I thought back to that night.
... he walked towards the back exit and led myself and Kell outside and into the alleyway, he led us next door to the eternity nightclub and into the manager's office. I was shocked by the site of a bruised and battered Max, he was bound and gagged and I managed to stop myself gasping loudly. I saw Gregory pick up a gun with a duster and walk over to me. He tapped me and made me face him. He passed me the gun which I took from him and whispered to me to tell me what to do "Prove to me you're not a copper and shoot the bastard. They'll never find his body and you won't do time for the waste of space that he is. If can't prove to me that you aint then I swear I will silence you both, not before having a little fun with you both first though." He sneered in a whisper. I turned to face Max and I knew that I had to take a chance, if I didn't then Lucey's chance of survival would be diminished and I wasn't going to let them have any doubts and I certainly wasn't going to give them reason to kill Lucey before our investigation time was up. I couldn't risk losing this only lead. I knew that Max would want me to do the same. He looked at me with eyes that egged me on. I could tell he wanted me to do this. I wondered if he knew something I didn't. I had two options, shoot at Max and hopefully miss or turn on them all and have Lucey's and probably Max's death on my conscience before Gregory killed me to. Max stared at me almost asking to be shot at. So in the heat of the moment as the adrenaline kicked in, I lifted the gun, aimed it at Max, I was pleased that I wasn't shaking and I took a few seconds as I reached for the trigger, I closed my eyes in anticipation of the loud bang, hoping I was going to miss. There was nothing else I could do so I squeezed the trigger... I stopped just short of squeezing the trigger fully, I spun around and aimed the gun at Gregory, backing up so I was by Max's side, Gregory looked at me smugly.
"You silly girl. Wrong choice!"
"I chose not to kill anyone and it's the wrong choice, I may be a criminal but that doesn't make me a murderer."
"Once a cop always a cop!"
"I told you Gregory, I aint a cop and I aint a murderer."
"Amelie, I don't think you ever were a bitch, you're just a child still, you aint got what it takes!"
"Shut up! You don't know jack shit about me! Don't you dare think you can judge me!"
"Amelie, you are an open book, you're just young, you'll learn!"
"You don't know me! You piece of shit! Step away from me now. Or I swear I will let him go."
"Oh Amelie dear, your so naive." He said as he took a step closer to me. I knocked the safety catch off the gun. Aiming. Ready for him. I wouldnt let him get away with killing the man I love. The man I want to spend the rest of my life with.
"Shut up! If we kill him, we go down for years. He's a cop goddammit! I aint being a cop Killer! I've seen what the screws do to you! And it aint pleasant!"
"God she's right Ron! Maybe we can use him to our advantage! " Kelly said back
"Be quiet Kelly!"
"No Ron! I've served! She's served! We've both seen it first hand! Cop Killers get treat horrendously! You can't let her be abused like that!"
"What do you suggest we do?"
"Use him to our advantage. Isn't that right Max darling!"
"He's a copper Kelly, they're all the same!"
Gregory pulled a gun from his pocket, he aimed it at Max so that I felt threatened. I saw the concern on Max's face, concern for my safety. So I did what I had to do I braced myself for the noise as I pulled the trigger only when I pulled the trigger there was no noise, it just clicked, I should have known that the reason Max was egging me on was so that I passed the test, there was no ammunition in the gun, there was no way I would have hurt him, now we're both in danger, I really should have known.
"This is who your here for isn't it?" he asked as he pulled a young girl by her hair from the dark corner of the room so that she was right in front of us, he shoved his gun into her head, ready to squeeze the trigger.
"No Gregory, don't do this, don't hurt her, she's just a young girl, she's someone else's baby girl, just like your Tara, how would you feel if someone did the same thing to Tara?" I pleaded.
"Tarah hates me!" he spat.
I took a step forward towards Gregory. "Gregory, please, just drop the gun."
"Come any further and I'll blow her brains out!"
I stopped still. He tossed Lucey over to Kelly, who pulled a gun from her waistband and before I could move to stop her she shot Lucey in the head killing her instantly, a disturbing smirk on her face. I flew at Kelly. She wasn't expecting it. She toppled onto her back as we both grappled for the gun. She was trying to hit me so I focused on getting the gun. I grabbed it only for her to push me onto my back so that she was on top of me. I swung my arm and hit her in the head with the gun knocking her out. I turned just as Gregory was aiming at Max about to pull the trigger and I realised that the gun was heavy in my hand. I could think of nothing other than protecting Max so in three quick movements I lifted the gun, aimed and pulled the trigger, wounding him. Just as he was about to have another attempt at shooting Max, armed police forced their way in. Gregory realised that the game was up and aimed for Max. The armed police didn't hesitate in shooting him.